Character

Mistress Quickly in Henry IV, Part 2

Role: Tavern keeper and creditor; voice of the common people's survival Family: Widow (implied by "Mistress") First appearance: Act 2, Scene 1 Last appearance: Act 5, Scene 4 Approx. lines: 50

Mistress Quickly is the proprietor of the Boar’s Head Tavern in Eastcheap, a woman caught between her need to survive and her inability to refuse credit to men she knows will never repay her. She is a widow of modest means, managing her business through charm, stubbornness, and an almost perverse loyalty to those who exploit her most. Her entire dramatic arc revolves around one central crisis: Falstaff owes her money—considerable money—and she cannot force him to pay. She pursues him through the courts, enlists beadles and officers, appeals to the Lord Chief Justice himself, yet Falstaff slips away like mercury, leaving her holding an empty purse and a wounded heart.

What makes Quickly remarkable is not her status but her voice. She speaks with the clarity of someone who has survived by her wits, who knows the law well enough to cite it but remains perpetually subject to the whims of powerful men. When she confronts Falstaff about his broken promises, she invokes their history—the parcel-gilt goblet, the Dolphin chamber, the pledge he made while she washed his wound—with the precision of someone who has memorized every detail of betrayal. She is neither a fool nor a martyr; she is practical, shrewd, and capable of extraordinary anger. Her malapropisms and verbal tangles (calling Pistol “Captain Peesel,” confusing terms) are not signs of stupidity but of speech lived rather than learned, the natural grammar of a woman who works with her hands and her mind but has never been given formal education. In Act 5, she is dragged off to prison by beadles, accused of harboring murderers, her body and reputation destroyed by association with the very men she tried to protect. Yet even then, she fights back with insults and demands for justice.

Quickly represents the invisible casualties of the play’s political world. While kings die and princes are crowned, she remains unpaid, unseen, and ultimately punished. She is the play’s clearest voice for those whom power ignores—the working woman, the creditor with no leverage, the one who feeds the great and receives nothing in return. Her 50 lines carry the weight of a thousand unspoken grievances. By play’s end, she has been betrayed, abandoned, and arrested, yet the world moves on without her. She is erased from the coronation, from the new order, from the future that Henry V’s rise promises. In this, she is perhaps the play’s truest victim.

Key quotes

Well, fare thee well: I have known thee these twenty-nine years, come peascod-time; but an honester and truer-hearted man,--well, fare thee well.

Well, goodbye: I’ve known you for twenty-nine years, since the time of peascods; but you’ve been a more honest and faithful man than anyone else,—well, goodbye.

Mistress Quickly · Act 2, Scene 4

Mistress Quickly says goodbye to Falstaff as he leaves for war, and in stumbling speech she tells him he is the most honest man she has ever known. The line sticks because it is the closest Falstaff gets to being seen truly by someone—not as a wit or a knight, but as a faithful heart. In a play full of betrayal and shifting allegiances, Quickly's loyalty to Falstaff stands alone.

It is more than for some, my lord; it is for all, all I have. He hath eaten me out of house and home; he hath put all my substance into that fat belly of his: but I will have some of it out again, or I will ride thee o’ nights like the mare.

It’s more than just some money, my lord; it’s everything I have. He’s eaten me out of house and home; he’s stuffed all my money into that fat belly of his: but I’ll get some of it back, or I’ll come after you at night like a wild horse.

Mistress Quickly · Act 2, Scene 1

Mistress Quickly is testifying about the debt Falstaff owes her, and she articulates it not as a matter of pounds but of her entire livelihood consumed. The line matters because it strips away comedy for a moment and shows the real cost of Falstaff's carelessly borrowed life on the people around him. Her threat to haunt him at night reveals not anger but desperation—she has nothing left to lose.

I am undone by his going; I warrant you, he’s an infinitive thing upon my score. Good Master Fang, hold him sure: good Master Snare, let him not ’scape. A’ comes continuantly to Pie-corner--saving your manhoods--to buy a saddle; and he is indited to dinner to the Lubber’s-head in Lumbert street, to Master Smooth’s the silkman: I pray ye, since my exion is entered and my case so openly known to the world, let him be brought in to his answer. A hundred mark is a long one for a poor lone woman to bear: and I have borne, and borne, and borne, and have been fubbed off, and fubbed off, and fubbed off, from this day to that day, that it is a shame to be thought on. There is no honesty in such dealing; unless a woman should be made an ass and a beast, to bear every knave’s wrong. Yonder he comes; and that errant malmsey-nose knave, Bardolph, with him. Do your offices, do your offices: Master Fang and Master Snare, do me, do me, do me your offices.

I’m ruined by him leaving; I swear, he’s a total burden on me. Good Master Fang, hold him tight: good Master Snare, don’t let him get away. He constantly comes to Pie-corner—excuse me, gentlemen— to buy a saddle; and he’s invited to dinner at the Lubber’s-head on Lumbert street, to Master Smooth’s, the silk merchant: I beg you, since my trouble is public and my case so well known, let him be brought to answer for it. A hundred marks is a huge amount for a poor, lonely woman to handle: and I’ve handled it, and handled it, and handled it, and I’ve been pushed aside, and pushed aside, and pushed aside, from one day to the next, to the point that it’s shameful to even think about. There’s no honesty in such treatment; unless a woman is meant to be a fool and a beast, bearing every scoundrel’s wrongs. There he comes; and that troublesome drunkard Bardolph with him. Do your jobs, do your jobs: Master Fang and Master Snare, do me, do me, do me your jobs.

Mistress Quickly · Act 2, Scene 1

Mistress Quickly is pursuing Falstaff through the streets with officers to collect a debt, and her speech tumbles with the urgency of a woman whose reputation and solvency hang on whether this man can be forced to answer for what he owes. The line resonates because it shows the machinery of justice—constables, lawsuits, public shaming—grinding slowly toward someone who has long escaped it. Her repeated word "fubbed off" captures the exhaustion of someone to whom promises have meant nothing.

Where Mistress appears

Act 2, Scene 1 London. A street
Act 2, Scene 4 London. The Boar's-Head Tavern in Eastcheap
Act 5, Scene 4 London. A street

Mistress Quickly in Henry IV, Part 2

Key quotes

Relationships

Mistress Quickly & Sir John Falstaff

Mistress Quickly & Doll Tearsheet

Mistress Quickly & Prince Henry (later King Henry V)

Where Mistress appears

Hear Mistress Quickly, narrated.