&quot;The Merry Wives of Windsor&quot; is a comedy by William Shakespeare first published in 1602, though believed to have been written in or before 1597. The Windsor of the play&#39;s title is a reference to the town of Windsor, also the location of Windsor Castle, in Berkshire, England.&nbsp;<br /><br />&quot;The Merry Wives of Windsor&quot; contains two important plotlines. The play&#39;s funniest plotline is the conflict between Sir John Falstaff and the two merry wives (Mistress Ford and Mistress Page). The story&#39;s other major plotline deals with three suitors (Slender, Doctor Caius and Fenton), all of whom wish to win Anne Page&#39;s hand in marriage.<br /><br />Of all Shakespeare&#39;s comedies, &quot;The Merry Wives of Windsor&quot; is the one that most resembles a modern sitcom. The play focuses on mostly middle-class characters, none of the characters are ever in mortal danger, it is written almost entirely in prose and it employs a great deal of low comedy. Low comedy is the stuff of slapstick, pratfalls, outrageous accents, sight gags and Three Stooges-style physicality. &quot;The Merry Wives of Windsor&quot; has lots of this. In fact, most of the action that drives the plot of this play is based on <i>&quot;Mistress Ford and Mistress Page&quot;</i>&nbsp;concocting various schemes toward the purpose of embarrassing Sir John Falstaff.