Current scholarship on Shakespeare’s The Merry Wives of Windsor mostly focuses on topics surrounding Sir John Falstaff’s presence, mythical allusions, and the questionable date of publication. Although their actions are the driving force of the play, the woman frontrunners, Mistress Ford and Mistress Page, receive little scholarship attention. Anne Page, daughter of Mistress Page and wife of Fenton, also dictates the course of the play by taking control of her betrothal. Yet she remains underappreciated in scholarship. This thesis highlights important characteristics of all three wives of Windsor in addition to justifying Anne Page’s role as a wife of Windsor. Through close readings of the text and analyses of scholarship immediately relevant to these wives and common attributes of women in Renaissance England and Shakespeare plays, I argue these strong, multifaceted women refute stereotypical female roles and undermine patriarchal authority aligning themselves with other idolized outspoken woman characters in Shakespeare plays.

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The subject of my Thesis and accompanying Monograph Document in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the Master of Fine Arts degree / Performance Track is my work in the role of Mistress Quickly from William Shakespeare's The Merry Wives of Windsor. In my research, I will be focusing on a number of issues, many of which will bear direct relevance to and undoubtedly, more fully inform, my interpretation in performance. A key element of the performance-related side of my research will be an exploration of the cultural, historical, political, economic, and religious attributes of Shakespeare's times and how these factors drive Mistress Quickly's interactions with others, her perspectives of the society in which she lives, and her personal behavior. The directorial concept, as initially explained to the cast, will be keeping us within the English Renaissance and Shakespeare's time. Any variation within this initial concept will also be elaborated upon. Finally, I would like to explore the overall place of women at the time Shakespeare wrote, as well as during the specific time frame in which our production is set. Furthermore, I will look at Mistress Quickly as a character and how she is either reflected in or at odds with that societal placement.

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This thesis contains four stories of fantasy and science fiction. Four story lengths are represented: the short short ("Dragon Lovers"), the shorter short story ("Homecoming"), the longer short story ("Shadow Mistress"), and the novel ("Sword of Albruch," excerpted here).

The existence of a metaphoric female standing in for poetic style was only plainly discussed in a paper from 1987 concerned with Roman elegiac poetry. This figure is given the title of scripta puella or written woman, since her existence depends solely on the writings of an author. These females often appear to have basis in reality; however there is insufficient evidence to allow them to cross out of the realm of fantasy. The term scripta puella in poetry refers to a perfected poetic form, one the author prefers over all others, and a human form creates the illusion of a mistress. Using this form, usually described in basic terms which create an outline of a woman, a poet easily expresses his inclination towards specific poetic styles and elements. While other scholars recognize the scripta puella in elegiac poetry, little research has been done into other genres. For this thesis, the focus is on the genre called Latin verse satire. The genre contains four recognized authors: Lucilius, Horace, Persius, and Juvenal. In order to prove her existence, each collection of satires is examined in its original language and analyzed with heavy emphasis on recognizing key phrases and attributes of scriptae puellae. Her appearances can be difficult to determine, as some examples will show, yet the existence of scriptae puellae enrich modern understanding of ancient texts. In addition to the four authors, articles and books dealing with women, satire, and women in satire are consulted to aid in explanation and support. With this body of proof, scriptae puellae are shown to exist within the Latin verse satirists' texts; they act as a link between the four authors and as a link to Greek poetry, which has been considered a possible predecessor for satire. This knowledge allows for a better explanation of satire as a genre and opens up the possibilities for further study in other genres which contain women of various forms.

Art is too ethereal a thing to judge by tangible measure. There is no scale to weigh a performance on, no level to gauge a character’s balance, no plumb line to measure its depth. No critic can appoint an allotment of stars to represent the worth of a production, and the audience, though a vital participant within the performance experience, cannot act as Jury and deliberate together to reach an absolute verdict of approval or disapproval. How then can an actor go about working towards giving a successful performance? The Merry Wives of Windsor was written at a time when wives were not permitted to tread upon the stage at all. During Shakespeare’s era the roles of women were played only by cherub faced young men. The version of The Merry Wives of Windsor which was presented by the University of Central Florida in the fall of 2002 was not, however, set in those pre-femme days. The production was presented as if being performed by a traveling acting troupe of men and women with a repertoire of which The Merry Wives of Windsor was only a part. I was cast as Mistress Ford. Embarking on a Shakespeare play is no small feat. Earnest research on the lives of the Elizabethans will offer up clues into the mindset, customs, beliefs, and theories of the age in which the play was written. Modern day actors preparing themselves to take on a Shakespearian role may also look also to the theories and theatrical trends of his or her own time and those that have led up to it. This research is the foundation on which a performance must be built. The theatrical performer must act as his own instrument in the symphony of his performance. Stage acting is an art form which enfolds many forms of expressive artistic communication. The mind, the body, the voice, the emotions and in my opinion the soul must all come into play to reach the summit of an artistic theatrical performance and the actor’s journey must be comprised of exercises to stretch and strengthen each area of the actor’s instrument. A vigorous vocal regimen must be crafted and adhered to. An analytical investigation of the script is required. The actor’s physicality must be tailored to portray the proper class, energy level and spirit of his character. The emotional life of the character should be thoroughly probed and the performer must find a way to fully embody the soul of the character and the age in which the character lived. In this particular case, I came to find that the usual modern day methods of performance preparation most commonly used by actors of our age were not in themselves enough to bring me to what I felt was a successful performance. I came instead to discover that a Brechtian approach to Shakespearian acting solved many of the challenges I faced when coming up short in my prior attempts to use a more Stanislavsky based method. Although the very nature of art makes it impossible to judge by tangible measure, there are very tangible ways to go about preparing for a role upon the stage. No single approach can work for every piece. One must exercise the mind, voice, body and soul to perform a role as weighty as a Shakespearian character. Proper research, analysis, and a regimen built upon exercises for the body and voice are the tools available for the serious actor. This thesis outlines a University actress’ use of these tools and details how the discovery of Brechtian elements within the UCF production of Merry Wives opened doors to a new way of handling the portrayal Mistress Ford.

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