All's Well That Ends Well

Shakespeare’s All’s Well That Ends Well is the story of its heroine, Helen, more so than the story of Bertram, for whose love she yearns. Helen wins Bertram as her husband despite his lack of interest and higher social standing, but she finds little happiness in the victory as he shuns, deserts, and attempts to betray her.

The play suggests some sympathy for Bertram. As a ward to the French king, he must remain at court while his friends go off to war and glory. When Helen cures the King, he makes Bertram available to her. To exert any control over his life, Bertram goes to war in Italy.

Helen then takes the initiative in furthering their marriage, undertaking an arduous journey and a daring trick. Few today, however, see a fairy-tale ending.

Most scholars believe that Shakespeare wrote All’s Well That Ends Well between 1601 and 1605. Its first known publication was in the 1623 First Folio. Among Shakespeare’s sources was William Painter’s Palace of Pleasure, an English translation of the story as told in Boccaccio's Decameron.

Productions at the Folger

• All's Well That Ends Well (Folger Theatre, 2003)

Early editions

First Folio

LUNA: First Folio: v1v - y1v

Hamnet: STC 22273 Fo.1 no.68

Second Folio

LUNA: Second Folio: V1v- Y1v

Hamnet: STC 22274 Fo.2 no.07

Modern editions

All's Well That Ends Well can be read online with the Folger Digital Texts and purchased from Simon and Schuster.

Hamnet link to Folger Edition: PR2753 .M6 2003 copy 2 v.04

Notes

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