In “The Merry Wives of Windsor,” the French doctor who courts Anne Page is Doctor Caius.
Doctor Caius is a French physician living in Windsor and one of the competing suitors for Anne Page. Anne’s mother favors Caius, while her father prefers Abraham Slender. Anne herself loves Fenton, so the competing parental plans create one of the play’s comic marriage plots.
Caius is hot-tempered and becomes furious when he discovers that Parson Hugh Evans has been encouraging Slender. He challenges Evans to a duel, but the Host of the Garter Inn tricks each man into going to a different meeting place. The failed duel eventually helps Caius and Evans set aside their quarrel and work together.
Caius is often confused with Fenton because both are Anne’s suitors, or with Slender because both are favored by one of Anne’s parents. Unlike them, Caius is specifically identified as a French doctor. The play’s ending undercuts the arranged matches: Anne elopes with Fenton, while the other suitors are deceived during the fairies’ revels.