In third scene of act III, we are once again provided with a visual of Falstaff’s skill in the art of wit. In this scene, we return to the tavern where we find Falstaff complaining to Bardolph about how weak he has gotten along with the drastic loss of weight he has suffered (ln. 1-11). This can be rather humorous because we, in fact, know that he is far from thin due to his overweight stature. Soon after the crying of Falstaff begins, the hostess of the tavern enters demanding the payment of all food and drinks he has consumed but has not paid for. Not having any money, Falstaff quickly thinks on his feet and claims to have been pick-pocketed. After an exchange of words, he uses the Hostess’ emotions against her and claims that she might’ve been the source who had victimized him.
At this point, Prince Harry arrives and admits to being the one who pick-pocketed Falstaff. While, Falstaff claimed to have had great valuables at his time of misfortune, we know he had worthless items along with various amounts of receipts from earlier scenes (Act II scene 4). Once Prince Harry confronts his clump of lies, Falstaff immediately confronts the situation of being victimized, completing disregarding being caught in a series of lies.His mastery of wit places him in a position to say that he forgives the hostess and continues to order breakfast.
While it is not a good trait to be considered a habitual liar, Falstaff creates a sense of admiration to readers because of his insane ability to turn any situation into an advantage.
Jonathan notices a trait that is essential to Falstaff and may have something to do with the frequency of fat persons as comic types. Falstaff always recovers when he’s been attacked–he has resilience and rolls over and restabilizes, almost like a big round ball. This ability to roll with the punches he loses at the end of 2 Henry IV, when the newly crowned Hal rebukes him in public.