Is the Welshman's Accent Fake?

By GretaCarroll on February 24, 2008 7:52 PM | | Comments (0)

I appreciated Maddie’s comments  about acts 4 and 5 of Shakespeare's The Merry Wives of Windsor, because she like me, is not feeling too confident about Mr. Ford’s reform. Maddie drew my attention to his claim that he trusts her, and says he will not doubt her till Sir Hugh Evans can speak English correctly.  However, ironically it would appear to me, that Sir Hugh, can “woo her in good English.”  During the scene in which Sir Hugh is pretending to be a fairy, look at his speech:

“Evans: Where’s Bead? Go you, and where you find a maid

That ere she sleep has thrice her prayers said,

Raise up the organs of her fantasy,

Sleep she as sound as careless infancy.

But those as sleep and think not on their sins,

Pinch them, arms, legs, backs, shoulders, sides, and shins” (Shakespeare V.v.lines 49-55).

 

Is it just me, or does it seem that Evans has lost his speech impediment?  Of course, it is possible that Shakespeare just forgot to make Evans speak in his dialect.  But I think it is more likely that Evans was trying hard to disguise himself, so that Falstaff did not recognize him.  And in that case, Evans can talk normally, and is choosing to speak English wrong.  In which case, Mr. Ford will soon be back to doubting Mrs. Ford. 

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