at the Excequer or Treasury. Falstaff plans to cheat them both and get money out of their home treasuries.
Falstaff asks Pistol and Nym to deliver the two letters to Mistress Ford and Mistress Page, but the two men refuse. Pistol declares, “Shall I Sir Pandarus of Troy become?” (65). In medieval literature, notably in Il Filostrato (circa 1340) by Giovanni Boccaccio and in Geoffrey Chaucer’s poem Troilus and Criseyde (1370), Pandarus is the go-between who arranges the affair between Prince Troilus and the maiden Criseyde (or Cressida). The name Pandarus later gave rise to the verb to pander and the noun pander (which later became panderer). A panderer is a bawd or pimp, someone who contributes or arranges illicit sexual affairs. The reader should also note that Shakespeare himself later created a version of the character Pandarus in his own play Troilus and Cressida (1602), which was written approximately five years after The Merry Wives of Windsor.
Despite being thieves, Pistol and Nym have a sense of honor. They do not wish to lower themselves to the position of bawd or panderer. Thus, they refuse to assist Falstaff. The scene is thematically significant. Falstaff, who was never one to care much for honor, has become even more dishonorable at this desperate stage in his life. Even Pistol and Nym have a higher sense of honor than does Falstaff.
Falstaff angrily dismisses Pistol and Nym from his service and orders his young page Robin to deliver the letters instead. Henceforward, Falstaff