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Summary
Fenton and Anne meet outside the Pages’ house. He tells her that her father doesn’t favor him as a candidate for marriage. Though Fenton is high-born, he has no money, and her father suspects that he only wants access to Anne’s substantial dowry. He admits that Page’s wealth first drew him to Anne, but in wooing her, he has found her to be worth more than money. She urges him to try to win her father’s favor.
They draw to the side when Slender enters with Shallow and Mistress Quickly. Quickly calls to Anne, saying that Slender wants to talk to her. Anne notes to Fenton that Slender is her father’s choice, but that she doesn’t like him at all. Quickly pulls Fenton away, and Anne approaches Slender and Shallow. Slender tries to tell an unrelated joke, and Shallow interrupts to tell Anne that Slender loves her. Shallow continues to speak for Slender, while Slender says foolish things. So, Anne asks Shallow to let Slender speak for himself. He mumbles idiotically, and she asks what he wants from her. He says it’s Page and Shallow who have made the arrangements, but if things don’t work out, he won’t mind.
Page and Mistress Page enter. Page demands to know why Fenton is hanging about. He tells Fenton that he will never have his daughter and goes into the house with Shallow and Slender. Quickly urges Fenton to speak to Mistress Page. He tells her he loves Anne, and Anne asks her not to make her marry Slender. She says she won’t, but she favors Caius. Anne is unsatisfied, but Mistress Page says that she will talk to her daughter about her feelings for Fenton. They enter the house.
Fenton thanks Quickly for her aid and gives her money. Alone, Quickly considers her duplicity—or, rather, her triplicity. She’s promised to help all three men who claim to be in love with Anne, but she says she’ll help Fenton especially, since he’s such a likeable young man. But now the busy woman must rush off to speak to Falstaff at the command of Mistresses Ford and Page.
Falstaff enters the Garter Inn. He orders Bardolph to prepare him some wine and moans about his bad luck. He’s soaking wet, having just dragged himself out of the Thames after being dropped in with Mistress Ford’s laundry. Mistress Quickly enters with a report from Mistress Ford. Falstaff says he’s fed up with her, but Quickly explains that her servants misunderstood about what to do with the laundry. Quickly says Mistress Ford wants him to visit again between eight and nine that evening, when her husband will be out birding. Falstaff agrees, and Quickly goes to deliver the message.
Ford enters in disguise as Brook. He asks how Falstaff did with Mistress Ford. Falstaff says that he had just begun to woo Mistress Ford when her husband arrived. He exaggeratedly narrates his flight in a laundry basket and tells of the fear and horror he experienced while hiding in the basket and when he was thrown in the river. Brook asks if Falstaff will give up on Mistress Ford now, but Falstaff announces his next date. Fearing he’s already late, Falstaff rushes out. Ford is astonished to think that Falstaff was in his house when he arrived that morning, and he’s enraged that he is on his way back. He will go to his house and find him this time, he declares, and vent his rage.
Analysis
In scene 4, the play returns to the narrative surrounding Anne Page and her various suitors. This time, though, instead of listening to others plan and scheme on her behalf, we get to hear Anne declare what she wants. Her choice is obvious: she wants Fenton. Sadly, though, he is the only suitor not sanctioned by one of her parents. Her father supports Slender, a tongue-tied fool who can’t say anything of substance. Meanwhile, her mother’s preferred suitor is Caius, who can barely speak English. To make matters more complicated, Mistress Quickly, continuing her work as go-between, pockets money from each of the men, pledging her support to all. Mistress Quickly is, however, sensitive to Anne’s preference for Fenton, so she notes to herself that she’ll make a special point of supporting his bid. She just has to be careful not to reveal her double-dealing.
As we in the audience learn of Fenton’s genuine affection for Anne, and as the tides seem to turn in his favor, the audience may well become suspicious of Page’s unwillingness to entertain the possibility of their marriage. He has judged Fenton to be a money-seeking scoundrel, and that seems to be that. In being so averse to revisiting the conversation, Page’s prejudice mirrors Ford’s immovable jealousy. The objects of their concern are certainly different: Page is worried about his daughter, and Ford is worried about his wife. However, they are both essentially dealing with the same question: How to be trusting when it comes to matters of love? Page’s inability to trust Anne and Fenton’s love for each is as fixed as Ford’s inability to trust Mistress Ford’s fidelity to him. Both men will have to face their trust issues for the play to have its expected happy ending.
As the scene shifts back to the Garter Inn, we find a freshly soaked Falstaff calling for wine. A remarkable aspect of this character is his capacity to take humiliation without ever turning bitter. Instead, he transforms his own misfortune into great comedy through relentless exaggeration. It’s almost as though he does it to entertain himself. And in fact, he delivers his amusing narrative about being stuffed in the “buck-basket” and dumped in Thames without any audience present. Who else is he addressing but himself (or, perhaps, the audience) when he says, “And you may know by my size that I have a kind of alacrity in sinking” (3.5.11–12)?
While Falstaff off-gasses about his misadventure, the next round of shenanigans is already at play, and Mistress Quickly arrives to set it up. The rest of the scene follows the same basic pattern as before. Once again, Falstaff is to visit Mistress Ford while her husband is out. Then Ford comes in disguise to speak with Falstaff, whose exaggerated boasting about his prior wooing of Mistress Ford and his impending next visit once again inflames Ford’s jealousy. Growing more furious than ever, Ford decides that if he is indeed being cuckolded, then he might as well give into trope and let it drive his rage: “If I have horns to make one mad, let the proverb go with me: I’ll be horn-mad” (3.5.152–54). As Falstaff preens and Ford stews, the audience eagerly anticipates another round of amusing tomfoolery.
