Editing John Falstaff (section)

==Role in the plays== 
[[File:MerryWives.jpg|thumb|upright=1.3|right|Mistress Page and Falstaff in ''The Merry Wives of Windsor'', staged by [[Pacific Repertory Theatre]] in 1999]]

Falstaff appears in three of Shakespeare's plays: ''[[Henry IV, Part 1]]'', ''[[Henry IV, Part 2]]'', and ''[[The Merry Wives of Windsor]]''. His death is mentioned in ''[[Henry V (play)|Henry V]]'', but he has no lines, nor is it directed that he appear on stage. However, many stage and film adaptations have seen it necessary to include Falstaff for the insight he provides into [[Henry V of England|King Henry V]]'s character. The most notable examples in cinema are [[Laurence Olivier]]'s [[Henry V (1944 film)|1944 version]] and [[Kenneth Branagh]]'s [[Henry V (1989 film)|1989 film]], both of which draw additional material from the ''Henry IV'' plays.

The character is known to have been very popular with audiences at the time, and for many years afterwards. According to [[Leonard Digges (writer)|Leonard Digges]], writing shortly after Shakespeare's death, while many plays could not get good audiences, "let but Falstaff come, Hal, [[Poins]], the rest, you scarce shall have a room".{{sfn|Birch|2009|p=475}}

===''Henry IV, Part 1''===
{{further|Henry IV, Part 1}}
[[File:Falstaff plays the king.jpg|thumb|upright=1.3|right|1829 watercolour by [[Johann Heinrich Ramberg]] of Act II, Scene iv; Falstaff enacts the part of the king]]

King Henry is troubled by the behaviour of his son and heir, the [[Prince of Wales]]. Hal (the future [[Henry V of England|Henry V]]) has lost his authority at court and spends his time in taverns with low companions. He has become an object of scorn to the nobility and his worthiness to succeed his father is doubted. Hal's main companion in enjoying the low life is Sir John Falstaff. Fat, old, drunk, and corrupt as he is, he has a [[charisma]] and a zest for life that captivates the Prince.

Hal likes Falstaff but makes no pretence of being like him. He enjoys insulting his dissolute friend and makes sport of him. He and Poins pretend to go along with a plan by Falstaff and three friends to carry out a highway robbery, but then attack the robbers in disguise and in turn steal their loot, after which Hal returns it to its owner. Hal tells the audience that he will soon abandon this life and assume his rightful high place in affairs by showing himself worthy through some (unspecified) noble exploits. Hal believes that this sudden change will gain him additional approval and earn him respect at court.

Falstaff, who has "misused the King's press damnably",<ref>{{Folger inline|1H4|4|2|12–13|bare=true}}</ref> by taking money from able-bodied men who wished to evade service and by keeping the wages of those he recruited who were killed in battle ("food for powder, food for powder")<ref>{{Folger inline|1H4|4|2|66–67|bare=true}}</ref> is obliged to play a role in the Battle of Shrewsbury. Left on his own during Hal's duel with [[Henry Percy (Hotspur)|Hotspur]], he feigns death to avoid attack by Douglas. After Hal leaves both Hotspur and Falstaff on the field and being thought dead, Falstaff revives, stabs Hotspur's corpse in the thigh and claims credit for the kill. Though Hal knows better, he is merciful to Falstaff, who subsequently states that he wants to amend his life and begin "to live cleanly as a nobleman should do".<ref>{{Folger inline|1H4|5|4|76–169|bare=true}}</ref>

===''Henry IV, Part 2''===
{{further|Henry IV, Part 2}}
[[File:Edward Grutzner Goupil Falstaff at the Boars Head Tavern.jpg|thumb|upright=1.3|right|Falstaff with Doll Tearsheet in the Boar's Head tavern; illustration to Act 2, Scene 4 of the play by [[Eduard von Grützner]]]]
The play focuses on Prince Hal's journey toward kingship, and his ultimate rejection of Falstaff. However, unlike ''Part One'', Hal's and Falstaff's stories are almost entirely separate, as the two characters meet only twice and very briefly. The tone of much of the play is elegiac, focusing on Falstaff's age and his closeness to death, which parallels that of the increasingly sick king.

