episode?

In which scene is Ford the worst duped?

Give an account of Dame Quickly's relations to the intrigues, and show
how her multitudinous offices as go-between interfere with each other
so that she is "slacke" in one of her errands. What is the effect of
her slackness on the contradictions in the time of the action. (See
Duration of the Action, in "First Folio Edition"). Are they only
seeming contradictions? The Sources of the Ford intrigue and what
Shakespeare has done with them.

Anne and her father and mother as characterized in this act, with
relation to the suitors.

QUERIES FOR DISCUSSION

Is Anne the only character one can thoroughly sympathize with?

Are the situations such as owe their fun largely to coincidence, like
those in the "Comedie of Errors," or to a teeming variousness in the
human naturalness of all the characters?

THE STORY OF ACT IV

FORD'S ENLIGHTENMENT

Why is the Old Woman of Brentford trick a climax upon that of the
Buckbasket?

Falstaffe's wish that all the world might be cheated is true to the
method of the Play. Show in exemplification of this, how a fourth
intrigue grows out of the third, and is introduced as late as this
fourth Act. How is the joke of the Host against Dr. Caius and Sir Hugh
Evans avenged? Is this reference to the "three Cozen Jermans" that are
said to run away with the Host's horses, liklier to be an allusion
seriously made to a real event or to make use of it as an entirely
fictitious intrigue and practical joke in the Play? Is this mock
happening such as could be clear by the method of enacting it and one
entirely consonant with this Comedy as a farce-mosaic of laughable
tricks? (See pp. 120-121, 179-180, also Note on IV. iii. 6). Discuss
probabilities. The turn taken in the plot: Show how all combine
against Falstaffe; also the place of this intrigue in making material
for Act V.

QUERIES FOR DISCUSSION

Has the "Merry Wives" any serious or tragic moments such as belong
usually to Shakespeare's Comedies?

Compare the jealousy of Ford with the jealousy of Adriana in the
"Comedie of Errors." Which exemplifies the riper treatment and why?

THE STORY OF ACT V

THE DEFEAT OF MERCENARY LOVEMAKING

Make clear the ins and outs of the Fairy trap, first for its actors,
then for the dupes? Can the apparent inconsistencies in the wearing of
green or white and the mention of "Quickly" for "Queene" be accounted
for on the supposition that everybody