 The libretto (plot) is the substance of Shakespeare s comedy, The Merry Wives of Windsor. A trio of beautiful, and now revengeful ladies see Sir John Falstaff for what he is: an old, conceited, drunken fool. The women discover (literally comparing notes) very unsavory aspects of Falstaff s bloated personality. They (and others) set out to make a fool of this conceited womanizing hedonist, who counts with more than those three enemies in town.