All's Well That Ends Well
All's Well That Ends Well is a play by William Shakespeare, published in the First Folio in 1623, where it is listed among the comedies. There is a debate regarding the dating of the composition of the play, with possible dates ranging from 1598 to 1608.[1][2]
The play is considered one of Shakespeare's "problem plays", a play that poses complex ethical dilemmas that require more than typically simple solutions.[3]
Characters
- King of France
- Duke of Florence
- Bertram, Count of Roussillon
- Countess of Roussillon, Mother of Bertram
- Lavatch, a Clown in her household
- Helena, a Gentlewoman protected by the Countess
- Lafew, an old Lord
- Parolles, a follower of Bertram
- An Old Widow of Florence, surnamed Capilet
- Diana, Daughter of the Widow
- Steward of the Countess of Roussillon
- Violenta (ghost character) and Mariana, Neighbours and Friends of the Widow
- A Page
- Soldiers, Servants, Gentlemen, and Courtiers
Synopsis
Helena, the low-born ward of a French-Spanish countess, is in love with the countess's son Bertram, who is indifferent to her. Bertram goes to Paris to replace his late father as attendant to the ailing King of France. Helena, the daughter of a recently deceased physician, follows Bertram, ostensibly to offer the King her services as a healer. The King is skeptical, and she guarantees the cure with her life: if he dies, she will be put to death, but if he lives, she may choose a husband from the court.
The King is cured and Helena chooses Bertram, who rejects her, owing to her poverty and low status. The King forces him to marry her, but after the ceremony Bertram immediately goes to war in Italy without so much as a goodbye kiss. He says that he will only marry her after she has carried his child and wears his family ring. Helena returns home to the countess, who is horrified at what her son has done, and claims Helena as her child in Bertram's place.
In Italy, Bertram is a successful warrior and also a successful seducer of local virgins. Helena follows him to Italy, befriends Diana, a virgin with whom Bertram is infatuated, and they arrange for Helena to take Diana's place in bed. Diana obtains Bertram's ring in exchange for one of Helena's. In this way Helena, without Bertram's knowledge,
Helena fakes her own death. Bertram, thinking he is free of her, comes home. He tries to marry a local lord's daughter, but Diana shows up and breaks up the engagement. Helena appears and explains the ring swap, announcing that she has fulfilled Bertram's challenge; Bertram, impressed by all she has done to win him, swears his love to her. Thus all ends well.
There is a subplot about Parolles, a disloyal associate of Bertram's: Some of the lords at the court attempt to get Bertram to know that his friend Parolles is a boasting
Sources
The play is based on the
Analysis and criticism
This section needs expansion. You can help by adding to it. (February 2021) |
There is no evidence that All's Well That Ends Well was popular in Shakespeare's own lifetime and it has remained one of his lesser-known plays ever since, in part due to its unorthodox mixture of fairy tale logic, gender role reversals and cynical realism. Helena's love for the seemingly unlovable Bertram is difficult to explain on the page, but in performance, it can be made acceptable by casting an extremely attractive actor and emphasising the possibility of a homosexual relationship between Bertram and the "clothes horse" fop, Parolles: "A filthy officer he is in those suggestions for the
young earl." (Act III Sc5.)
Many critics consider that the truncated ending is a drawback, with Bertram's conversion so sudden. Speculative explanations have been given for this. There is (as always) possibly missing text. Some suggest that Bertram's conversion is meant to be sudden and magical in keeping with the 'clever
Many directors have taken the view that when Shakespeare wrote a comedy, he did intend there to be a happy ending, and accordingly that is the way the concluding scene should be staged. Elijah Moshinsky in his BBC Television Shakespeare version in 1981 had his Bertram (Ian Charleson) give Helena a tender kiss and speak wonderingly. Despite his outrageous actions, Bertram can come across as beguiling; the 1967 RSC performance with Ian Richardson as Bertram by various accounts (The New Cambridge Shakespeare, 2003 etc.) managed to make Bertram sympathetic, even charming. Ian Charleson's Bertram was cold and egotistical but still attractive.
