The Merry Wives of Windsor Lesson Plan

Analyze how Mistresses Page and Ford react to Falstaff's letters. What does this tell us about them?

Both Mistress Ford and Page react to Falstaff's entreaties with disgust and laughter. They are shown to both be quite funny and self-possessed, with enough agency to feel comfortable planning an elaborate prank on him. Like many of Shakespeare's women, they are genteel and ladylike but have a current of mischief in them. They exit this scene as two of the most important characters for the development of the play's plot, as it is their decisions that will push most of the characters through the next scenes.

Analyze Ford's obsession with cuckoldry. Why is he so...