In Act II Scene 1 we start off by reading about Mistress Page receiving a love letter from Sir John Falstaff, she asks herself at the start “What, have I ‘scaped love-letters in the holiday-time of my beauty, and am I now a subject for them?” here Mistress Page is asking A rhetorical question on why she has got a love letter now when she is old and why she never got any when she was pretty at a young age, this adds humour to the general plot of the play already because somebody is finding an old lady very attractive and sending her things she didn’t receive when she was at the height of her beauty. In this letter falstaff tries to flatter Mistress Page by saying “you are not young, no more am I; go to then, there’s sympathy; you are merry, so am I; ha, ha!” here he tries to make Mistress Page think she has something in common with him but she has absolutely nothing in common with him, he also says “you love sack, and so do I; would you desire better sympathy?” this is totally false because everybody knows that no one can love sack which is alcohol/beer as much as Falstaff himself. With the “would you desire better sympathy?” question again he is saying that through all of these things they have in common could she quite possibly want any more?
When falstaff says “By me, Thine own true knight, By day or night, Or any kind of light, with all his might For thee to fight, JOHN FALSTAFF” it is quite comical to us and quite the opposite of falstaff himself because he is comparing himself to a chivalrous knight. He is trying and pretending that he is romantic by using a parody of courtly love to try and woo Mistress Page.
Mistress Page responds to this in a very aggressive manner, “What a Herod of Jewry is this! O wicked, wicked world!”
Mistress Page uses hyphens excessively in the next few lines, “What an unweighed behaviour hath this Flemish drunkard picked-with the devil’s name! - Out of my conversation, that he dares in this manner assay me? Why he hath not been thrice in my company! What should I say to him?” also in this quote Mistress Page expresses her feelings about only seeing him 3 times and he is acting this way towards her, she uses very appropriate imagery of falstaff “Flemish drunkard” which means a heavy drinker.
She express hatred to all men in this line “Why, I’ll exhibit a bill in the parliament for the putting down of men. She also talks of sweet revenged and uses very sardonic language here, “for revenged I will be, as sure as his guts are made of puddings.” Mistress Ford enters and they both have something do discuss with each other which is about the letter they have both received from Falstaff. Throughout the rest of the scene Mistress Ford and Page pack rhetorical questions into it like “what doth he think of us?” and extended metaphors, Mistress Ford says,
“`Boarding,’ call you it? I’ll be sure to keep him above deck.” Mistress Page says,
“So will I; if he come under my hatches, I’ll never to sea again. Let’s be revenged on him; let’s appoint him a meeting.” They both want to get falstaff back for sending these letters to both of them.
In Act II Scene 2 falstaff opens the conversation with telling Pistol that he will not lend him a penny whilst at the same time showing us how tight he is with his money which around the whole line he says is very ironic. It is ironic because falstaff probably asks for money off everyone nearly everyday as a sort of job of his. Falstaff talks about Pistol letting down his good reputation, which again is very ironic and extremely comical because Falstaff hasn’t got a good reputation.
“Didst not thou share? Hadst thou not fifteen pence?” pistol says referring to something pistol had stolen which he sold and gave Falstaff some money from it.
Falstaff really puts down Pistol by saying things like “rogue” and “cat-a-mountain looks” as well as “your red-lattice phrases” and more. He uses very exclamatory language and uses alliterations well.
Mistress Quickly is a very cheery person who is very talkative and uses a lot of malapropisms such as “alligant” meaning elegant. She has something to tell Falstaff which is informing him of a time where he can nip around to Mistress Fords house because her husband will be absent between the hours of ten and eleven. Falstaff gets quite annoyed with her because instead of telling him straight away what she came for she leers away from the conversation while Falstaff would prefer her not to beat around the bush.
In Act III Scene 3 the Mistresses Ford and Page seek revenge on Falstaff and get it. Falstaff goes to meet Mistress Ford as planned between 10 and 11 but then Ford comes back early much to their surprise, the Mistresses plan kicks in to humiliate Falstaff and so they hide him in a buck basket, the use of language here is hyperbolic and the things Falstaff says during the Scene to Mistress Ford like “have I caught thee my heavenly jewel?” are parts of parody’s and love language, very romantic and flattering. Falstaff uses some personification, “I see what thou wert, if fortune thy foe were not, nature thy friend.” This is personification because Falstaff is making nature out to be a person when really it isn’t. Falstaff also uses similes, “Thou mightest say I love to walk by the counter-gate, which is has hateful to me as the reek of a lime-kiln.” Falstaff also uses essential props in the play like the Arras to hide behind when Mistress Page comes running in to let Mistress Ford know that her husband is coming.
Falstaff is portrayed to be a coward in this quote, “Let me see’t, let me see’t, O, let me see’t! I’ll in, I’ll in. Follow your friend’s counsel. I’ll in.”
Ford says, “Pray you, come near; if I suspect without cause, why then make sport at me; then let me be your jest; I deserve it. How now! Whither bear you this” here Ford is requesting the person to come to the house and that if he is wrong about suspecting his wife of cheating on him then they can all have a laugh at him as he is there jest and then Ford sees the buck basket. He then asks where this basket is being taken, Ford is very wound up and tied up with jealousy over Falstaff but he thinks it is somebody else and not falstaff. Mistress Ford tries to protect Falstaff by covering up and arguing a point with ford, this is argumentative language and adds humor to the whole scene. The whole play is based on bawdy humor with stunts like falstaff being put into a buck basket and the joke they play on him in the supposed haunted forest.
Also there Is a lot of imagery throughout the play for instance, “one that is well-nigh worn to pieces with age to show himself a young gallant!” this is said by Mistress Page who means that Falstaff is far too old to be endeavoring to woo a lady and he is making a fool of himself by trying to act like a young more desirable man. The effect is to show her scorn and contempt for Falstaff and it also creates a humorous image of him. As we know Shakespeare is always trying to poke fun at Falstaff and we can tell by the things that happen to him.
When the play was first performed it would have been in front of a Jacobean audience where the Jacobean audience could actually relate to the plot even though they probably had no clue that it was based around their way of living with slobs like Falstaff. If it was performed under a modern audience these days then I am sure the audience would get all the hidden jokes contained in the play and also be able to follow it quite easily.
Nick Bidwell
