Falstaff arrives at Ford's house for another tryst, but Mistress Page bursts in with warnings that Ford is coming with armed guards. The wives quickly disguise Falstaff in an old woman's dress from Brentford. Ford arrives with Page and others, searches the house obsessively, and roughly beats the disguised Falstaff, mistaking him for a witch. When he empties the laundry basket looking for Falstaff, he finds only clothes. The scene ends with Ford's jealousy temporarily satisfied but the wives' revenge perfectly executed.
This scene escalates the wives' game into physical punishment and public humiliation. By forcing Falstaff into women's clothes—a costume that erases his masculine authority—they render him powerless and ridiculous. Ford's violent beating of the old woman echoes his jealous paranoia from Act 3, but now the wives control every element of the trap. The scene demonstrates that their wit operates on multiple levels: they've orchestrated not just Falstaff's deception but also Ford's participation in his own redemption. Ford's search for the knight, his obsessive checking of every possible hiding place, shows how jealousy has consumed him entirely. Yet the wives allow him to find nothing, proving their superior intelligence and planning.
The broader significance lies in how the scene redefines justice through spectacle and communal participation. Ford becomes not a jealous husband seeking truth, but a tool of the wives' theatrical revenge. Sir Hugh Evans, Page, and the servants all witness the chaos, transforming private humiliation into public mockery. The fact that Falstaff escapes in drag—not as himself but as a woman—suggests he cannot be trusted to occupy any authentic identity. By Act 4, Scene 2, the play has moved beyond simple tricks into something closer to ritualized punishment, where gender disguise and physical violence combine to obliterate the knight's pretensions. The wives have proven that in Windsor, wit and coordination matter more than rank or strength.
Mistress Ford, your sorrow hath eaten up my sufferance.
Mistress Ford, your sadness has worn me out.
Sir John Falstaff · Act 4, Scene 2
Falstaff is attempting to seduce Mistress Ford again, this time in her own house, and opens with an elaborate show of sympathy for her supposed sorrow. The line is a perfect example of his method—false concern paired with courtly language to lower her resistance. It shows how little he understands actual female emotion, treating vulnerability as a tool.
Wives may be merry, and yet honest too: We do not act that often jest and laugh; 'Tis old, but true, Still swine eat all the draff.
Wives can be happy, and still be honest: We don't always act like this, joking and laughing; It's old, but true, Still pigs eat all the scraps.
Mistress Margaret Page · Act 4, Scene 2
The wives have just beaten Falstaff disguised as the old woman of Brentford and are reflecting on their scheme, justifying the revenge they have taken. The line is the play's central claim about female virtue—that laughter and mischief do not corrupt honesty, and that women can be clever without being unfaithful. It places the entire revenge plot on moral ground.
Original Shakespeare alongside modern English. Synced read-along narration in the app.
