The Merry Wives of Windsor

by Shakespeare

First published 1602

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3.6(15,004)

Falstaff arrives in Windsor short of money and sends almost identical love letters to the married Mistress Ford and Mistress Page, hoping to profit from either affair. The women compare the letters and decide to punish him through a series of elaborate humiliations.

At the same time, several suitors compete for Anne Page while her parents attempt to control her marriage. Shakespeare relocates Falstaff from the history plays into a recognisably contemporary English community of households, inns, servants and local rivalries. The result is a domestic comedy about jealousy, reputation and the ability of ordinary townspeople to outmanoeuvre a boastful gentleman.