All's Well That Ends Well and the Merry Wives of Windsor Notes (Cliffs Notes)

Book Description

Here is one of Shakespeare's problematic plays and his most farcical. The arc of love's victory in All's Well That Ends Well doesn't compel an audience's compassion, yet it is still a skillfully written play. The Merry Wives of Windsor has been criticized for having been written in 14 days, yet it brims with wit and features a new tale of Falstaff, one of literature's greatest characters.

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Good book if you didn't understand the play!.......2000-05-21

I think this was a very good book, because I understood much more about the play when I read the cliff notes, that really helped me to get an A on my essay on All's well that ends well.

The Merry Wives of Windsor, PEL (Shakespeare, Pelican)

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The Return of Falstaff (Well, his name at least.)
Sure Fire Theater
One of my favourites with Falstaff
Good Cast Make Bad Play Bearable
a comedy that is actually funny

The Merry Wives of Windsor, PEL (Shakespeare, Pelican)
William Shakespeare
Manufacturer: Penguin Classics
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0140714642
Release Date: 2002-02-21

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"I feel that I have spent half my career with one or another Pelican Shakespeare in my back pocket. Convenience, however, is the least important aspect of the new Pelican Shakespeare series. Here is an elegant and clear text for either the study or the rehearsal room, notes where you need them and the distinguished scholarship of the general editors, Stephen Orgel and A. R. Braunmuller who understand that these are plays for performance as well as great texts for contemplation." (Patrick Stewart)

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Shal. Come Coz, come Coz, we stay for you: a word with you Coz: marry this, Coz: there is as 'twere a tender, a kinde of tender, made a farre-off by Sir Hugh here: doe you vnderstand me?

Customer Reviews:

The Return of Falstaff (Well, his name at least.) .......2006-07-15

As many of you know, the crooked, but comical and likable Falstaff had a moderate role in "1 Henry IV." He was undoubtedly the real star of "2 Henry IV." At the end of "2 Henry IV," Shakespeare announced that Falstaff would be in the next play. ("Henry V") Well, to the disappointment of the audience, except for the mention of his death, Falstaff was NOT in "Henry V." So, some plays later, Shakespeare ressurected Falstaff along with Bardolph and Nym who were killed in "Henry V." Pistol survived "Henry V," and he is back as well. Some people (including the learned Isaac Asimov) said that the 'fat fool' bears no resemblance to the Falstaff from the Henry IV plays. Well, Asimov was right, but in Shakespeare's defense, the name can not always bring back the character. (Compare the "Dukes of Hazzard" episodes to the not so good recent movie. Denver Pyle is probably rolling over in his grave!) Well, onto the play! Shakespeare cleverly combines 2 plots. Anne Page is a young girl whose parents want her to marry someone other than Fenton whom she really loves. This story IS all too familiar, but Shakespeare compensates for that rather well. Her father (Page) wants Anne to marry the nice enough Slender, while her mother (Lady Page) wants her to marry the eccentric Dr. Caius. (So, Shakespeare doesn't quite repeat the Juliet syndrome.) Moving on, Falstaff enters and he intends to woo Anne's mother and Page's wife as well as Ford's wife not out of love, but in hopes of increasing his fortune. (How unheard of! ESPECIALLY in today's world!) Well, even Falstaff's friends Pistol and Nym are repulsed by this, and Pistol warns Mr. Ford while Nym warns Mr. Page. While we may see Page and Lady Page as the 'wicked parents' who want Anne to marry someone other than whom she loves, Shakespeare expands their characters by having mutual love and trust. (Othello sure could have learned A LOT from Mr. Page!) So, at this point we see that the marriage between Page and Lady Page is a reasonably happy and successful one. On the other hand, Ford is not so sure of his wife to say the least. He plans to disguise himself and encourage Falstaff to go ahead, mainly so he can catch his wife and Falstaff in the act. Lady Ford has plans of her own. We know that Lady Page and Lady Ford are trying to teach Falstaff a lesson so to speak, and we can only imagine what is going through poor Ford's mind when Falstaff reveals his plans to woo Lady Anne AND Lady Page. Ford goes through some comical jealous rages, but unlike the so called 'noble Othello' he does NOT lay an abusive hand on his wife, and it is hard to not feel at least a little sorry for him. (We can only imagine his frustrations when he thinks he was wrong, but Falstaff confesses he was with Ford's wife, Ford can recall the events, and Falstaff speaks of ANOTHER meeting with Ford's wife!) Well, keeping with good comedy, no one really gets hurt, and Mr. Ford is willing to admit he was wrong about his wife. Now it does seem that after the 2 humiliating events (being thrown into a river and having to disguise himself as a witch to escape), Falstaff would have learned by now. But, such is comedy. The Pages and the Fords decide to subject Falstaff to one more practical joke. And of course, there is the matter of whom Anne will marry. (Fenton whom she loves, Slender whom her father loves, and Dr. Caius whom her mother loves.) In a bit of "Midsummer Night's Dream" nostalgia, Falstaff suffers one final slapstick moment, but all is resolved, and young love triumphs. And in the often found theme of reconciliation of Shakespeare's comedies, the characters (including Falstaff) all enjoy a happy party.

