To Nell and Back: Revisiting Mistress Quickly

Abstract

Although the popularity of Shakespeare's Falstaff from 1597 to now receives frequent acknowledgement, his straight-woman, Mistress Quickly, has attracted relatively scant attention. She was popular enough, however, for Shakespeare to include her in four plays, within varied social contexts but with a consistently inconsistent voice. This collaboration reviews the role of Mistress Quickly across all four plays — 1&2 Henry IV, Henry V and The Merry Wives of Windsor — drawing on our experience of editing the character electronically for Internet Shakespeare Editions. These papers report on the problems, choices, and insights that e-editing Mistress Quickly has exposed