All’s well that ends well By Claudia Dos Santos
Summary on Act 1 Scene 3
the play's central romantic figures are a young nobleman called Bertram and an orphaned commoner called Helena. The problems with their romance are due to their different backgrounds and that it is at first a one sided affair with Helena falling in love with Bertram. Being a comedy, (albeit with serious undercurrents), Bertram comes around and All's Well does indeed End Well.
Summary on Act 1 Scene 3
the play's central romantic figures are a young nobleman called Bertram and an orphaned commoner called Helena. The problems with their romance are due to their different backgrounds and that it is at first a one sided affair with Helena falling in love with Bertram. Being a comedy, (albeit with serious undercurrents), Bertram comes around and All's Well does indeed End Well.
Helena, the daughter of a famous doctor, has been
the ward of the Countess of Rousillon, a wise and kindly old noblewoman, since
her father's death. The Countess' husband has also recently died, and her son
Count Bertram, a brave, handsome, but callow young man, is sent to serve the
King of France, his liege lord. (The King, we learn, is dying). Helena is in
love with Bertram, but hopelessly, since he is a nobleman and she a commoner.
As he departs for the King's Court, she banters with Parolles, an unsavory
character who has managed to gain Bertram's ear despite being a liar and a
coward. They discuss chastity in coarse terms, with Parolles recommending that
she find a husband and lose her virginity quickly. As they speak Helena
conceives a plan that she hopes will gain her the hand of Bertram.
Bertram arrives at the King's court, where the
cautious monarch has recently decided to stay out of a war involving Austria
and the Duke of Florence--with the caveat that any French noblemen who wish to
involve themselves in the conflict are free to go. Greeting Bertram, the King
laments the loss of the young man's father, and then remarks that he wishes
Helena's father were still living, because only such a great doctor could now
save his life. Meanwhile, in Rousillon, the Countess walks about and chats with
the coarse, bawdy Clown who once served her husband. Her Steward joins them and
informs the Countess that he overheard Helena declaring her love for Bertram;
the noblewoman sends for her ward immediately. After much dissembling, Helena
admits to loving the Countess' son, and then immediately declares her plan to
go to the King's palace and offer her services as a doctor, using the medical
knowledge that her father taught her. The Countess, while expressing her doubts
that the King and the royal doctors will accept the help of a young woman,
gives her blessing, and sends Helena on her way.
Commentary
The play opens on a dark, somber note: as Bertram departs, his mother recalls her husband's passing, and Bertram comments that "I in going, madam, weep o'er my father's death anew." (I.i.3-4) Lafew, the wise old nobleman, makes an attempt at comforting them by saying that the King will act as a husband and father to the family, but this only leads into a discussion of the King's illness, and how he has abandoned all hope of a cure--which, in turn, leads them to speak of the recent death of Helena's father. This conversation is useful to the audience, since it fills in the background details before the action of the play begins, but its heavy emphasis on illness and death casts a pall over the scene. Indeed, the entire older generation in All's Well That Ends Well is nearing death--the King, the Countess, and Lafew are all figures of wisdom, offering sage advice to the headstrong young, but they are also figures of decay and decrepitude. The Countess and Lafew speak repeatedly of their own feebleness and impending deaths; the King's life will be saved by Helena, but it is clearly only a reprieve, and he seems to lack energy, especially in his refusal to take part in the war that so many of his young nobles flock to join. In sum, the play presents a "generation gap"--a stark contrast between the weakness of the older generation and the vitality of the younger characters (Helena, Bertram, Diana, etc.).
Commentary
The play opens on a dark, somber note: as Bertram departs, his mother recalls her husband's passing, and Bertram comments that "I in going, madam, weep o'er my father's death anew." (I.i.3-4) Lafew, the wise old nobleman, makes an attempt at comforting them by saying that the King will act as a husband and father to the family, but this only leads into a discussion of the King's illness, and how he has abandoned all hope of a cure--which, in turn, leads them to speak of the recent death of Helena's father. This conversation is useful to the audience, since it fills in the background details before the action of the play begins, but its heavy emphasis on illness and death casts a pall over the scene. Indeed, the entire older generation in All's Well That Ends Well is nearing death--the King, the Countess, and Lafew are all figures of wisdom, offering sage advice to the headstrong young, but they are also figures of decay and decrepitude. The Countess and Lafew speak repeatedly of their own feebleness and impending deaths; the King's life will be saved by Helena, but it is clearly only a reprieve, and he seems to lack energy, especially in his refusal to take part in the war that so many of his young nobles flock to join. In sum, the play presents a "generation gap"--a stark contrast between the weakness of the older generation and the vitality of the younger characters (Helena, Bertram, Diana, etc.).