Sure Fire Theater.......2006-03-11

This play is odd in that critics hate it, but theater companies love it. Harold Bloom's contempt for this play is so great that he refused to discuss it in his book on Shakespeare. But, unlike some of Shakespeare's less popular plays, Merry Wives is performed frequently in Shakespeare festivals across the land.

You really have to see this play to understand how well it works on the stage. Played by an energetic cast it is hilarious situation comedy and easily understandable by people unfamiliar with Shakespeare. When Falstaff says at the end, with deadpan delivery, "I do begin to perceive that I am made an ass," it brings down the house. Just reading the play in your living room, you will probably miss much of the humor.

Shakespeare was a man of the theater. He wrote for production, with little thought given to publication in his lifetime. You have to see his plays performed to get a measure of his theatrical genius.

One of my favourites with Falstaff.......2005-01-21

I certainly don't agree with many of the reviews of this play. To me it is one of Shakespeare's funniest. I truly enjoyed it. One of my favourite Shakespearean characters is Falstaff, and he appears in a number of Shakespeare's comedies. He makes an appearance in this one, and he is wonderful. The scene of this play is in Windsor, England. The play follows the merry wives in their interactions with their husbands and with their families and servants. This play is unique too, because we see Falstaff in love in this one. This may be one of Shakespeare's lesser known comedies, but it should be read and enjoyed. Don't let some of these reviews stop you from the sheer enjoyment of this play.

Good Cast Make Bad Play Bearable.......2004-10-19

"The Merry Wives of Windsor" is one of Shakespeare's worst plays. It lacks the sharp wit of many of his other comedies, tending for low puns all the way through. The situations are ridiculous. Is Falstaff in a laundry hamper, or sitting in the woods and being prodded by children, funny? Of course, the Elizabethans liked bear-baiting (mentioned in the play). And Shakespeare seemed to want this play to be particularly funny for making fun of Welsh and French accents.

What raises this recording is the cast, particularly Michael Hordern's Ford. Ford is a bitter, jealous character, who actually believes his wife might have a dalliance with the physically repulsive Falstaff. But Hordern's befuddled jealousy actually make thankless lines funny. Anthony Quayle, a very good actor, blusters too much as Falstaff, but it must be difficult to represent Falstaff in sound alone and so that's excusable.

The problems with the play are Shakespeare's. He starts a lot of things he doesn't explore (such as the bizarre horse-stealing episode) and there are too many characters to keep up with comfortably unless one follows along with the text the first time through. But if you need to get through and understand "The Merry Wives" for whatever reason, listening to this fine cast and skimming along with the text is the most enjoyable way to do it.

a comedy that is actually funny.......2003-05-05

i've just finished reading/watching all of shakespeare's comedies and mww is one of the funnier ones. it is a lighthearted look at marital jealousy and features one of shakespeare's great fools, falstaff (of henry iv fame). the out-and-out funniest shakepearean play is still "taming of the shrew", imho, but mwv runs well ahead of the laggards, and certainly well ahead of such better known plays as "twelfth night" and "as you like it".

