The Merry Wives of Windsor by William Shakespeare

"The Merry Wives of Windsor" by William Shakespeare is a comedy first published in 1602. The corpulent knight Sir John Falstaff arrives in Windsor penniless and schemes to seduce two wealthy married women for their money. But the clever wives discover his identical love letters and plot elaborate revenge, repeatedly humiliating the would-be seducer. Meanwhile, three suitors compete for the hand of Anne Page, leading to additional schemes and disguises in this Elizabethan tale of tricks and comeuppance. (This is an automatically generated summary.)

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About this eBook

Author Shakespeare, William, 1564-1616
Editor Clark, William George, 1821-1878
Editor Glover, John, librarian of Trinity College, Cambridge
Title The Merry Wives of Windsor
The Works of William Shakespeare [Cambridge Edition] [9 vols.]
Note Here is the listing of titles for the entire series, which span multiple digitization efforts:
Volume 1:
-- #23041 Introduction and Publisher's Advertising
-- #23042 The Tempest
-- #23043 The Two Gentlemen of Verona
-- #23044 The Merry Wives of Windsor
-- #23045 Measure for Measure
-- #23046 The Comedy of Errors
Volume 2: #45128
-- Much Ado About Nothing
-- Love’s Labour’s Lost
-- A Midsummer-Night’s Dream
-- The Merchant of Venice
-- As You Like It
Volume 3: #50559
-- The Taming of The Shrew
-- All's Well That Ends Well
-- Twelfth Night; or, What You Will
-- The Winter's Tale
Volume 4: #50095
-- King John
-- King Richard II.
-- The First Part of King Henry IV.
-- The Second Part of King Henry IV.
-- King Henry V.
Volume 5: #49297
-- The First Part of King Henry VI
-- The Second Part of King Henry VI
-- The Third Part of King Henry VI
-- King Richard III
Volume 6: #49007
-- King Henry VIII
-- Troilus and Cressida
-- Coriolanus
-- Titus Andronicus
Volume 7: #47715
-- Romeo and Juliet
-- Timon of Athens
-- Julius Cæsar
-- Macbeth
Volume 8: #49008
-- Hamlet
-- King Lear
-- Othello
Volume 9: future
-- Antony and Cleopatra
-- Cymbeline
-- Pericles
-- Poems
Note Wikipedia page about this book: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Merry_Wives_of_Windsor
Credits Produced by Louise Hope, Jonathan Ingram and the Online
Distributed Proofreading Team at www.pgdp.net (This
file was produced from images generously made available
by The Internet Archive/Canadian Libraries)
Reading Level Reading ease score: 94.0 (5th grade). Very easy to read.
Language English
LoC Class PR: Language and Literatures: English literature
Subject Comedy plays
Subject Falstaff, John, Sir (Fictitious character) -- Drama
Subject Married women -- Drama
Subject Windsor (Windsor and Maidenhead, England) -- Drama
Category Text
EBook-No. 23044
Release Date
Most Recently Updated Sep 27, 2025
Copyright Status Public domain in the USA.
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