The merry wives

25 de Octubre de 2010
Diego Alejandro Garzón García
II Liceo Scientifico “A”

CLOSE READING NOTEBOOK OF “THE MERRY WIVES OF WINDSOR”
AUTHOR INFORMATION
William Shakespeare is the most important writer of the English literature and also is considerate the most important of the universal literature. He was an important actor, poet and playwright. He wrote a lot of very important plays likeHamlet, Romeo and Juliet, The Merry Wives of Windsor and Macbeth.
Shakespeare was born in 1564 at Stratford, England, in the Elizabethan Age. His mother was Mary Arden, a daughter of a big landowner of that time, and John Shakespeare, a member of the government of Stratford. There are many legends about him, we don’t know a lot about his first years. He probably studied at the Stratford GrammarSchool, a very good school of the time, and studied the Elizabethan curriculum that included Latin rhetoric, literature and logic.
In 1582 he married Anne Hathaway and had a daughter called Susanna. Also they had twins, Hamnet and Judith. His literary activity was devoted to theatre but we know few things about his theatrical career. He was member of a theatrical company called “Chamberlains Men”but his role as dramatist superseded the role as actor.
He became a really recognized playwright and he made a lot of money and bough a lot of proprieties that after his death, he left to his family. Shakespeare died in 1616. His burial had a chancel of the Church, a monument in his memory and a tetrameter dedicated to him.
PLOT
ACT 1
The story begins next to Page’s house with Slender, Evans andShallow. Slender has a problem with Falstaff and they are going to talk to him. Slender also wants to quarter his family’s coat of arms. The only requirement for do this, is to get married with someone. Slender sees that Mistress Anne Page is an excellent lady to marry. Then, Falstaff arrives and Slender says to him that Bardolf, Nym and Pistol, Falstaff’s followers, picked his pocket. They startto discuss about this and suddenly Anne Page appears. After some time, Slender talks with Anne being polite with her, finally both go into the House.
Evans sends a letter to Mistress Quickly, the servant of Caius and a relative of Anne Page. The letter incites Quickly to support Slender’s marriage with Anne.
In The Garter Inn, Falstaff “fires” his follower Bardolf and then, he speaks to Nym andPistol. He plans to make Mistress Page and Mistress Ford fall in love with him because they have a lot of money, so he will be able to trade with both women. He sends a love letter to the ladies. Nym and Pistol don’t like Falstaff’s plan and they decide to take revenge on him, saying to Ford and Page, what Falstaff is going to do.
Simple, Slender’s servant, comes to Caius’s house bringing theletter that Evans had sent to Mistress Quickly. Then Caius comes there and Quickly hides Simple in the chamber, but Caius casually finds him. Simple explains the situation to Caius but he becomes very angry and sends a letter to Evans challenging him. Next, Caius goes to speak to Anne.
ACT 2
In front of Page’s house, Mistress Page reads the letter that Falstaff had sent to her, she gets veryangry because Falstaff wants to seduce her. Mistress Ford reaches the place and shows to Mistress Page a letter sent by Falstaff exactly like the other. They take the decision to take revenge of him but Mistress Ford doesn’t want to make it risking her honor. Also, Nym and Pistol tell to Ford and Page about the seducing of Falstaff, Ford gets jealous about this situation. The Host of the Garter Innand Shallow come telling to Page and Ford about the fight between Evans and Caius and both accept to go there but Ford says that he wants to be called Brook in the presence of Falstaff.
In the Garter Inn, Quickly says to Falstaff that Mistress Ford wants Falstaff to go to her house. She says that Mistress Ford is very in love with him and also Mistress Page. Then, Brooke (Ford) arrives and asks...