The Merry Wives of Windsor Theme

Marriage and Wealth

It turns out that you can't talk about marriage in this play without talking about wealth, too. That's not so surprising because 16th and 17th century nuptials were mostly business transactions. (Go read about "Marriage" in The Taming of the Shrew if you don't believe us.) And The Merry Wives of Windsor is no different: in the subplot, the daughter of a rich citizen is pursued by three suitors primarily motivated by her family's bank account. In the play's main plot, a down-and-out nobleman tries to seduce two housewives in order to gain access to their husbands' cash. That gives the Kardashian/Humphries marriage a run for its money. (So to speak.) But don't worry: in the end, a young, crazy-in-love couple manages to run off and elope. Why does that matter? Well, in its final moments, the play supports the idea that holy matrimony should be motivated by one thing: love. Oh, that Shakespeare. He sure is a softy.

Jealousy

Shakespeare has obviously got a thing for writing about the dangers of male sexual jealousy. In The Merry Wives of Windsor, a mistrustful husband learns that another man plans to seduce his wife. The wife is faithful, of course, but the husband believes that all women are dishonest and, therefore, all wives cheat on their husbands. Basically, 16th and 17th century literature reads like a Men's Rights pamphlet, full of anxiety about cheating and lying women. If this were another play, we'd be in for a blood bath. But here, we're just in for a good time. In the play, a jealous husband becomes a figure of comedy when his wife exploits his suspicions in order to make him look foolish in front of the entire community. LOL!

Lies and Deceit

Watching The Merry Wives of Windsor is like channel surfing between back-to-back episodes of Punk'd! and Cheaters. In other words, when people get duped in this play, they often end up looking like chumps in front of a very large audience of people. When a lusty knight tries to seduce two "honest" housewives, they stage a series of elaborate pranks designed to teach him a lesson in front of the entire community. The tricks are also designed to punish a pathologically jealous husband, who thinks his wife is messing around behind his back. Meanwhile, just about every other minor character in the play engages in some sort of scheme or deception that's designed to make a victim look foolish in front of an audience. Shakespeare doesn't stop there. When it comes to pranks and intrigue, another pattern emerges in this play—the would-be trickster is usually the one who winds up getting duped in the end. All in all, pranking seems to be a way to work out social tensions and power struggles between various groups: husbands and wives, parents and children, middle-class citizens and aristocrats, Englishmen and foreigners, and so on. Hey, it's better than domestic violence.

Society and Class

Ever read this play and thought, "Gee, Windsor seems like an Elizabethan version of Wisteria Lane"? You're not alone, because plenty of scholars agree that this is Shakespeare's take on middle-class domesticity. In other words, the play portrays the day-to-day lives, activities, interests, and moral values of England's middle class. In fact, Shakespeare goes out of his way to try to define what it means to be a member of this new socio-economic group—neither members of the aristocracy nor the peasantry (source). They were mostly merchants and businessmen who were making big bucks in commerce and maritime trade. All those aristocrats and servants running around Windsor? Outsiders who threaten the middle-class way of life.

Gender

Let's face it. Reading just about any one of Shakespeare's plays can offer a depressing glimpse into the kinds of gender inequalities faced by 16th- and 17th-century women. (Just ask Katherine Minola if you don't believe us.) That said, The Merry Wives of Windsor is a little different. Sure, its leading ladies are up against guys who think all women are either untrustworthy, promiscuous, or simply a means of securing s financial future. (Falstaff and Ford, we're talking to you.) But, the coolest thing about Merry Wives is that its women always end up on top. No wives were harmed or "tamed" during the production of this play. In fact, it's the men who are taught a thing or two about how to behave.

Language and Communication

In this play, mastery of the English language is a matter of national pride. No big surprise there, right? After all, Shakespeare is the guy responsible for putting English on the map. (No offense, Chaucer.) That's why Merry Wives of Windsor is full of the kind of clever word-play, innuendo, and snazzy banter that celebrates the potential of the English language. At the same time, the play also goes out of its way to mock characters (especially foreigners and members of the lower class) for butchering the queen's English. At the end of the day, Shakespeare wants to show us that English defines England