Falstaffe's wish that all the world might be cheated is true to the
method of the Play. Show in exemplification of this, how a fourth
intrigue grows out of the third, and is introduced as late as this
fourth Act. How is the joke of the Host against Dr. Caius and Sir Hugh
Evans avenged? Is this reference to the "three Cozen Jermans" that are
said to run away with the Host's horses, liklier to be an allusion
seriously made to a real event or to make use of it as an entirely
fictitious intrigue and practical joke in the Play? Is this mock
happening such as could be clear by the method of enacting it and one
entirely consonant with this Comedy as a farce-mosaic of laughable
tricks? (See pp. 120-121, 179-180, also Note on IV. iii. 6). Discuss
probabilities. The turn taken in the plot: Show how all combine
against Falstaffe; also the place of this intrigue in making material
for Act V.
QUERIES FOR DISCUSSION
Has the "Merry Wives" any serious or tragic moments such as belong
usually to Shakespeare's Comedies?
Compare the jealousy of Ford with the jealousy of Adriana in the
"Comedie of Errors." Which exemplifies the riper treatment and why?
THE STORY OF ACT V
THE DEFEAT OF MERCENARY LOVEMAKING
Make clear the ins and outs of the Fairy trap, first for its actors,
then for the dupes? Can the apparent inconsistencies in the wearing of
green or white and the mention of "Quickly" for "Queene" be accounted
for on the supposition that everybody is deceived except Nan and
Fenton? (See Notes on V. v. 421, 205-209).
The compliments to Queen Elizabeth in the Play: What are they and how
is their appropriateness to the Plot made good?
Consider the "humors" of the Welsh and French speeches and episodes as
exploitations and developments of the similar humors of Fluellen and
the Frenchmen of "Henry V."
The fairy scenes and effects of this Play compared with those of the
wedding night feast at the end of "A Midsommer Nights Dreame."
What indications are there in the Falstaffe of "Henry IV." that he is
superficially affected by the Puritanism about him? Is he any more
deeply affected by it in the present Play? What is the difference in
his appearance in this Play with respect to Puritanic morals: Is he
more affected by them, at the last, when he is so grossly their
victim, or have they grown, and put him out of date in England except
as an atavism?
Have Page and his Wife any loftier standpoint as to mercenary love
than Falstaffe himself? Is Fenton's speech (V. v. 225-235) the moral
of the last Act or is Ford's (237-238)?
QUERIES FOR DISCUSSION
Is the main design of the Play to "cure Ford of his unreasonable
jealousy," as Rowe says, or to dupe and reform Falstaffe? Is the total
aim sport to laugh over "by a Countrie fire?" Is it a Comedy of irony
turned against all mercenary motives in love?
AS YOU LIKE IT
I
THE DRAMATIC CONDUCT OF THE PLAY: THE WRESTLING MATCH
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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