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All's Well That Ends Well Summary
William Shakespeare

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All's Well That Ends Well Summary & Study Guide
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All's Well That Ends Well Summary

Act I:

The Countess of Rousillon's son, Bertram, prepares to leave for the court of the King of France. The Countess and her friend Lafeu discuss the King's poor health, and the Countess laments the fact that the father of Helena, her ward, has died, as he was a great physician and would likely have been able to cure the King. After Bertram departs, the Countess learns that Helena is in love with her son and encourages her to follow him. Helena devises a plan to cure the King using a prescription of her father's and the Countess agrees to assist her in traveling to Paris to see the King.

Act II:

Helena arrives in Paris and is presented to the King by Lafeu. Helena persuades the King to try her medicine, and wagers her life that the remedy will work within twenty-four hours. In return, she is to be allowed to choose... View more of the All's Well That Ends Well Summary

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The All's Well That Ends Well Study Pack contains about 2,011 pages of study material in 75 products, including:

All's Well That Ends Well Study Guide

Characters

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Sources For Further Study

William Shakespeare Biography (5)

William Shakespeare

35,385 words, approx. 118 pages

Biography Essay"He was not of an age, but for all time." So wrote Ben Jonson in his dedicatory verses to the memory of William Shakespeare in 1623, and so we continue to affirm today. No other writer,... Read more

William Shakespeare

3,100 words, approx. 11 pages

The English playwright, poet, and actor William Shakespeare (1564-1616) is generally acknowledged to be the greatest of English writers and one of the most extraordinary creators in human history.The ... Read more

William Shakespeare

2,568 words, approx. 9 pages

Considered by critics, scholars, and the theater-going public the most important dramatist in the history of English literature, William Shakespeare occupies a unique position in the pantheon of great... Read more

William Shakespeare

30,474 words, approx. 102 pages

"He was not of an age, but for all time." So wrote Ben Jonson in his dedicatory verses to the memory of William Shakespeare in 1623, and so we continue to affirm today. No other writer, in English or ... Read more

William Shakespeare

10,254 words, approx. 35 pages

William Shakespeare's reputation is based primarily on his plays. With the partial exception of the Sonnets (1609), quarried since the early nineteenth century for autobiographical secrets allegedly ... Read more

Essays & Analysis (69)

Critical Essay by Robert Ornstein

10,474 words, approx. 35 pages

In the following essay, Ornstein surveys the plot and principal characters of All's Well That Ends Well. It is not easy to say why Shakespeare wanted to write a play about characters as limited... Read more

Critical Essay by Richard A. Levin

6,011 words, approx. 21 pages

In the following essay, Levin argues that Helena accomplishes her goals in All's Well That Ends Well through guile and deceit, thus contributing to the play's categorization as a “... Read more

Critical Essay by David McCandless

9,257 words, approx. 31 pages

In the following essay, McCandless sees Helena as a compelling romantic heroine whose chastity and sexual passion are inseparable elements of her character and important components of the play'... Read more

Critical Essay by Peter Erickson

7,380 words, approx. 25 pages

In the following essay, Erickson examines Helena's disruption of the patriarchal order in All's Well That Ends Well. One of the most striking features of All's Well That Ends Well... Read more

Critical Essay by David McCandless

11,199 words, approx. 38 pages

In the following essay, McCandless analyzes All's Well That Ends Well's concern with sexuality, and the importance of Helena's bed-trick to “the play's provocative i... Read more

Critical Essay by Jonathan Hall

8,111 words, approx. 28 pages

In the following essay, Hall investigates Helena's “upwardly mobile” desire in All's Well That Ends Well, contending that “her actions restore the very patriarchy wh... Read more

Critical Essay by Irene G. Dash

11,617 words, approx. 39 pages

In the following essay, Dash discusses the subject of women's sexual options within the patriarchal society of All's Well That Ends Well. How might one do, sir, to lose it to her own lik... Read more

Critical Essay by Richard P. Wheeler

4,554 words, approx. 16 pages

In the following excerpt, Wheeler examines the comic patterns of All's Well That Ends Well, claiming that they “radically change the comic spirit of All's Well from that of earlie... Read more

Critical Essay by David Scott Kastan

5,473 words, approx. 19 pages

In the following essay, Kastan explores the problematic view of comedy presented in All's Well That Ends Well. Renaissance theories of comedy generally stress its moral function: “Comedy... Read more

Critical Essay by Robert S. Miola

8,446 words, approx. 29 pages

In the following essay, Miola studies Shakespeare's adaptation of Latin New Comedy in All's Well That Ends Well. We are all familiar with the traditional understanding of sources: a sour... Read more

Critical Essay by Mary Free

4,729 words, approx. 16 pages

In the following essay, Free maintains that despite its conformity to comic formulae, comedy is thwarted in All's Wells That Ends Well through the play's representation of the power dyna... Read more

