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Falstaff, who is responsible for killing the deer.
Shallow brings up the topic of his complaint against Falstaff to Page. Falstaff is at Page’s home at that time, and he enters – along with his three companions, Pistol, Bardolph, and Nim – to hear Shallow’s accusation:
SHALLOW: Knight, you have beaten my men, killed my deer, and broke open my lodge.
FALSTAFF: But not kissed your keeper’s daughter? (93-95)
Falstaff’s response is flippant and sarcastic. He is suggesting that the crimes he is accused of lack no merit. He is suggesting that they are too trivial and unworthy of being taken seriously. Falstaff even admits to committing the acts that Shallow accuses him of doing. Falstaff knows that, as an aristocrat, he is safe from criminal prosecution.
Puns and language play are a natural part of Falstaff’s character, and he exhibits that quality in this first scene. Shallow threatens that “the Council shall know this” (99). Shallow means that he shall take his complaint to a higher court, but Falstaff responds by laughingly suggesting that Shallow should keep the matter “in counsel” (100), meaning that he should keep it secret. Falstaff adds, “You’ll be laughed at” (101). And Falstaff is correct. The higher courts did not want to spend their time on matters that they found to be too trivial for their attention.
Another pun occurs when Evans suggests that