William Shakespeare’s MERRY WIVES OF WINDSOR
“Come, gentlemen, I hope we shall drink down all unkindness.”
Page in William Shakespeare’s Merry Wives of Windsor,
Act I Scene 1
Samford Operaworks production of Die lustigen Weiber von Windsor
Early in the play (and opera) Merry Wives of Windsor, there is a near brawl concerning offenses executed by Sir John Falstaff and his followers against Robert Shallow, Esquire. Falstaff admits his guilt which occurred during a drinking spree with the others, but Sir John’s “associates” (Bardolph, Pistol, and Nym) deny all the accusations.
The entrance of wives and ladies causes the harsh words to cease and Page exhorts his mate and her friends to invite everyone inside for dinner and a drink. He hopes that such hospitality will ease the rancorous mood. “Come, gentlemen, I hope we shall drink down all unkindness,” he proclaims.
I have never produced the Shakespeare play of Merry Wives, but in 1983, I designed costumes for Samford Operaworks production of Die lustigen Weiber von Windsor, an opera in three acts by Otto Nicolai with a German libretto by Salomon Hermann Mosenthal based on William Shakespeare's The Merry Wives of Windsor. Since we are still in the first weeks of the new year, I am drawn to Page’s warm words and congenial actions.
Did you have a resolution of being more gentle this year? Lord knows, we need more consideration and thoughtfulness in America today. A funny thing happened to me in my Education for Ministry (EfM) class a few years back. EfM is a preparation for lay ministry in the Episcopal church, and is a wonderful and intense four-year program. During our early business one year, our mentor had us write qualities of each of our classmates on sticky notes, and we put them up on a board under each of our names. More than two people put “Kind” as one of my characteristics. At the time, I was let down. I expected “Creative,” “Compassionate,” “Unique.” “Kind” seemed like such a mundane word, a dull, uninteresting, and unremarkable designation.
Later, after much rumination on the term, I began to realize that “kindness” has connotations of being warmhearted, gentle, concerned, compassionate, generous, charitable, and many other worthy traits. Maybe you have heard of the movement started by Anne Herbert when in 1982, she apparently wrote on a placemat at a restaurant in Sausalito, California: “practice random acts of kindness and senseless acts of beauty.” In 1993, she wrote the book Random Kindness and Senseless Acts of Beauty. Her phrase was invented as a counterpoint to “random acts of violence and senseless acts of cruelty,” often used in news accounts of brutality.
Now, you can find a website: www.randomactsofkindness.org - their motto says:
“Imagine a world where you can succeed by being nice.
Where we all pay it forward.
Where people look out for each other.
It all starts with an act.”
In 1995, a small nonprofit organization — the Random Acts of Kindness Foundation — was established in Denver, Colorado, and every February 17, they encourage everyone to observe Random Acts of Kindness Day. If compassion and charitableness were among your resolutions for the new year, how might those qualities be expressed in action? Here are some ideas I find appealing:
Remember the names of the workers remodeling the room in your house and thank them daily.
Take a cool fizzy drink to the teacher who directs traffic in the carpool line.
Pick up an older friend for coffee.
In a small fun way, celebrate with your family a memorable or historic event every day.
Ask your grocery checkout person how their day is going.
Donate some of your excess books to a nearby retirement home or school.
Create affirmative notes of encouragement to anonymously leave at your doctor’s office or other public location.
Pick up litter on your daily walk.
Be merciful to your server.
And when your friends or coworkers are quarreling, remember Mr. Page from the works of William Shakespeare, and just say, “Come, ladies and gentlemen, I hope we shall drink down all unkindness.”