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Sir John Falstaff
Falstaff is a knight, but he is also a scoundrel and occasionally a thief. In Henry IV, Part I and Henry IV, Part 2 he was a drinking buddy of the young Prince Harry. Falstaff is boisterous, lively, cowardly, funny, and mischievous, and he is one of Shakespeare’s most beloved creations. In The Merry Wives of Windsor, outside his element in the countryside, Falstaff thinks he can get away with seducing married women to gain access to their husbands’ cash. Hence, he launches a plan to seduce Mistress Page and Mistress Ford. However, they are cleverer than he is and humiliate him on three separate occasions.
Read an in-depth analysis of Sir John Falstaff.
Mistress Page
A resident of Windsor, Mistress Page is married to Master Page and is a friend of Mistress Ford. When she and Mistress Ford receive a seductive letter from Falstaff, they decide to lead him on and ruin him. Meanwhile, Mistress Page and her husband disagree about who should marry their daughter, Anne. She favors Caius, but her husband favors Slender; Anne herself likes neither. However, both must learn the lesson to listen to the romantic desires of their daughter.
Read an in-depth analysis of Mistress Page.
Ford
The husband of Mistress Ford, Ford is very jealous of his wife. When he learns that Falstaff intends to try to seduce his wife, he is sure she’ll succumb to his advances. Hence, he puts on a disguise, calls himself Brook, and goes to the Garter Inn to find out about Falstaff’s plans and his wife’s responses. During the play, he must learn to let go of his jealousy, which he eventually manages to do.
Read an in-depth analysis of Ford.
Mistress Ford
A resident of Windsor, Mistress Ford is married to Master Ford and is a friend of Mistress Page. When she and Mistress Page receive a seductive letter from Falstaff, they decide to lead him on and ruin him. In the meantime, Mistress Ford hopes to prove to her husband that she is entirely faithful so that he will get over his oppressive jealousy.
Mistress Quickly
Caius’s servant. Mistress Quickly is everyone’s messenger. She goes to Falstaff at the behest of Mistress Page and Mistress Ford. She also speaks to Anne Page on behalf of all three of her suitors, though she prefers Fenton and supports his suit most readily. Mistress Quickly chronically misunderstands or mishears other people, hearing sexually charged conversations where there are none.
Read an in-depth analysis of Mistress Quickly.
Page
The husband of Mistress Page, Page is not jealous of his wife. Thus, when he hears about Falstaff’s plan, he doesn’t think she’s likely to find Falstaff interesting. His easygoing attitude makes him look like a wonderful husband in comparison to Ford, but he has other problems. He and his wife disagree about who should marry their daughter, Anne, and neither wants to accept the suitor she likes. He must learn that he should listen to his daughter’s opinions.
Sir Hugh Evans
Sir Hugh Evans is the local parson. He’s Welsh, so he speaks in an accent that the other English citizens find very amusing. They make fun of him constantly for it. He and Caius band together to humiliate the Host after he makes fools of them.
Caius
The local doctor. Caius is French, so he suffers the same humiliation as Evans because of his accent and broken English. He hopes to marry Anne Page, and Mistress Page favors him, but Page doesn’t, and their conflicting schemes—combined with the fact that Anne does not like him—thwart his marriage hopes. He and Evans also make plans to get back at the Host for making fun of them.
Anne Page
The daughter of Page and Mistress Page, Anne is sought for marriage by several suitors, including Caius and Slender. Yet she chooses Fenton and tricks her parents by managing to elope with him. She defends her choice and returns triumphant to show up her parents, who were too busy debating their own preferences to listen to her.
Fenton
A local gentleman and one of Anne’s suitors. Page denies his suit because he fears that Fenton’s interest is purely financial, since his estate is experiencing financial difficulties. Fenton admits he felt this way at first, but once he got to know Anne, he developed a genuine love for her. She likes him best, and the two marry at the end.
Slender
A local gentleman and one of Anne’s suitors. Slender is urged on by several others in his pursuit of Anne, including his uncle, Justice Shallow. However, he is unable to speak anything but nonsense to Anne. Page favors him as a good match for his daughter, since he is well off, but Anne finds him too slight of intellect. In the end, he doesn’t get to marry her.
Shallow
A visiting justice of the peace. However, he is a foolish character with comically misplaced authority. He urges Slender to try to seduce Anne Page, and he even speaks for him when the young man proves incompetent.
Bardolph
One of Falstaff’s men. Bardolph takes over as the bartender of the Garter Inn to pay for room and board for Falstaff and his entourage.
Nym
One of Falstaff’s men. Nym wants to stay honest, and he refuses to deliver Falstaff’s seductive letters to Mistress Page and Mistress Ford. Instead, he and Pistol decide to let the husbands know of Falstaff’s scheme.
Pistol
One of Falstaff’s men. Pistol wants to stay honest, and he refuses to deliver Falstaff’s seductive letters to Mistress Page and Mistress Ford. Instead, he and Nym decide to let the husbands know of Falstaff’s scheme.
Host
The manager of the Garter Inn. The Host makes fun of Evans’s and Caius’s heavily accented English, so they decide to get back at him by tricking him. Their ploy results in the loss of three of the Host’s horses. Meanwhile, he favors Fenton as a suitor for Anne, and he assists them in planning their secret wedding.
William Page
Page’s son. He meets Evans, who gives him an impromptu Latin lesson, which Mistress Quickly entirely mishears as sexual innuendo.
Simple
Slender’s servant.
