The merry wives of Windsor

Author(s)

• Shakespeare, William
• Craik, T. W. (Thomas Wallace)

Bibliographic Information

The merry wives of Windsor

edited by T.W. Craik

（The Oxford Shakespeare）

Clarendon Press , Oxford University Press, 1989

• : pbk

Note

Includes index

Description and Table of Contents

Volume

: pbk ISBN 9780192814579

Description

"The Merry Wives of Windsor" was almost certainly required at short notice for a court occasion in 1597. Shakespeare put into it the same creative energy that went into his Henry IV plays. Falstaff is here, with Pistol, Mistress Quickly, and Justice Shallow, in a spirited "citizen comedy". Boisterous action is combined with situational irony and rich characterization. In his introduction, T.W.Craik discusses the play's probable occasion (the Garter Feast of 1597 at court), its relationship to Shakespeare's English history plays and to other sources, its textual history (with particular reference to the widely diverging 1623 Folio and 1602 Quarto), and its original quality as drama. He assesses various interpretations of the play: topical, critical, and theatrical. In the commentary he pays particular attention to expounding the literal sense (he proposes some new readings) and evoking the stage business.

Table of Contents

• Shakespeare's Garter Play: The occasion and the date of The Merry Wives of Windsor
• Shakespeare's English Comedy: The substance and the dramatic structure of the play
• Interpretations, critical and theatrical, of the play
• The quarto and folio texts
• Editorial procedures
• "The Merry Wives of Windsor". Appendices: The Textual Crux at 1.1.20-1
• Evan's Song in Act 3, Scene 1
• Falstaff's Disguise as Herne the Hunter
• Alterations to Lineation of the Folio.

Volume

ISBN 9780198129295

Description

The Merry Wives of Windsor was almost certainly required at short notice for a court occasion in 1597: Shakespeare threw into it all the creative energy that went into his Henry IV plays. Falstaff is here, with Pistol, Mistress Quickly, and Justice Shallow, in a spirited and warm-hearted `citizen comedy'. Boisterous action is combined with situational irony and rich characterization. In his introduction T. W. Craik discusses the play's probable occasion (the Garter Feast of 1597 at court), its relationship to Shakespeare's English history plays and to other sources, its textual history (with particular reference to the widely diverging 1623 Folio and 1602 Quarto), and its original quality as drama. He assesses various interpretations of the play, topical, critical, and theatrical. In the commentary he pays particular attention to expounding the literal sense (he proposes some new readings) and evoking the stage business.

Table of Contents

• List of illustrations
• Introduction: Shakespeare's Garter Play: The occasion and the date of The Merry Wives of Windsor
• Shakespeare's English Comedy: The substance and the dramatic structure of the play
• Interpretations, critical and theatrical, of the play
• The quarto and folio texts
• Editorial procedures
• Abbreviations and references
• THE MERRY WIVES OF WINDSOR
• Appendix A: The Textual Crux at 1.1.20-1
• Appendix B: Evan's Song in Act 3, Scene 1
• Appendix C: Falstaff's Disguise as Herne the Hunter
• Appendix D: Alterations to Lineation of the Folio

by "Nielsen BookData"

Details

• NCID: BA07894013
• ISBN:
  • 0198129297
  • 0192814575
• LCCN: 88029363
• Country Code: uk
• Title Language Code: eng
• Text Language Code: eng
• Place of Publication: Oxford [England],Oxford ; Tokyo ; New York
• Pages/Volumes: ix, 242 p.
• Size: 23 cm
• Classification:
  • LCC : PR2826.A2
  • DC19 : 822.3/3
  • NDC8 : 932
• Parent Bibliography ID:
  • BA00475985