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

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he shall lack no money (at line 229: the word want means lack) if he is successful, and Falstaff responds that Brooke will not lack the company of Mistress Ford. Falstaff then proceeds to tell Brooke that he (Falstaff) will have a rendezvous with Mistress Ford at ten o’clock. Falstaff adds that Brooke should return to him that night, and he will inform him as to how the rendezvous succeeded. Before he exits, Falstaff also assures Brooke that he has no need to worry about Master Ford because he is a knave (lowly or base) and a cuckold (a man whose wife is having an affair – such men were deemed fools). A few lines earlier Falstaff had referred to Ford as a “wittolly knave” (240-41). The word wittolly is used as an adjective form for cuckold (the word wittol is a noun and means cuckold), and the word perhaps emphasizes the lack of wit of such a man. Falstaff’s negative words about Ford make him angry, but Ford keeps up his disguise as Brooke and pretends to be pleased at the news that Falstaff has just told him.