Summary
Mistress Page and Mistress Ford receive their letters and share them with one another. They realize they are the same letter, and vow to exact revenge on Falstaff and bring him to financial ruin. Meanwhile, Pistol and Nim tell Ford and Page about Falstaff's plans to seduce their wives. Page admits that he does not worry about his wife's fidelity, while Ford is worried about Mistress Ford being anywhere near Falstaff. While Ford and Page talk, Mistress Ford and Mistress Page decide to use Mistress Quickly as their messenger to Falstaff.
The Host of the Garter enters and announces the fight between Caius and Evans. Ford approaches the Host privately and asks to be introduced to Falstaff under a false name, Brooke. He offers the Host money to make the introduction and assumes a disguise.
At the Garter Inn, Falstaff refuses to lend Pistol any money, saying he is only poor because he tries to live too honorably. Mistress Quickly arrives and tells Falstaff that Mistress Ford wants to see him tomorrow while her husband is away, and Mistress Page has asked for him to send her another letter. Brooke (Ford in disguise) arrives and offers Falstaff money to seduce Mistress Ford so that she can no longer use her virtue as an excuse not to be with him (Brooke). Falstaff agrees, and Ford is privately angry to discover that Mistress Ford has already made plans to see Falstaff the next day.
In a field, Caius awaits Evans for their fight, but he never shows. The Host insults Caius repeatedly but Caius does not understand him, and the Host convinces Caius that he is praising him. Finally, the Host offers to take Caius back to Windsor using a route that will pass a farmhouse where Anne is dining. Caius, wanting to woo Anne, agrees and goes with the Host.
Analysis
The theme of gender continues to develop in this section of the play, as the wives (Mistress Ford and Mistress Page) discover Falstaff's plan to seduce them both. They learn about this scheme by comparing the letters they each receive – which turn out to be the same letter, emphasizing Falstaff's negligence and dishonesty. Letters were a common prop and plot device used in early modern English theater, and especially in Shakespeare's own plays. Letters were considered intimate and often revelatory when they appeared in a performance, and frequently divulged secrets that helped complicate the plot through tensions between characters. Furthermore, letters in Shakespeare's plays are almost always misinterpreted by whomever receives them, leading to further complications and usually hijinks in the case of comedy and death in the case of tragedy. In The Merry Wives of Windsor, the letters that Falstaff sends to the wives are treated rather uniquely; rather than creating problems between the wives or being misinterpreted by them, Falstaff's letters are the reason that Mistress Page and Mistress Ford join together to exact lighthearted revenge on the boisterous knight. In other words, the letters come to represent Falstaff's failed attempt to take advantage of the women and his mistake in assuming that the wives could not outsmart him.
This section of the play also introduces the theme of deception, disguise, and manipulation – through Falstaff primarily, of course, but also through a number of other characters. In the subplot involving Caius and Evans, for example, they are both manipulated by the Host who seems to delight in making fools of the two non-native English speakers. Mistress Quickly, in her messenger role, also contributes to the deception of a number of male characters – Falstaff in his pursuit of the wives, and Slender, Caius, and Fenton in their pursuit of Anne. Finally, Ford assumes an entirely new identity as Brooke in order to question Falstaff and investigate his wife's fidelity. Suddenly, the seemingly calm and convivial climate of the middle-class inhabitants in Windsor is upended by desire, jealousy, and self-satisfaction. Within the first two acts of the play, Shakespeare creates a thoroughly chaotic landscape of Windsor in which nearly every character goes to exaggerated lengths to outwit and embarrass another, so much so that the audience may have a difficult time keeping track of who knows what at what point. This confusion is central to the comedic plots that will continue to develop around characters who delight in deceiving one another.
