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Summary
Mistress Page reads her letter from Falstaff aloud, quoting sections where he declares that their affinity must lie in their equally advanced age, sense of merriment, and love of wine. She’s astonished that such a fat old knight would try to play the young gallant, considering he barely knows her. She wonders how she can exact revenge on him. Mistress Ford enters with her own letter from Falstaff. They exchange letters and discover that he sent the same letter to each of them. They think he must send identical letters to every woman, and they discuss revenge. Mistress Page suggests they lead him on until he must raise money to court them by pawning his horses. Mistress Ford agrees, so long as they don’t engage in any villainy that will sully their reputations. She notes that it’s good that her husband didn’t see the letter, since he’s already predisposed to jealousy.
Ford and Page enter with Pistol and Nym, so the women withdraw to discuss their plans. Pistol announces to Ford and Nym to Page that Falstaff is after their wives. Nym says that they have tired of Falstaff’s lying, and, since he has wronged them in the past, they have decided to turn against him. Pistol and Nym depart, leaving Ford and Page to discuss Falstaff.
Mistresses Ford and Page approach their husbands and speak with them. When Mistress Quickly enters, the ladies realize that she can be their messenger to Falstaff. They ask if she has come to speak to Anne, and the three women go inside together. Meanwhile, Page and Ford speak of what they have heard from Pistol and Nym. Page doubts that what they said is true, but he says that even if it were, he would trust his wife to give Falstaff an earful. For his part, Ford insists that he doesn’t mistrust his wife, but he still wouldn’t want her to go anywhere near Falstaff.
The Host of the Garter enters. Shallow follows, and he invites them all to observe the duel between Evans and Caius, which is about to take place. Ford takes the Host aside. He tells the Host that he isn’t angry at Falstaff, but that he wants to have access to him under a false name. He offers money if the Host will introduce him under the name of Brook, and the Host agrees. Meanwhile, the others discuss the imminent fight and depart. Alone, Ford calls Page a fool for trusting his wife, which he cannot do. With his new disguise, he can find out from Falstaff whether his wife has remained faithful to him.
Analysis
The opening scene of act 2 more fully introduces the two “merry wives” referenced in the play’s title: Mistress Ford and Mistress Page. In the popular genre of “citizen comedy,” the figure of the merry wife was conventionally known to be the sort of pleasure-seeking woman whose enjoyment of feasts and entertainments also indicated her susceptibility to extramarital exploits. In this regard, the merry wife stood in counterpoint to the proper wife, who showed greater restraint and fastidiously guarded her honor. In this scene, Shakespeare puts a fresh spin on these tropes, presenting Mistresses Ford and Page as outgoing women who enjoy a good jest, even as they have no interest in sleeping around. Merry and proper all at once, both women show immediate disdain for Falstaff and his amorous advances, and they quickly agree to work together to humiliate him. In the process, they also demonstrate their quick wits as they make fun of the overweight, wine-loving rogue.
As the scene continues, Pistol and Nym arrive to inform the merry wives’ husbands about Falstaff’s intentions, initiating their counterplot against their master. In doing so, they also activate one of the play’s key themes, which relates to the question of what makes a good marriage. Shakespeare begins to explore different answers to this question through the divergent reactions of Page and Ford to the news about Falstaff’s advances. Page seems to trust his wife entirely. He’s well aware of her sharp tongue, so he knows she can take care of herself. He therefore chooses to leave the matter alone. But Ford doesn’t share Page’s faith. As we learn from Mistress Ford, her husband is the jealous type. For this reason, he’s primed to believe that she might be open to Falstaff’s amorous pursuit. Pistol exacerbates the situation by cautioning Ford against allowing himself to become a cuckold. His suspicious nature leads him to disguise himself as “Master Brook,” seeking to gain intelligence about his wife’s fidelity. Shakespeare has thus set up an implicit comparison between a trusting husband and a distrusting one. In the meantime, the Mistresses’ plan to humiliate Falstaff shows the audience that Ford’s jealousy is as misplaced as Falstaff’s attempt to besmirch Mistress Ford’s honor.