Falstaff is still drinking and engaging in petty criminality in the London underworld. He first appears, followed by a new character, a young page whom Prince Hal has assigned him as a joke. Falstaff enquires what the doctor has said about the analysis of his [[urine]], and the page cryptically informs him that the urine is healthier than the patient. Falstaff delivers one of his most characteristic lines: "I am not only witty in myself, but the cause that wit is in other men." Falstaff promises to outfit the page in "vile apparel" (ragged clothing). He then complains of his insolvency, blaming it on "consumption of the purse." They go off, Falstaff vowing to find a wife "in the stews" (i.e., the local brothels).

The Lord Chief Justice enters, looking for Falstaff. Falstaff at first feigns deafness in order to avoid conversing with him. When this tactic fails, Falstaff pretends to mistake him for someone else. As the Chief Justice attempts to question Falstaff about a recent robbery, Falstaff insists on turning the subject of the conversation to the nature of the illness afflicting the King. He then adopts the pretense of being a much younger man than the Chief Justice: "You that are old consider not the capacities of us that are young." Finally, he asks the Chief Justice for one thousand pounds to help outfit a military expedition, but is denied.

[[File:Falstaff rebuked (Smirke, c. 1795).jpg|thumb|right|''Falstaff rebuked'', [[Robert Smirke (painter)|Robert Smirke]], {{Circa|1795}}]]

He has a relationship with [[Doll Tearsheet]], a prostitute, who gets into a fight with [[Ancient Pistol]], Falstaff's ensign. After Falstaff ejects Pistol, Doll asks him about the Prince. Falstaff is embarrassed when his derogatory remarks are overheard by Hal, who is present disguised as a musician. Falstaff tries to talk his way out of it, but Hal is unconvinced. When news of a second rebellion arrives, Falstaff joins the army again, and goes to the country to raise forces. There he encounters an old school friend, Justice Shallow, and they reminisce about their youthful follies. Shallow brings forward potential recruits for the loyalist army: Mouldy, Bullcalf, Feeble, Shadow and Wart, a motley collection of rustic yokels. Falstaff and his cronies accept bribes from two of them, Mouldy and Bullcalf, not to be conscripted.

In the final scene, Falstaff, having learned from Pistol that Hal is now King, travels to London in expectation of great rewards. But Hal rejects him, saying that he has now changed, and can no longer associate with such people. The London lowlifes, expecting a paradise of thieves under Hal's governance, are instead purged and imprisoned by the authorities.

===''Henry V''===
{{further|Henry V (play)|l1=Henry V}}
Although Falstaff does not appear on stage in ''Henry V'', his death is the main subject of Act 2, Scene 3, in which [[Mistress Quickly]] delivers a memorable eulogy:

{{Blockquote
|character=[[Mistress Quickly]]
|title=''Henry V''
|author=[[William Shakespeare]]
|source=Act 2, Scene 3.<ref>{{Folger inline|H5|2|3|9–26|bare=true}}</ref>
|text=<poem>
Nay, sure, he's not in hell! He's in Arthur's
bosom, if ever man went to Arthur's bosom. He
made a finer end, and went away an it had been any
christom child. He parted ev'n just between twelve
and one, ev'n at the turning o' th' tide; for after I saw
him fumble with the sheets and play with flowers
and smile upon his finger's end, I knew there was
but one way, for his nose was as sharp as a pen and
he talked of green fields. 'How now, Sir John?'
quoth I. 'What, man, be o' good cheer!' So he cried
out 'God, God, God!' three or four times. Now I, to
comfort him, bid him he should not think of God; I
hoped there was no need to trouble himself with
any such thoughts yet. So he bade me lay more
clothes on his feet. I put my hand into the bed and
felt them, and they were as cold as any stone. Then I
felt to his knees, and so upward and upward, and
all was as cold as any stone.</poem>
}}