One character that has been admired is that of the old Countess of Roussillon, which
It has recently been argued that Thomas Middleton either collaborated with Shakespeare on the play, or revised it at a later time.[2][14] The proposed revisions are not universally accepted, however.
Performance history
No records of the early performances of All's Well That Ends Well have been found. In 1741, the work was played at
Henry Woodward (1714–1777) popularised the part of Parolles in the era of David Garrick.[18] Sporadic performances followed in the ensuing decades, with an operatic version at Covent Garden in 1832.[19]
The play, with plot elements drawn from
In 1896, Frederick S. Boas coined the term "problem play" to include the unpopular work, grouping it with Hamlet, Troilus and Cressida and Measure for Measure.[22]
References
- ISBN 978-0-19-283604-5.
- ^ a b Maguire, Laurie; Smith, Emma (19 April 2012). "Many Hands – A New Shakespeare Collaboration?". The Times Literary Supplement. also at Centre for Early Modern Studies Archived 23 July 2012 at archive.today, University of Oxford accessed 22 April 2012: "The recent redating of All’s Well from 1602–03 to 1606–07 (or later) has gone some way to resolving some of the play’s stylistic anomalies" ... "[S]tylistically it is striking how many of the widely acknowledged textual and tonal problems of All’s Well can be understood differently when we postulate dual authorship."
- ISBN 9780192836045
- ^ F. E. Halliday, A Shakespeare Companion 1564–1964, Baltimore, Penguin, 1964; p. 29.
- ISBN 0-253-33306-7.
- ^ ISBN 978-1-85828-443-9.
- ^ Billington, Michael (29 May 2009). "Theatre review: All's Well That Ends Well / Olivier, London". The Guardian. Retrieved 9 May 2011.
- ^ Taylor, Paul (18 January 2018). "All's Well That Ends Well, review: Eye-opening and vividly alive". The Independent. Archived from the original on 20 January 2018.
- ^ W. W. Lawrence, Shakespeare's Problem Comedies 1931.
- ^ J. L. Styan Shakespeare in Performance 1984; Francis G Schoff Claudio, Bertram and a Note on Inerpretation, 1959
- ISSN 2398-9483.
- ^ Kellaway, Kate (14 December 2003). "Judi...and the beast". The Observer. UK. Retrieved 5 July 2009.
- ISBN 1-85459-660-8.
- ISBN 978-0-19-959115-2. Accessed 27 January 2020: "Shakespeare is undoubtedly the original author. Thomas Middleton added new material for a revival after Shakespeare's death, including the virginity dialogue..., the Kings speech about status and virtue..., and the gulling of Paroles".
- ^ a b Genest, John (1832). Some account of the English stage: from the Restoration in 1660 to 1830. Vol. 3. Bath, England: Carrington. pp. 645–647.
- ISBN 978-0-8093-1130-9.
- ^ Fraser (2003: 15)
- doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/29944. (Subscription or UK public library membershiprequired.)
- ^ William Linley's song "Was this fair face" was written for All's Well That Ends Well.
- ^ Ellen Terry (1932) Four Essays on Shakespeare
- ^ W. Osborne Brigstocke, ed. All's Well That Ends Well, "Introduction" p. xv.
- ISBN 978-0-300-03341-0.
Bibliography
- Evans, G. Blakemore, The Riverside Shakespeare, 1974.
- Fraser, Russell (2003). All's Well That Ends Well. The New Cambridge Shakespeare (2 ed.). Cambridge, England: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-0-521-53515-1.
- Lawrence, W. W., Shakespeare's Problem Comedies, 1931.
- Price, Joseph G., The Unfortunate Comedy, 1968.
- Schoff, Francis G., "Claudio, Bertram, and a Note on Interpretation", Shakespeare Quarterly, 1959.
- Styan, J. L., Shakespeare in Performance series: All's Well That Ends Well, 1985.
External links
- All's Well That Ends Well at Standard Ebooks
- All's Well That Ends Well at Project Gutenberg
- Folger Shakespeare Library: All's Well That Ends Well
- MaximumEdge.com Shakespeare: All's Well That Ends Well – searchable scene-indexed version of the play.
- All's Well That Ends Well public domain audiobook at LibriVox