Why do critics consider Falstaff in The Merry Wives of Windsor to be inferior to the same character in the Henry IV plays?' Discuss, showing you have considered more than one point of view.
A2 English Literature Coursework
'Why do critics consider Falstaff in The Merry Wives of Windsor to be inferior to the same character in the Henry IV plays?' Discuss, showing you have considered more than one point of view.
In the Henry IV plays, Sir John Falstaff is the companion of Prince Hal. He is a liar, a thief, a drunkard and a coward, but he has the gift of making light of everything. His easy-going good nature makes others willing to indulge his outrageous behavior, and he gets out of scrapes by using his quick wit and his ability to play on words. Falstaff cares nothing for authority and is cynical about martial ideals such as honor. He simply looks out for himself. Despite Falstaff's outlandish behavior, Prince Hal finds him a lovable and entertaining companion, and his other friends, such as Poins and Bardolph, are also fond of him. Indeed, the Falstaff of the Henry plays has been described as the supreme comic character on the English stage.
In The Merry Wives of Windsor, however, Falstaff, although he retains some of the former character's verbal extravagance, no longer uses his wit to stay one step ahead of everyone else. Quite the reverse. He becomes merely the butt of the humor. He is vain and stupid-stupid enough to believe that the "merry wives" will welcome his attentions. Not only does he make this big mistake, he repeats it, falling for the same ruse, not once, not twice but an incredible three times. This is clearly a lesser figure than the Falstaff of the Henry plays. A. C. Bradley, one of the great Shakespearean critics of the nineteenth century, was horrified at what Shakespeare had done to his beloved Falstaff, calling the character in Merry Wives an "impostor." According to Bradley, the few sentences in the play that were worthy of the real Falstaff might be written down on a single sheet of notepaper (see Bradley's essay, "The Rejection of Falstaff," in Oxford Lectures on Poetry, 1909, p. 248). Perhaps if Shakespeare had given the Falstaff of Merry Wives a different name, he might have avoided such howls of protest from devoted Shakespeareans, and the play might have received more appreciation from critics than it has done. Dramatic irony occurs when the audience, or the other characters, know something about the situation that one or more characters do not. The Merry Wives of Windsor is full of such ironies, and the humor of the various situations often depends on them. All the characters in the play are, at some stage, ignorant of some aspect of the plotting. No one knows entirely what is going on, except for the audience. This adds to the audience's enjoyment, since there is always pleasure in being in on a secret.
'Why do critics consider Falstaff in The Merry Wives of Windsor to be inferior to the same character in the Henry IV plays?' Discuss, showing you have considered more than one point of view.
In the Henry IV plays, Sir John Falstaff is the companion of Prince Hal. He is a liar, a thief, a drunkard and a coward, but he has the gift of making light of everything. His easy-going good nature makes others willing to indulge his outrageous behavior, and he gets out of scrapes by using his quick wit and his ability to play on words. Falstaff cares nothing for authority and is cynical about martial ideals such as honor. He simply looks out for himself. Despite Falstaff's outlandish behavior, Prince Hal finds him a lovable and entertaining companion, and his other friends, such as Poins and Bardolph, are also fond of him. Indeed, the Falstaff of the Henry plays has been described as the supreme comic character on the English stage.
In The Merry Wives of Windsor, however, Falstaff, although he retains some of the former character's verbal extravagance, no longer uses his wit to stay one step ahead of everyone else. Quite the reverse. He becomes merely the butt of the humor. He is vain and stupid-stupid enough to believe that the "merry wives" will welcome his attentions. Not only does he make this big mistake, he repeats it, falling for the same ruse, not once, not twice but an incredible three times. This is clearly a lesser figure than the Falstaff of the Henry plays. A. C. Bradley, one of the great Shakespearean critics of the nineteenth century, was horrified at what Shakespeare had done to his beloved Falstaff, calling the character in Merry Wives an "impostor." According to Bradley, the few sentences in the play that were worthy of the real Falstaff might be written down on a single sheet of notepaper (see Bradley's essay, "The Rejection of Falstaff," in Oxford Lectures on Poetry, 1909, p. 248). Perhaps if Shakespeare had given the Falstaff of Merry Wives a different name, he might have avoided such howls of protest from devoted Shakespeareans, and the play might have received more appreciation from critics than it has done. Dramatic irony occurs when the audience, or the other characters, know something about the situation that one or more characters do not. The Merry Wives of Windsor is full of such ironies, and the humor of the various situations often depends on them. All the characters in the play are, at some stage, ignorant of some aspect of the plotting. No one knows entirely what is going on, except for the audience. This adds to the audience's enjoyment, since there is always pleasure in being in on a secret.