The shadow that mortality casts on the action is
one reason why this play has often been termed a "problem comedy," or
"dark comedy." Another reason is the nature of the younger
generation, who are poised to inherit from their wiser, aging elders. Bertram,
the supposed romantic hero, possesses most of the appropriate
attributes--everyone admits that he is handsome, dashing, and brave, and
certainly, Helena speaks highly of him, describing his "bright radiance
and collateral light / . . . His arched brows, his hawking eye, his curls"
(I.i.94- 100) in the glowing terms of a would-be lover. But, significantly, she
only mentions, and we only observe, the superficial qualities of the man. When
he shows his true colors later, his image will be tarnished significantly.
Helena, meanwhile, is more appealing--her worth is
evident despite her low birth--and already her resourcefulness is on display as
she assumes the male role of physician (a common burden for Shakespeare's
heroines, who either end up wearing men's clothes, like Viola in Twelfth Night,
or doing men's work, like the lawyerly Portia in The Merchant of Venice) and
plans a journey to Paris. But her fixation on Bertram, while determined, will
come to seem almost monomaniacal--it is her defining character trait, in the
end. Her love, she admits, is a kind of "idolatrous fancy," (I.i.103)
but she will not release her hold on it. There is a bitter edge to her humor,
too, a coarseness that other Shakespearean heroines lack; her conversation with
Parolles, filled with sexual innuendo, displays a cynicism about relations
between the sexes that is seems jarring coming from a romantic heroine.
The cynicism is appropriate to Parolles, of
course, who seems cast as the villain in the early going. Eventually, his
essential harmlessness will be revealed--he is a minor rogue, whose boasts and
lies are dangerous, but not deadly.
Monologue
Our remedies oft in ourselves do lie
Monologue
Our remedies oft in ourselves do lie
Which
we ascribe to heaven: the fated sky
Gives
us free scope; only doth backward pull
Our
slow designs when we ourselves are dull.
What
power is it which mounts my love so high;
That
makes me see, and cannot feed mine eye?
The
mightiest space in fortune nature brings
To
join like likes, and kiss like native things.
Impossible
be strange attempts to those
That
weigh their pains in sense, and do suppose
What
hath been cannot be: who ever strove
To
show her merit, that did miss her love?
The
king's disease, --my project may deceive me,
But my
intents are fix'd and will not leave me.
When the play was set?
William Shakespeare never published any of his plays and therefore none of the original manuscripts have survived. Eighteen unauthorised versions of his plays were, however, published during his lifetime in quarto editions by unscrupulous publishers (there were no copyright laws protecting Shakespeare and his works during the Elizabethan era). A collection of his works did not appear until 1623 ( a full seven years after Shakespeare's death on April 23, 1616) when two of his fellow actors, John Hemminges and Henry Condell, posthumously recorded his work and published 36 of William’s plays in the First Folio. Some dates are therefore approximate other dates are substantiated by historical events, records of performances and the dates plays appeared in print.
Where was the play set?
The action of the play goes down in France (Roussillon and Paris, to be exact), as well as Italy. We're not exactly sure when the play is set. Let's just say that events occur "once upon a time." After all, the French setting is very much a fairy tale world, where the poor, orphaned daughter of a famous doctor lives with a rich countess and her handsome son.
When the play was set?
William Shakespeare never published any of his plays and therefore none of the original manuscripts have survived. Eighteen unauthorised versions of his plays were, however, published during his lifetime in quarto editions by unscrupulous publishers (there were no copyright laws protecting Shakespeare and his works during the Elizabethan era). A collection of his works did not appear until 1623 ( a full seven years after Shakespeare's death on April 23, 1616) when two of his fellow actors, John Hemminges and Henry Condell, posthumously recorded his work and published 36 of William’s plays in the First Folio. Some dates are therefore approximate other dates are substantiated by historical events, records of performances and the dates plays appeared in print.
Where was the play set?
The action of the play goes down in France (Roussillon and Paris, to be exact), as well as Italy. We're not exactly sure when the play is set. Let's just say that events occur "once upon a time." After all, the French setting is very much a fairy tale world, where the poor, orphaned daughter of a famous doctor lives with a rich countess and her handsome son.