There is a similarity in Shakespeare's description of the death of Falstaff, and in [[Plato]]'s description of the death of [[Socrates]]. In a description in Plato's dialogue ''[[Phaedo]]'', after Socrates has drunk [[Conium maculatum|hemlock]], the man who gave him the poison<blockquote>felt him, and after an interval examined his feet and legs; he then pinched his foot hard and asked if he would feel it, and Socrates said not. And then he felt his shins once more; and moving upwards in this way, he showed us that he was becoming cold and numb. He went on feeling him and said that when the coldness reached his heart, he would be gone.{{sfn|Gallop|1975|loc=sec. 118, p. 72}}</blockquote>

===''The Merry Wives of Windsor''===
{{further|The Merry Wives of Windsor}}
[[File:James Stephanoff - Falstaff at Herne's Oak, from "The Merry Wives of Windsor," Act V, Scene v - Google Art Project.jpg|thumb|right|Falstaff at Herne's Oak, from ‘’The Merry Wives of Windsor’’, Act V, Scene v, James Stephanoff, 1832]]

Falstaff arrives in Windsor very short on money. To obtain financial advantage, he decides to court two wealthy married women, Mistress Ford and Mistress Page. Falstaff decides to send the women identical love letters and asks his servants – Pistol and Nym – to deliver them to the wives. When they refuse, Falstaff sacks them, and, in revenge, the men tell Ford and Page (the husbands) of Falstaff's intentions. Page is not concerned, but the jealous Ford persuades the Host of the Garter Inn to introduce him to Falstaff as a 'Master Brook' so that he can find out Falstaff's plans.

When the women receive the letters, each goes to tell the other, and they quickly find that the letters are almost identical. The "merry wives" are not interested in the ageing, overweight Falstaff as a suitor; however, for the sake of their own amusement and to gain revenge for his indecent assumptions towards them both, they pretend to respond to his advances.

This all results in great embarrassment for Falstaff. Mr. Ford poses as 'Mr. Brook' and says he is in love with Mistress Ford but cannot woo her as she is too virtuous. He offers to pay Falstaff to court her, saying that once she has lost her honour he will be able to tempt her himself. Falstaff cannot believe his luck, and tells 'Brook' he has already arranged to meet Mistress Ford while her husband is out. Falstaff leaves to keep his appointment and Ford soliloquises that he is right to suspect his wife and that the trusting Page is a fool.

When Falstaff arrives to meet Mistress Ford, the merry wives trick him into hiding in a laundry basket ("buck basket") full of filthy, smelly clothes awaiting laundering. When the jealous Ford returns to try and catch his wife with the knight, the wives have the basket taken away and the contents (including Falstaff) dumped into the river. Although this affects Falstaff's pride, his ego is surprisingly resilient. He is convinced that the wives are just playing hard to get with him, so he continues his pursuit of sexual advancement, with its attendant capital and opportunities for blackmail.

Again Falstaff goes to meet the women but Mistress Page comes back and warns Mistress Ford of her husband's approach again. They try to think of ways to hide him other than the laundry basket which he refuses to get into again. They trick him again, this time into disguising himself as Mistress Ford's maid's obese aunt, known as "the fat woman of Brentford". Ford tries once again to catch his wife with the knight but ends up beating the "old woman", whom he despises, and throwing her out of his house. Black and blue, Falstaff laments his bad luck.

Eventually the wives tell their husbands about the series of jokes they have played on Falstaff, and together they devise one last trick which ends up with the Knight being humiliated in front of the whole town. They tell Falstaff to dress as "[[Herne the Hunter|Herne, the Hunter]]" and meet them by an old oak tree in Windsor Forest (now part of [[Windsor Great Park]]). They then dress several of the local children as [[fairies]] and get them to pinch and burn Falstaff to punish him.

The wives meet Falstaff, and almost immediately the "fairies" attack. After the chaos, the characters reveal their true identities to Falstaff. Although he is embarrassed, Falstaff takes the joke surprisingly well, as he sees it was what he deserved. Ford says he must pay back the 20 pounds 'Brook' gave him and takes the Knight's horses as recompense. Eventually they all leave together and Mistress Page even invites Falstaff to come with them: "let us every one go home, and laugh this sport o'er by a country fire; Sir John and all".