Inroads to eastcheap: modern approaches to falstaff

Abstract

Twentieth century criticism of Sir John Falstaff can be divided rather neatly into classes or schools of opinion. A. C. Bradley and the Romantics lead the charge into the new era by insisting that Maurice Morgann was right all along, and that Sir John is not a coward. The Romantics like Falstaff so well that they contend he is actually the hero of the drama. Shakespeare himself loses control as Sir John struts about the stage, and Shakespeare never convinces us tha tSir John is rejectable