What was Big Willy Shakes going for?
This phrase means exactly what it says. It's good luck. Just happenstance. By fate and fate alone. Plain and simple. Right?
Not so fast.
Falstaff's biggest problem in this play is that he seriously underestimates our clever "merry wives" and ends up getting punk'd—three times. Let's quickly recap what happens to him when he's tricked into thinking Mistress Ford and Mistress Page want to sleep with him:
- He's dumped in a river along with a bunch of dirty, stinky laundry.
- He's talked into cross-dressing as an old woman and then gets beat up.
- He's lured into the woods (while wearing a giant pair of antlers) to be terrorized by a gang of little kids disguised as fairies.
None of that is luck. Falstaff just doesn't realize it. The tricky housewives are outsmarting him at every turn. The irony lies in the fact that the audience knows this and finds it hilarious. Crowds go nuts every time Falstaff gets knocked around.
Sure, it might partly be that Elizabethans had a thing for violent entertainment and they loved watching people get publicly humiliated and punished for their bad behavior. But it's also funny because Falstaff is so oblivious the entire time. He never suspects anything is happening other than luck. Poor guy.