Helena and the King

All's Well That Ends Well

William Shakespearec. 1604
Influence15th pct
Popularity18th pct
Shakespeare

Read this if you…

  • want a Shakespeare play that's considered very problematic, which can be fun to read
  • love absurd immoral trickery

Skip this if you…

  • aren't willing to go slow, read notes, look up analyses of famous passages (only way to "get" shakespeare)
  • foolishly think shakespeare is overrated
  • don't like his comedies compared to his tragedies

The Groblé Take

Hilarious one with tons of trickery and ridiculous payoff, but very entertaining. Everyone being deceitful is an awesome view of humanity. Lots of fun

Connections

The lineage through All's Well That Ends Well

Built Onwhat came beforeAll's Well That End…The Decameron

  • The Decameron by Giovanni Boccaccio. All's Well That Ends Well built on it. - The entire plot comes straight from one of Boccaccio's tales — Giletta di Narbona, *Decameron* Day 3, Novella 9 - The king's cure, the rejected husband, the bed-trick: Shakespeare took them whole from Boccaccio via William Painter's English *Palace of Pleasure* - Read the source tale and you see exactly what Shakespeare kept, and what he darkened into something stranger
See the full map
Gallery

Depicted in Art

Helena, in bridal attire, is presented before the King of France as she chooses Bertram, who recoils in visible disdain at the betrothal.

Francis Wheatley, 1793

Helena petitions the ailing King of France in his sickroom, offering to cure him in exchange for her choice of husband.

Kenny Meadows, 1846

A solo portrait of Helena, the play's heroine, in early-Victorian costume with a contemplative expression.

J. W. Wright, 1837

Helena moves down the line of assembled lords at the French court, choosing Bertram as her husband under the King's gaze.

Michael Goodman, 1880

Helena stands taking leave of the seated Countess of Rossillion in a domestic interior before departing for the French court.

John Masey Wright

Editions

Recommended Editions

#1Top Pick

Folger Shakespeare Library

2006

Folger's the readable one. Text on one page, notes on the facing page, written in plain English instead of textbook-speak. Catches every word and reference you'd otherwise google, without breaking the scene to do it.

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Notable Quotes

All's well that ends well. Still the fine's the crown. Whate'er the course, the end is the renown.

Helena, Act IV, Scene iv
All 13 quotes, with sources →
Adaptations

Screen & Stage

Posters via The Movie Database (TMDB)

AcclaimPraised by 6 notable voices
  • Judi Dench, actress, 1934–: "A beautiful and complex play rarely performed."
  • George Bernard Shaw, playwright & critic, 1856–1950: "The most beautiful old woman's part ever written."
  • William Hazlitt, essayist & critic, 1778–1830: "All's Well That Ends Well is one of the most pleasing of our author's comedies."
  • Samuel Johnson, critic & lexicographer, 1709–1784: "Parolles … perhaps never raised more laughter or contempt than in the hands of Shakespeare."
  • Harold Bloom, literary critic, Yale University, 1930–2019: "Only the hero-villains rival Helena — Richard III, Iago, Edmund, Macbeth — and they all at last are slain or undone. Helena triumphs."
  • Barry Edelstein, theater director, Artistic Director of The Old Globe, 1964–: "All's Well may not be as famous as Romeo and Juliet, but it's every bit as satisfying."

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