The Merry Wives of Windsor

The Merry Wives of Windsor Falstaff the Fat Knight and Lovely Little Sweetmeats; the most beloved and comedic combination in Shakespeare’s theatre About the Play Apart from his history plays, The Merry Wives of Windsor is Shakespeare’s only play that was set in England during his time. It was first printed in the Quarto of 1602, but as the title page says, "it hath bene diuers times Acted by the right Honorable my Lord Chamberlaines seruants: Both before her Maiestie, and else-where", it is assumed to have been performed even earlier. The play consists of two main plots: a comical story of Sir John Falstaff, the fat knight of gluttony and debauchery who attempts to seduce the wealthy wives of Windsor, Mistress Page and Mistress Ford; and a romantic but equally comical story about a daughter of the Pages, Anne, and her suitors. Shakespeare’s audience immediately loved Falstaff when the character first appeared in the history play, K ing Henry IV, Part I. In the first part as well as its sequel, King Henry IV, Part II, the episodes of Prince Henry and Falstaff as his rascal companion enthralled the audience. B eing a rebellious young man, the prince was truanting away with Falstaff and his rogue company in Eastcheap, a dodgy side of London. The Merry Wives of Windsor is a spin-off comedy of K ing Henry IV, in which Falstaff and his companions are placed in a more current setting of Shakespeare’s time. Legend has it that Queen Elizabeth was so charmed by Falstaff in Henry IV that she commanded Shakespeare to continue the play portraying the fat knight in love. But in the spin-off comedy, Falstaff is rather keen on money than on love as he attempts to seduce rich wives into compromising positions. 1 Eat Up Hot Venison Pasties and Drink Down All Unkindness! The comedy begins with a furious speech by Robert Shallow, the Justice of the Peace of Gloucester. Shallow is determined to sue Sir John Falstaff, who had trespassed on his property, injured his keeper and killed his deer. The modern reader might wonder why Shallow is adamant about punishing Falstaff for what seems like a petty indiscretion, but in Shakespeare’s time, not only stealing deer, but even aiding and abetting the thief was cause for serious punishment. Deer were such a valuable commodity that venison could not be commonly purchased at markets. It was only available by way of hunting, which meant that accessing and dining on venison was a privilege reserved for the wealthy owners of estates large enough to keep deer. Besides, hunting was an expensive sport as well. Dogs, horses, attendants and equipment maintenance were costly. Deer and venison, hence, were symbols of wealth and privilege. People of high society would use venison produced at their own estate to cement social relationships or as a token of favour. That is the case with Master Shallow in The M erry Wives of Windsor. He regales venison to Master Page, a wealthy Citizen in Windsor. Later in the first scene, Shallow pays a visit to the Pages. Master Page welcomes Shallow and shows his gratitude for the venison. Shakespeare does not clarify the fact, but I assume the venison came from the deer killed by Falstaff, as Shallow confesses that the deer had not been killed in the proper way and that he wished he could give Page better venison. PAGE. I am glad to see your worships well. I thank you for my venison, Master Shallow. SHALLOW. Master Page, I am glad to see you, much good do it your good heart. I wished your venison better, it was ill killed. (1.1.73-77 ） At the Pages, Shallow finds that Falstaff has also been invited. An argument pursues between Falstaff and Shallow over the killed deer. Trying to urge them to stop fighting, Master Page offers drinks and 2 venison pasties, which I assume, were cooked with the very venison regaled by Shallow. Master Page mentions: "Wife, bid these gentlemen welcome--Come, we have a hot venison pasty to dinner. Come, gentlemen, I hope we shall drink down all unkindness" (1.1.180-182). Perusing through the venison pasty recipes of Shakespeare’s time, what interested me was that many of them were quite simple. The recipe in The Queen-like Closet, for example, requires only salt, pepper, butter, and claret wine other than venison and paste (pastry dough). The wine is poured through the pastry funnel while baking. According to the recipe, no other ingredient should be included "because it will make it look ill-favoured and black"; that is to say, simple as though the recipe may seem, there is a reason for that. A proper