Critical Essay by Alexander Leggatt

8,263 words, approx. 28 pages

In the following essay, Leggatt explores the tension between elements of romance and elements of realism in All's Well That Ends Well, noting that this tension is never resolved and therefore l... Read more

Critical Essay by W. Speed Hill

6,419 words, approx. 22 pages

In the following essay, Hill explores how familial relations and marriage eventually enable Bertram to assume his proper role within the comic plot of All's Well That Ends Well. Shakespeare�... Read more

Critical Essay by Susan Bassnett-McGuire

3,239 words, approx. 11 pages

In the following essay, Bassnett-McGuire suggests that All's Well That Ends Well reflects post-Reformation views of the marriage contract and also comments on the individual's relationsh... Read more

Critical Essay by Peggy Muñoz Simonds

10,787 words, approx. 36 pages

In the following essay, Simonds examines several matrimonial texts that were available to Shakespeare and his contemporaries in order demonstrate how Shakespeare's audience might have reacted t... Read more

Critical Essay by Ruth Nevo

9,663 words, approx. 33 pages

In the following essay, Nevo asserts that All's Well That Ends Well should not be classified as a problem play since its structure resembles that of Shakespeare's earlier maturation come... Read more

Critical Essay by Anthony Brennan

6,599 words, approx. 22 pages

In the following essay, Brennan discusses Helena in relation to the notion of time in All's Well That Ends Well, noting that she alone of the young people in the play has a strong connection wi... Read more

Critical Essay by Christopher Roark

7,933 words, approx. 27 pages

In the following essay, Roark asserts that Lavatch is an indicator of the failure of All's Well That Ends Well, noting that “[the fool fails to serve in the same way the play fails to se... Read more

Critical Essay by Susan Snyder

4,945 words, approx. 17 pages

In the following essay, Snyder probes the characterization of Helena as a sexually aggressive woman through instances of indirect and suppressed speech in the play. I'm going to move into my sp... Read more

Critical Essay by Carolyn Asp

8,378 words, approx. 28 pages

In the following essay, Asp focuses on the reversal of power—inspired by Helena's desire—that allows Helena to succeed in her plans to win Bertram. “That man should be at a... Read more

Critical Essay by Barbara Hodgdon

10,121 words, approx. 34 pages

In the following essay, Hodgdon examines the gender theme on a structural level, revealing how Shakespeare's use of the various instances of doubling and substitution—most notably in the... Read more

Critical Essay by David McCandless

21,040 words, approx. 71 pages

In the following essay, McCandless focuses on the evolving gender roles of Helena and Bertram in All's Well That Ends Well, discussing Shakespeare's handling of the bed trick as a tool f... Read more

Critical Essay by Margaret Loftus Ranald

5,133 words, approx. 18 pages

In the following essay, Ranald discusses the nature of Elizabethan matrimonial contracts in order to elucidate the marriage theme of All's Well That Ends Well. Of Shakespeare's three so-... Read more

Critical Essay by Jay Halio

5,935 words, approx. 20 pages

In the following essay, Halio examines the sources, dramatic structure, and characters of All's Well That Ends Well, and contends that although fascinating and complex, the play is a failure. C... Read more

Critical Essay by Josephine Waters Bennett

15,489 words, approx. 52 pages

In the following essay, Bennett investigates the various comic techniques Shakespeare employed in All's Well That Ends Well, and argues that the play is more a comedy than a romance. All... Read more

Critical Essay by David M. Bergeron

4,317 words, approx. 15 pages

In the following essay, Bergeron examines the theme of healing in All's Well That Ends Well, focusing on Helena's physical healing of the King and the metaphorical healing of Bertram and... Read more

Critical Essay by J. M. Silverman

4,519 words, approx. 16 pages

In the following essay, Silverman examines the dual nature of the play's structure, demonstrating the way the comedic action of All's Well That Ends Well moves from simple and naï... Read more

Critical Essay by Maurice Hunt

7,599 words, approx. 26 pages

In the following essay, Hunt explores the disintegration of the relationship between language and action in All's Well That Ends Well. Were playgoers to judge from the King of France's r... Read more

Critical Essay by Patricia Parker

15,359 words, approx. 52 pages

In the following essay, Parker suggests linkages between characters, scenes, and themes in All's Well That Ends Well, arguing that the sexual terms “increase” and “dilation... Read more

Critical Essay by J. Dennis Huston

4,431 words, approx. 15 pages

In the following essay, Huston studies the way Parolles, with his unchanneled youthful energy, draws attention to Shakespeare's development of the idea that the energy of society's youth... Read more

Critical Essay by Jeremy Richard

6,788 words, approx. 23 pages

In the following essay, Richard traces Shakespeare's transition from comedies of plot to tragedies of character through an examination of the comedic villains of the problem plays, focusing in ... Read more

