Summary
Evans searches for Caius in the fields, who eventually enters with the Host. Caius and Evans begin to fight, but are quickly disarmed by the other men. The others depart and Caius and Evans discuss how they should team up to get revenge against the Host, whom they believe to have set them up to look like fools.
After the defunct fight, Page tells Slender that he supports his pursuit of Anne, but that his wife supports Caius. Neither one of them approves of Fenton. Caius, Evans, and Page join Ford at his house for dinner.
Meanwhile, Falstaff arrives at Mistress Ford's house and compliments her beauty. Suddenly, Mistress Page arrives and tells Mistress Ford that her husband is coming to search for a man he believes to be in his house. The two women agree that they must hide Falstaff in a laundry basket, which the servants will carry out. Falstaff consents to be smuggled away and climbs into the basket. Ford, Page, Caius, and Evans enter. Ford is convinced a man is there, but finds nobody. Mistress Ford and Mistress Page plan to play more tricks on Falstaff to stoke Ford's jealousy.
Anne and Fenton meet secretly outside Anne's house. Fenton tells her that her father does not approve of him, and Anne urges him to win her father over. Mistress Quickly arrives with Shallow and Slender and makes Anne speak to them. Slender fails to impress Anne, especially because Shallow does all the talking. Anne asks her mother not to make her marry Slender. Mistress Quickly realizes she has promised all three men that she will help them win over Anne.
Falstaff arrives at the Garter Inn soaking wet, having been thrown into the Thames with Mistress Ford's laundry. Mistress Quickly tells him that Mistress Ford wants to see him again, and Falstaff agrees to go. Ford arrives dressed as Brooke and asks Falstaff about his tryst with Mistress Ford. Falstaff elaborately recounts what happened and leaves, fearing he is late for his second meeting with Mistress Ford. Ford is enraged and promptly heads back to his house to attempt to catch Falstaff again.
Analysis
Act Three of the play elaborates on some of the themes already introduced, showing how the wives' plot to get revenge against Falstaff is ultimately successful. This portion of the play relies heavily on physical humor, as the image of Falstaff – a comically large knight – stuffed into a laundry basket was likely as entertaining for early modern audiences as it is absurd for contemporary readers. Falstaff arriving at the Garter Inn soaking wet would have also been met with laughter, as the implication is that he was tossed into the Thames River with the Fords' laundry (another impossibility, given his size). It is in this act of the play, therefore, where themes of deceit and deception give way to absurdist humor and lighthearted scheming. It is also another example of the men in the play being humiliated by the women. Indeed, Act Three is rife with laughable moments in which male characters act like complete fools – the failed fight between Evans and Caius, Falstaff being smuggled out in a laundry basket, Slender's lack of charisma around Anne, and finally Ford's failed attempt to catch Falstaff in the act. As the play continues, it becomes clear that the husbands of Windsor – as well as virtually every other man in the play – are portrayed as equally clueless as they are self-absorbed.
Alongside the ongoing scheming among the husbands and wives of Windsor is the subplot that develops involving Anne and Fenton. Up until this point, Anne's feelings toward her various suitors have only been speculated about by Mistress Quickly, who assumed Anne was not interested in any of the men. In Act Three, however, readers learn that Anne is not only interested in Fenton, but that she too has plans to deceive her parents (neither of whom approve of Fenton). Thus, whereas Anne up until this point has remained a relatively neutral and benign female character (more akin to the quiet and obedient heroines in Shakespeare's tragedies), Act Three presents readers with a version of Anne that is remarkably similar to her own mother (Mistress Page) and her friend, Mistress Ford. In so doing, the play endows every female character with a unique sense of power and control: the wives with the power to manipulate Falstaff, Anne with the power to marry whomever she chooses, and Mistress Quickly with the power to both manipulate Anne's suitors and assist the wives in embarrassing Falstaff. It is in Act Three of the play that the differences between the men and women are thrust into stark relief in a gendered role-reversal atypical of an early modern comedy.
