Examples of Insult in Shakespeare's Merry Wives of Windsor

Throughout Shakespeare's, the "Merry Wives of Windsor", Falstaff is the pathetic butt of a grand joke concocted by Mrs. Page and Mrs. Ford. Unbeknownst to him, the two conniving wives have him believing that they have an attraction for him and equally, this misled suitor is blindly unaware of his utter lack of the ability to attract. In addition to his ill reputation for thievery and other underhanded deeds, which he unconventionally and eagerly admits to, "I will answer it straight. I have done all this." (1.1.115), Falstaff is by no means physically appealing to the eyes. Falstaff's arrogance keeps him blind to his negative characteristics, but the characters of the Merry Wives give him signals throughout the work. Several references can be found within the play regarding his unappealing attributes - mainly his weight.

The first reference to these negative depictions of Falstaff's stature can be found after Mrs. Page, who is happily married, receives an unwanted love letter from him. "How shall I be revenged on him? For/revenged I will be! As sure as his guts are made/of puddings." (2.1.64). Here puddings, which are described in the text's footnotes as "sausages, stuffed intestines," begin a greasy theme that will be seen several more times within the play. Mrs. Ford, also married, of course pipes in with a similar insult as she presents her identical love letter to Mrs. Page. She first unfondly refers to him as "this whale (with so/many tuns of oil in his belly)" (2.1.64) and then later states a desire to have him "melted in his own grease" (2.1.68).

The women in the play are not the only found to comment on Falstaff's obesity. In the final act Evans tells the now humiliated and rejected suitor that "your belly/is all putter." (5.5.140). Mrs. Page and Mrs. Ford however are not through with Falstaff. Later in the same act, after unmasking their deceit, the two take the advantage to insult him one last time, beginning with Mrs. Ford, demeaning him as a "hodge-pudding" (5.5.151), which is defined in the text's footnotes as a "large pork sausage" and ending with a final reference to his bulbous belly by Mrs. Page. As again explained in the text's footnotes, Page's statement of Falstaff as being of "intolerable entrails" (5.5.153), is the final description of his "monstrous belly."

Considering the play as a whole, Falstaff from the very beginning has been on the losing team. As first impressions are considered, he is a heavy-set, older man, who does not appear to have riches or any other desirable traits by any means. Initially he does not seem to have much to offer the opposite sex. And once his true colors are shown, those around him are forced to combine their knowledge of his underhanded deeds with his unkempt appearance. Their final conclusion of his disheveled character is anything but that of a pleasantly plump fellow with a bowl full of jelly, but instead that of an incredibly repulsive individual with a pit full of sausage and grease.