What about your community stands you in good stead and keeps you going? The Merry Wives of Windsor is a glorious middle-class comedy Shakespeare wrote about community, and there is loads of conjecture about “why?” — it is so utterly different from anything else he penned. Here are three ideas about why he wrote it, for me.
One, my father IS Falstaff. Two, I have female friends who bolster me, challenge me, give me wise, humorous, and unflinching advice about parenting, career, and how to keep my hope up in these polarized times as well as the best sunscreen to use — as I imagine Alice Ford and Margaret Page would. Three, laughter protects our mental health.
I grew up with a Falstaff. My dad, now in his 80s and still working in radio and TV, is Falstaff. He is the most positive, fun, outward-seeking person on the planet. Word-of-the-Day would call him a Pangloss—an optimistic person no matter what’s going on. He can be a big ball of ego and tireless promotion, but always I want a little more Dad in my outlook just as I think we would all want a little more Falstaff—the self-promoter, the seeker of continuous pleasure, and yes, the liar and the cheat to get by because he’s number one for himself.
Mrs. Ford and Mrs. Page, the merry wives of Shakespeare’s story, are two women who are more right, warm, fun, generous, smart, clever, ribald, unafraid, and facile than anyone in Windsor — absolutely worth writing about. How did WS compose a play about women I know today?
The Merry Wives of Windsor, with utterly recognizable human foibles at its heart, is meant to not only entertain, but open our minds, for that’s what laughter does. All the incredibly loveable idiosyncratic townspeople of Windsor ultimately turn toward laughter in response to being pranked, duped, one-upped, or singed emotionally and monetarily. Without a Falstaff in their midst, this group of Windsorites would never advance their own human colors out of ruts they may be finding themselves in at the top of this bubbly tale. Watch and see!
The “I know you” kind of laughter that a Mark Twain, Leslie Jones, or name-a-comedian-who-susses-out-the-awkwardness-of-life is capable of—can make you feel better, feel understood, feel “gotten.” William Shakespeare was an expert at drawing out “I know you” laughs just for me and you.
—Terri McMahon