comedy in five acts by William Shakespeare, written in 1601–05 and published in the First Folio of 1623 seemingly from a theatrical playbook that still retained certain authorial features or from a literary transcript either of the playbook or of an authorial manuscript. The principal source of the plot was a tale in Giovanni Boccaccio's Decameron.
The play concerns the efforts of Helena, daughter of a renowned physician to the recently deceased count of Rossillion, to win as her husband the young new count, Bertram. When Bertram leaves Rossillion to become a courtier, Helena follows after, hoping to minister to the gravely ill king of France with a miraculous cure that her father had bequeathed to her. In return for her success in doing so, the king invites her to select a husband, her choice being Bertram. The young man, unwilling to marry so far below himself in social station, accedes to the royal imperative but promptly flees to military action in Tuscany with his vapid but engaging friend Parolles.
By letter Bertram informs Helena that he may not be considered her husband until she has taken the ring from his finger and conceived a child by him. Disguised as a pilgrim, Helena follows Bertram to Florence only to discover that he has been courting Diana, the daughter of her hostess. Helena spreads a rumour of her own death and arranges a nighttime rendezvous with Bertram in which she substitutes herself for Diana. In exchange for his ring, she gives him one that the king has given her. When Bertram returns to Rossillion, where the king is visiting the countess, the royal guest recognizes the ring and suspects foul play. Helena then appears to explain her machinations and claim her rightful spouse.