Three Early Comedies: Love's Labor's Lost, The Two Gentlemen of Verona, & The Merry Wives of Windsor (Bantam Classic)

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Three Early Comedies: Love's Labor's Lost, The Two Gentlemen of Verona, & The Merry Wives of Windsor (Bantam Classic)
William Shakespeare
Manufacturer: Bantam Classics
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0553212826
Release Date: 1988-01-01

Book Description

An exciting new edition of the complete works of Shakespeare with these features: Illustrated with photographs from New York Shakespeare Festival productions, vivid readable readable introductions for each play by noted scholar David Bevington, a lively personal foreword by Joseph Papp, an insightful essay on the play in performance, modern spelling and pronunciation, up-to-date annotated bibliographies, and convenient listing of key passages.

The Merry Wives of Windsor & The Comedy of Errors & Measure for Measure

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The Merry Wives of Windsor & The Comedy of Errors & Measure for Measure
Coleman Thomas Randall
Manufacturer: Xlibris Corporation
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ASIN: 0738822841

Book Description

The Merry Wives of Windsor The Novel Falstaff in love says it all. Queen Bess was pleased! And why not! There was never a merrier story, full of more life and more real characters. Falstaff's merry boast that "I am not only witty in myself but the cause that wit is in other men," could just as well been said in Windsor as at the Boar's Head Tavern in London. This is one story everybody loves!

The Comedy of Errors The Novel. Imagine the young playwright's elation when this early farce brought down the house with rafter-shaking laughter. I refer those who look askance at plays involving doubles and mistaken identity to the very delightful 1988 farce, Big Business, with Bette Midler and Lilly Tomlin doubling up. We find a pure delight in seeing the players' happiness when the errors they have so farcically compounded are "corrected" in act five.

Measure for Measure The Novel. Once the reader accepts the difficult premise of Measure, and falls in with the story, her or she finds, besides the thought-provoking moral dilemmas, four intriguing love affairs, all developing simultaneously: Claudio and Juliet, whose affair starts it all, the irrepressible Lucio and the young Kate Keepdown, Angelo and the forsaken Mariana, and another great couple whose inevitable fate we find most satisfying. Although somewhat heavy in places, it's still a doozy!

The Merry Wives of Windsor (Arden Shakespeare: Third Series)
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The Merry Wives of Windsor (Arden Shakespeare: Third Series)
William Shakespeare
Manufacturer: Arden
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 190427112X

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`This is a significant and substantive edition, in that nothing has been taken for granted, everything has been opened to reconsideration. The commentary is exceptionally detailed and attentive to questions of language and meaning.' John Jowett, Shakespeare Institute, University of Birmingham, Shakespeare Quarterly

Macbeth, El Mercader de Venecia, Las Alegres Comadres de Windsor, Julio Cesar, La tempestad/ Macbeth, The Merchant of Venice, Merry Wives of Windsor, Julius Caesar, The Tempest (Sepan Cuantos)

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Macbeth, El Mercader de Venecia, Las Alegres Comadres de Windsor, Julio Cesar, La tempestad/ Macbeth, The Merchant of Venice, Merry Wives of Windsor, Julius Caesar, The Tempest (Sepan Cuantos)
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Love's Labor's Lost; The Two Gentlemen of Verona; The Merry Wives of Windsor
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The Merry Wives Of Windsor (Large Print)

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The Merry Wives Of Windsor (Large Print)
William Shakespeare
Manufacturer: Echo Library
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This large print title is set in Tiresias 16pt font as recommended by the RNIB.

Five Great Comedies: Much Ado About Nothing, Twelfth Night, A Midsummer Night's Dream, As You Like It and The Merry Wives of Windsor (Giant Thrifts)

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Five Great Comedies: Much Ado About Nothing, Twelfth Night, A Midsummer Night's Dream, As You Like It and The Merry Wives of Windsor (Giant Thrifts)
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This inexpensive Dover edition brings together 5 of Shakespeare's most popular comedies, all filled with humor, joy, and, above all, happy endings. From the magic and mischief of A Midsummer Night's Dream to the rollicking farce of The Merry Wives of Windsor, these masterpieces are in demand by students of literature and by general readers.

Merry Wives of Windsor (Signet Classics)

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Merry Wives of Windsor (Signet Classics)
William Shakespeare
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Falstaff: drunkard, sloth, and...paramour? This farce follows Sir John Falstaff-of the Henry IV plays-as he tries to woo two wealthy married women.

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