If I had claimed that MWW is set in the early-15thC, much of this would have greater relevance; but not only have I not claimed that, I've already had occasion to reiterate that I haven't claimed it.
I do agree with you that there are other factors that should probably be taken into account in reading settings, and generic considerations (e.g. whether it is a roman a clef, an allegory, etc.) can be important to that. The former is actually relevant to Falstaff, since there's evidence that he was taken as a portrait of the historical Sir John Oldcastle (as indeed he almost certainly was), to the extent that Shakespeare had to issue a denial in 2 Henry IV: "Oldcastle is not the man". If we turned the volume up on this aspect, making it central to our reading of him, then Falstaff would become even less plausible as a character in a sixteenth-century setting. But I don't go so far: I merely say that his presence and that of the other characters from the Henriad means that the sixteenth-century setting of MWW is ambiguous.
As for Animal Farm, I'm not going down the path marked "Here be allegories" here - I spent three years of a PhD on that! - but similar considerations apply. These aren't black and white issues: if Orwell had had the animals harvesting wheat in April because that fitted better with his allegorical schema, it would matter a lot to some people, much less to others. It wouldn't be useful to argue that one or other group was wrong. Probably that's where we are wft Merry Wives as well.
no subject
I do agree with you that there are other factors that should probably be taken into account in reading settings, and generic considerations (e.g. whether it is a roman a clef, an allegory, etc.) can be important to that. The former is actually relevant to Falstaff, since there's evidence that he was taken as a portrait of the historical Sir John Oldcastle (as indeed he almost certainly was), to the extent that Shakespeare had to issue a denial in 2 Henry IV: "Oldcastle is not the man". If we turned the volume up on this aspect, making it central to our reading of him, then Falstaff would become even less plausible as a character in a sixteenth-century setting. But I don't go so far: I merely say that his presence and that of the other characters from the Henriad means that the sixteenth-century setting of MWW is ambiguous.
As for Animal Farm, I'm not going down the path marked "Here be allegories" here - I spent three years of a PhD on that! - but similar considerations apply. These aren't black and white issues: if Orwell had had the animals harvesting wheat in April because that fitted better with his allegorical schema, it would matter a lot to some people, much less to others. It wouldn't be useful to argue that one or other group was wrong. Probably that's where we are wft Merry Wives as well.