Understanding Shakespeare: The Merry Wives of Windsor by Robert A. Albano - HTML preview

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The psalms are religious poems found in the Old Testament of the Bible. “Greensleeves,” on the other hand, was a popular love song during the Renaissance (and it is still often performed today). Mistress Ford is asserting that religious poetry and the lyrics of a love song are opposites, and similarly the words that Falstaff had spoken to her and the words he had written in his feeble love letter are opposite as well. Like Mistress Page, Mistress Ford thus wants revenge.

Mistress Page shows her friend that she has received an identical letter from Falstaff, and she sarcastically suggests that the lascivious knight has a thousand copies of the same letter to use at his whim. To express her disgust, Mistress Page adds, “I had rather be a giantess, and lie under Mount Pelion” (69- 70). The mythological allusion is a reference to the battle between the Olympian gods (Zeus, Poseidon, etc.) against the ruling giants known as the Titans. The Olympian gods defeated the Titans and buried them under Mount Pelion. Mistress Page would rather lie under an enormous mountain than lie under John Falstaff.

The two women, Mistress Page and Mistress Ford, decide to get revenge against Falstaff by pretending that they are interested in him (lines 82- 85). They intend to encourage him to pursue their love, but they plan to keep him at a distance and cause him to spend his own money in his attempts to win them. Their plan for revenge is just beginning at this point. The plan will develop and grow as the play continues.