Mistress Quickly

Mistress Quickly

I like Mistress Quickly a lot.  She has pulled herself up from her bootstraps, left a life of possible prostitution behind her and has given herself over to run Dr. Caius' house.  There, she quickly finds out that she isn't paid enough, has to do more work than she thought possible and isn't nearly as happy as she thought she might be.

She has many wonderful characteristics.  She's warm (for a price), cunning (for a price).  She's involved with both the A-plot and the B-plot, being the go-between for the different parties.  She's a bit of a busybody, but has a good heart.  She takes both praise and insult with dignity.  I'd like to say grace, but she isn't afraid to give it back at someone even though she knows her place.

Justice Shallow

Justice Shallow first appears in Henry IV, Part 2 as an old friend of Falstaff's.  In this play they have a very warm relationship.  Falstaff owes him a thousand pounds and when Henry IV dies at the end of the play, Falstaff asks Shallow to follow him to the castle.  Falstaff believes that his drinking buddy Prince Hal, now King Henry V, will reward him for his long devotion and friendship.  Instead the new King Henry ignores Falstaff, leaving the folly of youth behind, and devastating the fat knight.

Shallow witnesses this and, rather than press his friend for the money, he tries to forgive him half of the debt and asks Falstaff to come to his home in the country [Windsor].  Falstaff agrees but says that he will pay him what he owes.

Robin, Simple and Rugby

Falstaff and Robin

Another of the many "threes" in Merry Wives, the young servants Robin, Peter Simple and John Rugby serve many purposes in the play.  They obviously serve their masters and do their bidding; they serve Shakespeare's literary purpose of having the lower class demonstrate the folly of the upper class; they serve our production's purpose of having significant roles for children under the age of 13.

Fenton

Fenton.  What a sap.

Fenton says himself that he first wooed Anne to get at her father's money.  But then he fell in love with her.  And oh, how he fell.