Sir John Falstaff is the deuteragonist in the historical drama Henry IV and in the comedy The Merry Wives of Windsor. He is, as will be demonstrated, one of the most important of the characters that inhabit the comic genre. A “cheeky knight” who loves to drink and eat, he is a witty, deceiver and haughty role, capable of steadily saving himself from risky and grotesque context and laughing at himself, a gift that makes him even more functional to the comic device that he himself trigger and runs, often playing with the balance between gravity and wit, without this inevitably setting him playng a central role, despite the fact that he is the pivot around which the story focus on and his garrulous, daring and entertaining speech likely covers at least a third of the whole piece. This makes him one of Shakespeare’s most comidian characters, even when he acts in a historical drama. We will also see how Shakespeare drew on Italian sources as well as characters from Anglo-Saxon culture when coceiving him. All this ultimately provide to making Falstaff the complete prime mover of Verdi’s comic opera of the same title, in which the boastful reveler and daring romantic gambler becomes the pure main character.
Fonti shakespeariane del Falstaff
Fanelli c
2026-01-01
Abstract
Sir John Falstaff is the deuteragonist in the historical drama Henry IV and in the comedy The Merry Wives of Windsor. He is, as will be demonstrated, one of the most important of the characters that inhabit the comic genre. A “cheeky knight” who loves to drink and eat, he is a witty, deceiver and haughty role, capable of steadily saving himself from risky and grotesque context and laughing at himself, a gift that makes him even more functional to the comic device that he himself trigger and runs, often playing with the balance between gravity and wit, without this inevitably setting him playng a central role, despite the fact that he is the pivot around which the story focus on and his garrulous, daring and entertaining speech likely covers at least a third of the whole piece. This makes him one of Shakespeare’s most comidian characters, even when he acts in a historical drama. We will also see how Shakespeare drew on Italian sources as well as characters from Anglo-Saxon culture when coceiving him. All this ultimately provide to making Falstaff the complete prime mover of Verdi’s comic opera of the same title, in which the boastful reveler and daring romantic gambler becomes the pure main character.I documenti in IRIS sono protetti da copyright e tutti i diritti sono riservati, salvo diversa indicazione.