Newe Booke of Cokerye shows a similar recipe with venison, called "To Bake VENESON", in which it also instructs to "Take nothynge but pepper and salte". It is a clear contrast to the typical recipes for pies, pasties and baked meats in Shakespeare’s time, for which various types of spices and dried fruits were generally used. Spices and dried fruits were expensive imported food, and these luxuries were used to showcase wealth and social status. Venison itself was a status symbol, so there really was no point in spoiling its colour and the taste with the strong flavours of spices and dried fruits. I would like to believe that the venison pasties served at the Pages’ dining table were also prepared in the simple way as instructed in the recipe books of Shakespeare’s time. If properly prepared, the meat would become tender as it cooked slowly inside the crust, and the flavour of the venison would be maintained. Certainly, one bite of hot crusty pasty, with the flavour of succulent meat, could make anyone smile. As Master Page expected, Shallow must have been quite satisfied with the venison pasty, since the argument over the deer never comes up again for the rest of the play. Valued Venison is the Key to Success in Business, and… Even in Marriage! 3 There are some other recipes from Shakespeare’s time which confirm that venison was an extremely valued and luxurious food item. For example, The Good Housewife’s Jewel introduces how to make baked meats using filets of beef instead of venison. It says when beef is used, more salt and pepper should be added than when venison is used in order to, I assume, cover the taste and the flavour of beef. The Accomplisht Cook has a similar recipe called, "To bake Beef, red-Deer-fashion in Pies or Pasties", in which it mentions that "a very good judgement shall not know it from red Deer" when beef is cooked as instructed. A more interesting recipe is found in The English Housewife, which shows the way "to recover the venison that is tainted". The recipe instructs to boil strong ale and wine vinegar with salt to make brine, and when it is cooled, put the venison in, and to leave it for twelve hours; then take the venison out of the brine, parboil it, and season it with pepper and salt and bake it in a pie case. The Accomplishd Cook introduces another curious way to "preserve tainted Venison". It says, "Bury it in the ground in a clean cloth a whole night, and it will take away the corruption, savour, or stink." The result is quite doubtful from the modern point of view, but of course it was a time without refrigeration, and the recipe shows how important it was to prevent meat from spoiling. By understanding that deer was a symbol of wealth and social status in Shakespeare’s time, one can realise why Shakespeare abruptly started the play with Shallow’s angry speech about his deer. At the very beginning of the play, Shallow proudly announces that he is an Esquire, a low rank of the gentry class. And then, relating to the episode of Falstaff killing his deer, the audience soon learns that Shallow has some power in local Gloucestershire because he owns an estate large enough to keep deer. And the important point is that his venison is given away as a gift to Master Page, who is a Citizen in a class below that of Shallow. Since it was generally understood that venison was used as an important tool to cement social relationships, Shakespeare’s audience must have clearly understood that Page was wealthy or successful enough for Shallow to regale his venison. 4 In The Merry Wives of Windsor, there is another character who belongs to the gentry class: Sir John Falstaff. Falstaff was knighted, but now as a Crown pensioner, he is struggling to survive, even trying to dismiss his attendant who has played rogue with him on countless occasions. Falstaff is destitute; in fact, it could be the cause of his killing Shallow’s deer. Although motive was not mentioned in the play, he might have tried to poach deer to sell on the black market. Impoverished Falstaff now comes up with the idea to seduce Mistress Page and her friend, Mistress Ford, w ho are the wives of wealthy citizens of Windsor. He expects to gain their love as well as their money. It seems like a great idea for the amorous knight. The opening episodes of Shallow’s venison being regaled to Page as well as Falstaff’s attempt to seduce the wealthy wives of Windsor indicate that wealth and financial success did not necessarily accompany social status during Shakespeare’s time.

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