Critical Essay by Dorothy Cook

8,149 words, approx. 28 pages

In the following essay, Cook assesses Shakespeare's portrayal of Helena in All's Well That Ends Well, contending that she generates and resolves a major portion of the play's acti... Read more

Critical Review by Martin Dodsworth

877 words, approx. 3 pages

In the following review, Dodsworth discusses Peter Hall's production of All's Well That Ends Well, describing it as deeply powerful and moving. Its unattractive young hero—silly, ... Read more

Critical Review by Jeremy Gerard

690 words, approx. 3 pages

In the following review, Gerard assesses the New York Shakespeare Festival production of All's Well That Ends Well directed by Richard Jones. Gerard comments that the production emphasized the ... Read more

Critical Review by Robert Brustein

1,663 words, approx. 6 pages

In the following review, Brustein examines the New York Shakespeare Festival production of All's Well That Ends Well directed by Richard Jones, noting that Jones's tragicomic approach em... Read more

Critical Review by Grevel Lindop

714 words, approx. 3 pages

In the following review, Lindop offers a rather negative appraisal of Matthew Lloyd's production of All's Well That Ends Well, commenting on the production's lack of emotional war... Read more

Critical Review by Robert Smallwood

732 words, approx. 3 pages

In the following excerpt, Smallwood examines Irina Brook's production of All's Well That Ends Well, finding that the director failed in her attempt to create a setting in which the play&... Read more

Critical Essay by Vivian Thomas

11,469 words, approx. 39 pages

In the following essay, Thomas stresses Shakespeare's deeply ambiguous treatment of honor and virtue in All's Well That Ends Well and claims that the play features a clash of personal an... Read more

Critical Essay by Carl Dennis

4,165 words, approx. 14 pages

In the following essay, Dennis discusses the religious themes of fidelity and divine love in All's Well That Ends Well. Dr. Johnson's criticism of All's Well that Ends Well has ne... Read more

Critical Essay by Michael Shapiro

5,657 words, approx. 19 pages

In the following essay, Shapiro examines the theme of mutual redemption derived from self-knowledge in All's Well That Ends Well. Toward the end of his Introduction to the New Arden edition of ... Read more

Critical Essay by David M. Bergeron

4,146 words, approx. 14 pages

In the following essay, Bergeron focuses on All's Well That Ends Well's allusions to the tumultuous affair of the classical gods of love and war, Venus and Mars, and associates these fig... Read more

Critical Essay by Lynne M. Simpson

6,208 words, approx. 21 pages

In the following essay, Simpson probes the psychological and thematic function of loss, grief, and mourning in All's Well That Ends Well. Mourning over the loss of something that we have loved ... Read more

Critical Essay by Robert Hapgood

3,763 words, approx. 13 pages

In the following essay, Hapgood studies Parolles as a representation of shame in All's Well That Ends Well and notes that the character sacrifices honor in favor of unrestrained living. The wit... Read more

Critical Essay by Susan Snyder

5,089 words, approx. 17 pages

In the following essay, Snyder examines the diverse critical assessments of All's Well That Ends Well's Helena from the eighteenth to twentieth centuries. All's Well that Ends Wel... Read more

Critical Essay by David Haley

11,170 words, approx. 38 pages

In the following excerpt, Haley interprets All's Well That Ends Well as a moral play depicting Bertram's path to self-discovery and his transcendence of a courtly “crisis of honor... Read more

Critical Essay by Michael D. Friedman

8,978 words, approx. 30 pages

In the following essay, Friedman focuses on the tension between Bertram's individualized sexual desires and the social necessity of legitimate procreation portrayed in All's Well That En... Read more

Critical Essay by R. J. Schork

2,331 words, approx. 8 pages

In the following essay, Schork claims that All's Well That Ends Well's Parolles is a clever adaptation of several stock types from Roman New Comedy: the cowardly braggart soldier, the cr... Read more

Critical Review by Peter Marks

665 words, approx. 3 pages

In the following review of director Richard Clifford's 2003 staging of All's Well That Ends Well at the Folger Theatre in Washington, D.C., Marks finds the production conventional, drab,... Read more

Critical Review by Matt Wolf

1,022 words, approx. 4 pages

In the following review, Wolf suggests that director Gregory Doran's 2003 Royal Shakespeare Company production of All's Well That Ends Well at the Swan Theatre in Stratford-upon-Avon was... Read more

Critical Review by Patrick Carnegy

636 words, approx. 3 pages

In the following review, Carnegy lauds director Gregory Doran's 2003 production of All's Well That Ends Well at the Swan Theatre in Stratford-upon-Avon, highlighting outstanding performa... Read more

