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Sir John Falstaff is a fictional character who appears in three plays by William Shakespeare. Round and glorious, tradition holds that Shakespeare wrote the part for his second comedian, a fat man, John Heminge, who played a bold, bawdy humor of a John Candy sort. An alternative theory is that Falstaff was written for Will Kemp, the clown of Shakespeare's company. The original actor was later succeeded by John Lowin , another portly comic actor. Flush with flatulent humor, Falstaff still managed to embody a kind of depth common to Shakespeare's tricky comedy. In Act II, Scene III of Henry V, his death is described by the character "Hostess", possibly the bar-lady Mistress Quickly , who describes his body in terms that echo the death of Socrates.1 Appearances
He appears in the following plays:
He is mentioned in Henry V but has no lines, nor is it directed that he appear on stage. However, many stage and film adaptations have seen it necessary to include Falstaff for the insight he provides into King Henry V's character. The most notable examples in cinema are Laurence Olivier's 1946 movie and Kenneth Branagh's 1989 movie, both of which draw additional material from the Henry IV plays.
Orson Welles's Chimes at Midnight ( 1965) compiles the two Henry IV plays into a single, condensed storyline, while adding a handful of scenes from Henry V. The movie, also known as Falstaff, features Welles himself in the title role.
Falstaff ( 1893) is also the title of Giuseppe VerdiGiovanni Boldini, 1886 (National Gallery of Modern Art, Rome) Giuseppe Fortunino Francesco Verdi ( October 10, 1813 January 27, 1901) was one of the great composers of Italian opera. His work was already very popular during his lifetime and remains so tod's last operaOpera buffa (comic opera), also known as Commedia per musica (musical comedy), or Dramma giocoso per musica (musical dramatic comedy), is a form of opera. A sub- genre of lyric opera Opera buffa developed in Naples in Italy in the first half of 18th centu, with a librettoA libretto is body of words used in an extended musical work such as an opera, operetta, oratorio, or musical. It includes the lyrics to the musical numbers as well as any spoken passages. The word libretto comes from Italian, and means "little book. by Arrigo BoitoArrigo Boito ( February 4, 1842 June 10, 1918) was an Italian poet, novelist and composer, best known today for his opera libretti and his own opera, Mefistofele''. Born in Padua, Boito studied music at the Milan Conservatoire. The premiere of his only fi. It is mostly based upon The Merry Wives of Windsor.
2 Origins
Shakespeare based Falstaff upon Sir John OldcastleSir John Oldcastle (d. December 14, 1417), English Lollard leader, was son of Sir Richard Oldcastle of Almeley in Herefordshire. He is first mentioned as serving in the expedition to Scotland in 1400, when he was probably quite a young man. Next year he w, historically known to be Prince Hal's companion. However, Oldcastle was unlike Falstaff in many ways; the cleverness and wit which characterize him are Shakespeare's invention. During the first performances of 1 Henry IV, Falstaff was in fact called Oldcastle, but protests from his descendants—the influential Cobham family—forced Shakespeare to change the name. In his earlier play, Henry VI, part 1King Henry VI Part 1 is one of the "history" plays of William Shakespeare. It is the first in the cycle of four plays often referred to as " The Wars of the Roses". Date and Authorship There is evidence that the first part of Henry VI was in fact written, he had included a cowardly character named Fastolfe. Changing a few letters gave Shakespeare the name by which his invention is known today. Worried, perhaps, that this change would not placate his detractors, Shakespeare made a direct comment on the situation, in the concluding lines of 2 Henry IV:
If you be not too
much cloyed with fat meat, our humble author will
continue the story, with Sir John in it, and make
you merry with fair Katharine of France: where, for
any thing I know, Falstaff shall die of a sweat,
unless already a' be killed with your hard
opinions; for Oldcastle died a martyr, and this is
not the man.
