The reason for the composition of The Merry Wives of Windsor is a fascinating thing to consider. Among several competing theories, it seems that the most likely is that it was written for a feast in celebration of an installation ceremony of (among others) George Carey, the second Baron Hunsden, and most importantly, the Lord Chamberlain (and thus the patron of Shakespeare's company), into the Order of the Garter on April 23, 1597. In the Oxford edition the editor T.W. Craik explains that Carey's commissioning of the play is a more probable reason for its existence than the legendary story of Queen Elizabeth requesting a play that showed Falstaff in love, which although charming, is not supported by any evidence. The play itself, however, contains references to both Elizabeth and the Order during the masque-like final scene (5.5). First, Pistol, disguised as Hobgoblin, refers to "our radiant queen" when giving directives to the town children (dressed as fairies) to make sure that the town chimneys have been kept clean. Then, Mistress Quickly, disguised as the Fairy Queen, gives them the following instructions almost in the form of an incantation:

About, about;

Search Windsor Castle, elves, within and out:

Strew good luck, ouphes, on every sacred room:

That it may stand till the perpetual doom,

In state as wholesome as in state 'tis fit,

Worthy the owner, and the owner it.

The several chairs of order look you scour

With juice of balm and every precious flower:

Each fair instalment, coat, and several crest,

With loyal blazon, evermore be blest!

And nightly, meadow-fairies, look you sing,

Like to the Garter's compass, in a ring:

The expressure that it bears, green let it be,

More fertile-fresh than all the field to see;

And 'Honi soit qui mal y pense' write

In emerald tufts, flowers purple, blue and white;

Let sapphire, pearl and rich embroidery,

Buckled below fair knighthood's bending knee:

Fairies use flowers for their charactery.

Unfortunately, these wonderful lines are often cut from the play, and when this is done, so are its ties to its history.

What was the primary motivating force behind Shakespeare's astonishing career: art or commerce? The argument for art says that if he were writing for money, he would have written potboilers and so forth. The argument for commerce says that if he were writing for literary posterity, he might as well have stuck to poetry. My guess is that both were involved. Necessary, in fact. Shakespeare's company (the Lord Chamberlain's Men, and later the King's Men) did not travel much and so there was really only the London audience for which to play. Thus it was in Shakespeare's best interest to write plays that would be exciting and suspenseful, while at the same time containing as much substance as possible, the better to attract the same playgoers more than once. Anyone who has seen one of the plays in performance knows the feeling that arises when a line or speech is illuminated by the performance in a unique manner. It makes you want to relive the moment. During those days, I'm quite sure that many did. The philosophical/poetic content, therefore, may have been inspired by the desire and need for audiences.