Merry Wives of Windsor - Act III

[Scheherazade]

Please post your comments in this thread.

Scene I

Scene II

Scene III

Scene IV

Scene V

[Virgil]

No one has commented on Act III. Well, a good deal of the action occurs here: Dr. Caius and Sir Hugh almost have a duel, Falstaff tries to seduce Mistress Ford and through the complications of the revenge of the married ladies and Ford disguised finds himself thrown in the river, and we see the rightful love interest become apparent, that between Fenton and Anne. Good comic stuff which I think may come off better on stage than from reading. I will say I find the proper love interest rather boring and undeveloped. Here from scene four:

Enter FENTON and ANNE PAGE
FENTON
I see I cannot get thy father's love;
Therefore no more turn me to him, sweet Nan.

ANNE PAGE
Alas, how then?

FENTON
Why, thou must be thyself.
He doth object I am too great of birth--,
And that, my state being gall'd with my expense,
I seek to heal it only by his wealth:
Besides these, other bars he lays before me,
My riots past, my wild societies;
And tells me 'tis a thing impossible
I should love thee but as a property.

ANNE PAGE
May be he tells you true.

FENTON
No, heaven so speed me in my time to come!
Albeit I will confess thy father's wealth
Was the first motive that I woo'd thee, Anne:
Yet, wooing thee, I found thee of more value
Than stamps in gold or sums in sealed bags;
And 'tis the very riches of thyself
That now I aim at.

ANNE PAGE
Gentle Master Fenton,
Yet seek my father's love; still seek it, sir:
If opportunity and humblest suit
Cannot attain it, why, then,--hark you hither!

They converse apart

Enter SHALLOW, SLENDER, and MISTRESS QUICKLY

SHALLOW
Break their talk, Mistress Quickly: my kinsman shall
speak for himself.

SLENDER
I'll make a shaft or a bolt on't: 'slid, 'tis but
venturing.

SHALLOW
Be not dismayed.

SLENDER
No, she shall not dismay me: I care not for that,
but that I am afeard.

MISTRESS QUICKLY
Hark ye; Master Slender would speak a word with you.

ANNE PAGE
I come to him.

Aside

This is my father's choice.
O, what a world of vile ill-favor'd faults
Looks handsome in three hundred pounds a-year!

What is so interesting about Fenton? We really have nothing to go on. There was no development of his character. The only reason he stands out as a proper love interest is that he is not the dolt that Slender is, and he stands in opposition of the forces that would oppose Anne's free decision. The fact that this comes so late in the play is enough to tell you that it's a minor element to the wild events and characters that are on stage most of the time. I assume it has to be here, otherwise the play would be a cynical commentary, and Shakespeare doesn't usually have cynical elements win out in comedies. At least the light comedies. I think the Fenton/Anne part of the play is needed to keep this light and, perhaps said another way, not degenerating into a dark comedy. However, it doesn't seem all that interesting.