ABSTRACT
As we have seen, one of the most autobiographical of the plays is The Merry Wives O f Windsor, and there are a number of passages which have been generally recognized as applying to Shakespeare himself. The comical cross-examination of Mistress Page’s son William on his Latin grammar by Parson Hugh Evans, has suggested to most commentators Shakespeare’s own experience with the Stratford schoolmaster Thomas Jenkins - and Mistress Page’s comment to Sir Hugh that “my husband saies my sonne [William] profits nothing in the world at his Booke” , has echoes of the tradition that Shakepeare was prematurely withdrawn from school because of his father’s economic difficulties.1 Likewise the character of Gentle Master Fenton is consistent with what we know of Shakespeare as a young man; as the host in the play describes him: “He capers, he dances, he has eies of youth: he writes verses, hee speakes holiday, he smels April and May.” At the end of the play, Fenton runs away with Ann Page and marries her very much against her parents’ wishes - reminiscent of Shakespeare’s hurried marriage to Anne Hathaway. But most important of all, is the wildness of Fenton’s youth: “The Gentleman is of no hauing, he kept companie with the wilde Prince, and Pointz: he is of too high a Region, he knows too much” - an accusation which is admitted by Fenton himself, confessing to his “Riots past, my wilde Societies.”
