ABSTRACT
The Merry Wives of Windsor had been another command performance. The Queen was so delighted with Falstaff that she ordered Shakespeare to continue him for another play and to show him in love. Shakespeare produced the play in a fortnight. For all his haste in this play Shakespeare tried his hand, for the first time, at a play of contemporary manners, his own version of a comedy of humours. The story was not more fantastic than the others which Shakespeare had turned into comedy. Having thus collected the materials for his comedy, Shakespeare began to work on the detail of the plot. It was customary to end a comedy with a jig, but Shakespeare was unwilling to spoil the effect of his play. Shakespeare determined to make some use of this controversy and he submitted his Puritan to a charge of possession and a feigned exorcism. Shakespeare overheard the conversation, and supplanted his partner by arriving first.
