William Shakespeare - Henry IV and The Merry Wives of Windsor - the character of Falstaff

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: William Shakespeare - Henry IV and The Merry Wives of Windsor - the character of Falstaff : The famous eighteenth century literary critic Samuel Johnson gushed: : 'Falstaff, how shall I describe thee? Thou compound of sense and vice…a character loaded with faults, and with faults which naturally produce contempt…a thief, a glutton, a coward, and a boaster, always ready to cheat the weak and prey upon the poor; to terrify the timorous, the insult and defenseless' : Falstaff has a special skill with swearing (compare my analysis of the contemporary Flemish writer Herman Brusselmans): : 'Sblood, you starveling, you eel-skin, you dried neat's tongue, you bull's pizzle, you stock-fish! O for breath to utter what is like thee! You tailor's yard, you sheath, you bowcase, you vile standing tuck-…' : F. is the fat old, dissolute knight who regards nothing with complete seriousness (some of todays milder versions remind you that you should be able 'to see the relativitiy of things'), not even the violent political turmoil of Henry IV's kingship. F. is spending all his money on 'sack' (drink) , to the extend that he can't even support his followers. Things which would make most people worried of frightened are greeted by F. with humor, not desperation. Also, very typical for anti-social personalities, F. lacks remorse and doesn't suffer consequences for the incident in the opening scene of The Merry Wives of Windsor, when Justice Shallow calls him to account for having robbed him the night before. Shamelessly and opportunistically F. admits that he did, and makes a show of calling his followers to account as well. Even when his followers Pistol and Nym refuse to deliver F's message for him he greets the fact with relative equinimity. But he's so opportunistic: he uses their refusal as reason to refuse Pistol a loan (the implication is that F. has no money to spare anyway.) : F. shows a definite bluntness in his communication. When he sends love letters to the women they are full of offensive remarks, combined with barroom humor and a mock love poem. His efforts in wooing are not supported well by his un-sensitive character style: he tells Mistress Ford; 'I wish your hus band were dead'. : We can see the familiar narcissistic kernel of his character: despite of his own dishonesty he assumes that everybody else is honest to the point of naivitee, that everybody else is a not-so-bright person who allways means well and therefore can be easily taken advantage off. He has a kinda fearlessness; never suspecting that harm and punishment or exclusion from the Windsor community could happen to him; so there is no break on his anti-social behavior. : : Shakespeare used his fictional character to expose the societal values and life style in the Windsor community; to which un-regulated F. is a (funny) threat. : Classification: Adventurous style of character (anti social personality) : : Jan :

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