The Merry Wives of Windsor is a comedy by William Shakespeare, believed to have been written around 1597. The play follows Sir John Falstaff, who, short of money, decides to seduce two married women, Mistress Ford and Mistress Page, hoping to gain access to their husbands' fortunes. Discovering he has sent identical love letters to both, the clever wives join forces to humiliate him through a series of elaborate pranks, culminating in his disguise as Herne the Hunter. Meanwhile, Anne Page secretly marries her true love, Fenton, outwitting her parents' preferred suitors. It remains Shakespeare's only comedy centered on English middle-class domestic life.
