Summer Shakespeare II

All’s Well that Ends Well

Written in 1602-3, this is one of Shakespeare’s later comedies, and it is as full of problems as any play he ever wrote. It is at once engaging and repellent, and its characters are to a large measure rather alien and unpleasant. It provides, I think, both a suitable finish to the course and reasonable ground for subsequent reading of other Shakespeare plays.

Things to consider while reading All’s Well that Ends Well

This is one of Shakespeare’s plays that generally is grouped in the heading of the “problem comedies” — that is, a comedy (formally — ending in a positive outcome and without anyone dying) that is dark in tonality and filled with the kind of situations that could easily lead to tragedy.

The class of “problem comedies” was proposed by the Shakespeare critic F. S. Boas in 1896 (Shakespeare and his Predecessors). There has been considerable debate about the validity of such a classification at all, but the term may be used advisedly, with a realization of its limitations. To some extent, all comedies are problem comedies. The plays in this group, however, all tend to come fairly late in Shakespeare’s career (1595-1605), and to deal with dark themes of unchastity and in particular a threat of rape. The problem comedies generally include this play, Measure for Measure, Troilus and Cressida, and some would add a few others to the list, specifically The Winter’s Tale, Timon of Athens, and The Merchant of Venice.

Two — this one and Measure for Measure — are resolved in part by the so-called “bed trick” in which a rapist’s purposes are foiled by the substitution of another woman — generally the wife or betrothed of the villain — for the intended victim in such a way that the perpetrator is unaware of the substitution. Such plays are obviously rather disturbing in their implications, and I do recommend some parental discretion here. It is worth noting, however, that the device has scriptural antecedents (Rachel substituted by Leah), and a number of cases in Arthurian romance, as well as the Decameron of Giovanni Boccaccio. Something like it occurs in Mozart’s The Marriage of Figaro. In both instances in Shakespeare’s plays, the “bed trick” is in fact used to support conventional sexual morality — leading the husband to consummate his marriage with his wedded or betrothed wife — though it was used for more salacious purposes by a number of other (earlier and later) poets and playwrights.

A narrative retelling of All’s Well that Ends Well from Tales from Shakespeare by Charles and Mary Lamb is linked here at the Eldritch Press Site.

Here is the Royal Shakespeare Company’s page on past productions of All’s Well that Ends Well, containing a brief synopsis of the play and the production history with the company.

Here is the Shakespeare Birthplace Trust’s page on All’s Well that Ends Well, containing information on Royal Shakespeare Company productions going back .

Here’s a summary of All’s Well That Ends Well on film.

All’s Well that Ends Well and what has come before

• As a problem comedy, this clearly raises immediate parallels with The Winter’s Tale, especially insofar as the faithfulness of the wife is at stake.
• The curiously unresolved tonality of the play is worth comparing to that in The Winter’s Tale as well as Love’s Labour’s Lost.
• Those who have read Measure for Measure may find the parallels (and differences) worth exploring.

Shakespeare’s Sources

• The only identifiable antecedent for this play is from Boccaccio’s Decameron. Shakespeare clearly did a fair amount of adaptation on the source before producing it as a play.

Themes that emerge in the play (only a few of the many)

• As often in Shakespeare, the theme of being vs. seeming is foremost.
• Time as the great transformer of all things is similarly an undercurrent here.

Symmetries in the play

• In any case of substitution, of course, we are invited to compare the thing or person substituted with the thing or person replacing it or him (or her). What distinguishes Helena from Diana? Can we respect either one of them, or both?
• The alliance of the old Countess of Rosillion and Helena herself is intriguing in its complexity. What do you make of it?

Problems in the play

• The overall tonality of the play, comedy though it may be, is fairly relentlessly bleak. Very little is funny. Does this eventually defeat the purpose of the play?
• Helena’s self-abasement seems from a twenty-first century perspective to be more pathetic than it probably appeared in Shakespeare’s time. Can you accept this from her?
• Bertram, by contrast, is so arrogant as to prevent almost any emotional engagement with the audience. He seems less a prize to be won than a foe to be defeated. His final reconciliation with Helena seems to many modern readers to fall rather flat. Do you believe him?
• The character of Parolles seems almost entirely worthless. Is there any redeeming characteristic in him? Is he just a loathsome character?
• The character of the clown Lavatch is similarly curiously dark and cynical. Those who have read As You Like It may find him a worthy comparison to both the characters of Jaques and Touchstone; similarly those who have read Twelfth Night may find in him a partial parallel with Malvolio.

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