The Merry Wives of Windsor

(Paperback)

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The authoritative edition of The Merry Wives of Windsor from The Folger Shakespeare Library, the trusted and widely used Shakespeare series for students and general readers.

Shakespeares merry wives are Mistress Ford and Mistress Page of the town of Windsor. The two play practical jokes on Mistress Fords jealous husband and a visiting knight, Sir John Falstaff.

Merry wives, jealous husbands, and predatory knights were common in a kind of play called citizen comedy or city comedy. In such plays, courtiers, gentlemen, or knights use social superiority to seduce citizens wives.

The Windsor wives, though, do not follow that pattern. Instead, Falstaffs offer of himself as lover inspires their torment of him. Falstaff responds with the same linguistic facility that Shakespeare gives him in the history plays in which he appears, making him the hero of the play for many audiences.

This edition includes:
-Freshly edited text based on the best early printed version of the play
-Full explanatory notes conveniently placed on pages facing the text of the play
-Scene-by-scene plot summaries
-A key to the plays famous lines and phrases
-An introduction to reading Shakespeares language
-An essay by a leading Shakespeare scholar providing a modern perspective on the play
-Fresh images from the Folger Shakespeare Librarys vast holdings of rare books
-An annotated guide to further reading

Essay by Natasha Korda

The Folger Shakespeare Library in Washington, DC, is home to the worlds largest collection of Shakespeares printed works, and a magnet for Shakespeare scholars from around the globe. In addition to exhibitions open to the public throughout the year, the Folger offers a full calendar of performances and programs. For more information, visit Folger.edu.

Author Bio

William Shakespeare was born in April 1564 in the town of Stratford-upon-Avon, on Englands Avon River. When he was eighteen, he married Anne Hathaway. The couple had three childrenan older daughter Susanna and twins, Judith and Hamnet. Hamnet, Shakespeares only son, died in childhood. The bulk of Shakespeares working life was spent in the theater world of London, where he established himself professionally by the early 1590s. He enjoyed success not only as a playwright and poet, but also as an actor and shareholder in an acting company. Although some think that sometime between 1610 and 1613 Shakespeare retired from the theater and returned home to Stratford, where he died in 1616, others believe that he may have continued to work in London until close to his death.

Barbara A. Mowat is Director of Researchemeritaat the Folger Shakespeare Library, Consulting Editor ofShakespeare Quarterly, and author ofThe Dramaturgy of Shakespeares Romancesand of essays on Shakespeares plays and their editing.

Paul Werstine is Professor of English at the Graduate School and at Kings University College at Western University. He is a general editor of the New Variorum Shakespeare and author ofEarly Modern Playhouse Manuscripts and the Editing of Shakespeareand of many papers and articles on the printing and editing of Shakespeares plays.