SOURCE: Introduction to The Merry Wives of Windsor, by William Shakespeare, edited by T.W. Craik, Clarendon Press, 1989, pp. 13-25.

In the following excerpt, Craik provides an overview of The Merry Wives of Windsor, focusing in particular on the plot structure and comparing it to several other works of the Renaissance.

Shakespeare's English Comedy: the Substance and the Dramatic Structure of the Play

The Merry Wives of Windsor is unique among Shakespeare's comedies in being set in England, rather than in Ephesus, Athens, France, Italy, Illyria, or ancient Britain. This English setting—a very local one, with its allusions to Windsor, Eton, Frogmore, and Datchet—goes to confirm the play's connection both with the Garter Feast and with the English history plays. Its social world is that of the Gloucestershire scenes of 2 Henry IV, where there are no kings or dukes, and none of the characters is above...