Reaction to The Merry Wives of Windsor
The first thing that struck me about The Merry Wives of Windsor was the appearance of some characters from Henry VI: Falstaff, Bardolph, Nym, and Pistol. The second thing that struck me was the complexity of the plot. Shakespeare is tough enough for me to understand on its own, without the introduction of a plots that twist and turn, and entwine each other like snakes. I wish I could see the play performed, because it seems like a delightful comedy, and I feel that seeing actual players going through the motions presented to me in the text would do wonders for my comprehension. This is my first play read outside of class, with no real discussion to help me through the parts that don't make a lot of sense the first time around. Fortunately, I found some resources on the web that provided synopses of Shakespeare's plays, and really aided my understanding of the play. The aforementioned plots reminded me of the plots common to Seinfeld, quite possibly the most glorious of telev
The appearance of the characters from Henry VI, especially Falstaff, was also quite interesting. For some reason, seeing the other characters shared by the plays didn't do quite as much for me as seeing Falstaff. Perhaps I identify with Falstaff more than the others (a rather damning proposition, considering what I'm about to write), but I think it's more likely due to the fact that Falstaff is more prominent that the others. Knowing that Falstaff was a gay lover in Henry VI, and seeing him involved in obviously heterosexual pursuits, I was reminded of our conversation in class concerning the views of sex in Elizabethan times, compared to our current views on the subject. I feel that seeing Falstaff in this play gives me a lot more insight into the character Shakespeare was trying to create for his audiences than Falstaff's appearances that we have seen in class. Falstaff really gave me the impression of being a scoundrel in this play, plotting to commit adultery, and then add in
Some common words found in the essay are:
Henry VI, Nym Pistol, Anne Shakespeare's, Gods Olympus, Windsor Falstaff's, Taming Shrew, Petruchio Katherine, Wives Windsor, Knowing Falstaff, henry vi, Merry Wives, merry wives windsor, appearance characters, characters henry, feel seeing, seeing falstaff, taming shrew, merry wives, wives windsor, appearance characters henry, characters henry vi,
Approximate Word count = 667
Approximate Pages = 3 (250 words per page double spaced)
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