Critical Essay by James L. Calderwood

6,453 words, approx. 22 pages

In the following essay, Calderwood surveys the principal themes and ambiguous conclusion of All's Well That Ends Well. Perhaps the most problematic of the so-called "problem plays,... Read more

Critical Essay by Gerard J. Gross

9,157 words, approx. 31 pages

In the following essay, Gross analyzes the ending of All's Well That Ends Well, and addresses the debate abut whether the audience should receive the convention of a "happy ending"... Read more

Critical Essay by Thomas Cartelli

6,542 words, approx. 22 pages

In the following essay, Cartelli suggests that the "problematic" ending of All's Well That Ends Well was purposely created by Shakespeare to prompt the audience to recognize its r... Read more

Sheldon P. Zitner

4,137 words, approx. 14 pages

In the following excerpt, Zitner examines the contemporary social conventions that underscore the action of All's Well That Ends Well. All's Well opens with a social thunderclap which ha... Read more

Critical Essay by David S. Berkeley and Donald Keesee

4,960 words, approx. 17 pages

In the following essay, Berkeley and Keesee study the treatment Shakespeare gives to the cross-class marriage in All's Well That Ends Well, and suggest Helena's position may reflect circ... Read more

Critical Essay by Joseph G. Price

7,358 words, approx. 25 pages

In the following excerpt, Price analyzes the structure and exposition of All's Well That Ends Well, and argues that the play is excellently balanced. What is the nature of All's Well tha... Read more

Critical Essay by Roger Warren

5,874 words, approx. 20 pages

In the following essay, Warren maintains that the personal emotions found in Shakespeare's sonnets provide some explanation of the puzzling conclusion of All's Well That Ends Well. An ex... Read more

Critical Essay by E. A. J. Honigmann

6,181 words, approx. 21 pages

In the following essay, Honigmann considers All's Well That Ends Well as a play that examines the consequences of female dominance, and studies Helena as an aggressive female character. Shakesp... Read more

Joseph Westlund

2,670 words, approx. 9 pages

In the excerpt below, Westlund examines the character of Helena, particularly in regards to her longing for Bertram, and her sexuality. The play most often defines character and action, like the langu... Read more

Critical Essay by Carol Thomas Neely

9,142 words, approx. 31 pages

In the following excerpt, Neely argues that as a "problem play, " an often corrupt sexuality, rather than romantic love, drives action and informs imagery, language, character, and plot ... Read more

Critical Essay by Marilyn L. Williamson

7,173 words, approx. 24 pages

In the following excerpt, Williamson explores All's Well that Ends Well in light of the social and legal conventions used to control desire in the younger generations of the seventeenth century... Read more

Critical Essay by Mary Bly

4,547 words, approx. 16 pages

In the following essay, Bly examines the role the bedtrick plays in defining Helena as an uncommon Renaissance heroine. Renaissance comedies of love are inherently both erotic and chaste. They must be... Read more

Ian Donaldson

7,568 words, approx. 26 pages

In the following essay, Donaldson examines the numerous "endings" throughout the play, and argues that All's Well That Ends Well is more complex than it first seems. All's ... Read more

Richard P. Wheeler

6,653 words, approx. 23 pages

In this essay, Wheeler contends that, unlike the festive comedies, All's Well That Ends Well "presents an action in which parental figures are closely and actively involved in the steps ... Read more

Critical Essay by Subha Mukherji

12,771 words, approx. 43 pages

In the following essay, Mukherji studies the legal and contractual obligations of Renaissance marriage dramatized in Shakespeare's All's Well That Ends Well. Having wed Helena at the kin... Read more

Critical Essay by Janet Adelman

9,936 words, approx. 34 pages

In the following essay, Adelman centers on Shakespeare's handling of the bed tricks in All's Well That Ends Well and Measure for Measure and examines the plays' depictions of marr... Read more

Motive and Meaning in All's Well That Ends Well

9,629 words, approx. 33 pages

Ruth Nevo, Hebrew University of Jerusalem All's Well That Ends Well has been classified among the problem comedies, perhaps mainly because Bertram has failed to captivate; he has been found ev... Read more

Critical Essay by Carolyn Asp

8,370 words, approx. 28 pages

In the following essay, Asp analyzes the character of Helena in All's Well That Ends Well, maintaining that her motivations and actions point toward a re-evaluation of female desire and a criti... Read more

"All's Well That Ends Well"

365 words, approx. 2 pages

On April 23, of 2006, I traveled in to Boston to watch the Actor's Shakespeare's Project and their rendition of "All's Well That Ends Well." Going in with a weeks worth of previous knowledge on the pl... Read more

All's Well That Ends Well SummaryWilliam Shakespeare

All's Well That Ends Well Summary

Study Pack

All's Well That Ends Well Study Guide

William Shakespeare Biography (5)

Essays & Analysis (69)

All's Well That Ends Well Summary
William Shakespeare