According to evidence discovered long after the playwright’s death, Shakespeare wrote The Merry Wives of Windsor at the request of Queen Elizabeth, who wanted to see Sir John Falstaff, one of Shakespeare’s most vivid and popular characters, in love. The character of Falstaff also appears in Shakespeare’s two Henry IV history plays. Falstaff is witty and robust. He dominates the stage both in terms of his mere physical presence (he is an extremely rotund man) and in terms of his clever and imaginative command of the English language.
Placing Falstaff in an entirely different context – placing him in a comedy instead of a history play – required some necessary changes to the character. More to the point, Shakespeare could not just write a simple comedy about this favorite character falling in love. Falstaff is not a lover except in the sense that he is a lover of food and wine. Further, he cares for only one individual – namely, himself. Shakespeare was thus presented with a challenge by his Queen, and his response was a delightful one. Rather than showing the bold rascal being in love, Shakespeare instead presented the fat knight feigning love in order to gain something much dearer to his heart: money. Thus, Shakespeare could fulfill his Queen’s wishes while still maintaining the essential nature of his comic creation, the fabulous Falstaff.
The Merry Wives of Windsor is also unique among Shakespeare’s comedies in that it is the only