The Merry Wives of Windsor Part 1 - The Story

The Merry Wives of Windsor has an unusual status among Shakespeare’s comedies: long dismissed by critics, long beloved by audiences. The only one of Shakespeare’s plays to be set in a recognizably contemporary England, the play tells the story of two witty, confident, women who set a revenge plot in motion when they are propositioned by Sir John Falstaff - the comic star of Shakespeare’s history play Henry IV, now transported to a middle-class milieu in the small town of Windsor near London. In this course, you’ll learn the story of The Merry Wives of Windsor, examine the historical and theoretical contexts of the play that are exciting new critical interest today, and meet two delightfully inspiring heroines as they set out to prove that “wives may be merry and yet honest too.” 
In Part 1, you’ll be guided through a detailed account of the story with commentary by Dr. Will Tosh, Head of Research at Shakespeare’s Globe, London. You’ll learn about the intricate construction of the play’s multiple revenge plots and meet the large, diverse cast of Windsor’s inhabitants. This summary is told using the language of the play itself, placing key quotations in context to help you understand where these lines come from and what they mean.