Other editions of book The Merry Wives of Windsor

*This Book is annotated (it contains a detailed biography of the author). *An active Table of Contents has been added by the publisher for a better customer experience. *This book has been checked and corrected for spelling errors. The Merry Wives of Windsor is a comedy by William Shakespeare, first published in 1602, though believed to have been written prior to 1597. The Windsor of the play's title is a reference to Windsor Castle in Berkshire, England, and though nominally set in the reign of Henry IV, the play makes no pretence to exist outside contemporary Elizabethan era English middle class life. It features the character Sir John Falstaff, the fat knight who had previously been featured in Henry IV Parts 1 and 2. It has been adapted for the opera on several occasions.

Widely regarded as the greatest play right in the English language William Shakespeare wrote 38 plays and 154 sonnets. With works such as Romeo and Juliet, Hamlet, A Mid Summer's Night Dream and The Taming of the Shrew his work has made a lasting impression on western culture. For the last four hundred years Shakespeare's plays have been the most preformed and studied of any playwright. From the words he invented, to the grammar he developed and phrases that linger in our vernacular the "Bard of Avon" has influenced much of the development of the English language.