All's Well That Ends Well
'All's Well That Ends Well' Summary
Helena, the low-born ward of a French-Spanish countess, is in love with the countess's son Bertram, who is indifferent to her. Bertram goes to Paris to replace his late father as attendant to the ailing King of France. Helena, the daughter of a recently deceased physician, follows Bertram, ostensibly to offer the King her services as a healer. The King is skeptical, and she guarantees the cure with her life: if he dies, she will be put to death, but if he lives, she may choose a husband from the court.
The King is cured and Helena chooses Bertram, who rejects her, owing to her poverty and low status. The King forces him to marry her, but after the ceremony Bertram immediately goes to war in Italy without so much as a goodbye kiss. He says that he will only marry her after she has carried his child and wears his family ring. Helena returns home to the countess, who is horrified at what her son has done, and claims Helena as her child in Bertram's place.
In Italy, Bertram is a successful warrior and also a successful seducer of local virgins. Helena follows him to Italy, befriends Diana, a virgin with whom Bertram is infatuated, and they arrange for Helena to take Diana's place in bed. Diana obtains Bertram's ring in exchange for one of Helena's. In this way Helena, without Bertram's knowledge, consummates their marriage and wears his ring.
Helena fakes her own death. Bertram, thinking he is free of her, comes home. He tries to marry a local lord's daughter, but Diana shows up and breaks up the engagement. Helena appears and explains the ring swap, announcing that she has fulfilled Bertram's challenge; Bertram, impressed by all she has done to win him, swears his love to her. Thus all ends well.
There is a subplot about Parolles, a disloyal associate of Bertram's: Some of the lords at the court attempt to get Bertram to know that his friend Parolles is a boasting coward, as Lafew and the Countess have also said. They convince Parolles to cross into enemy territory to fetch a drum that he left behind. While on his way, they pose as enemy soldiers, kidnap him, blindfold him, and, with Bertram observing, get him to betray his friends, and besmirch Bertram's character.
Book Details
Author
William Shakespeare
United Kingdom
William Shakespeare was born on April 23, 1564, in Stratford-upon-Avon. The son of John Shakespeare and Mary Arden, he was probably educated at the King Edward VI Grammar School in Stratford, where he...
More on William ShakespeareDownload eBooks
Listen/Download Audiobook
- Select Speed
Related books
A Midsummer Night's Dream by William Shakespeare
A Midsummer Night's Dream is a comedy, set in Athens, one of William Shakespeare's greatest creations, filled with humor, magic, intrigue, and love.
The Wonder! A Woman Keeps a Secret by Susanna Centlivre
Donna Isabella does not want to marry Don Guzman, her father's choice. Donna Violante's father wants her to become a nun. Isabella is attacked on the...
Rilla of Ingleside by Lucy Maud Montgomery
Rilla of Ingleside (1921) is the eighth of nine books in the Anne of Green Gables series by Lucy Maud Montgomery, but was the sixth "Anne" novel in pu...
The Belton Estate by Anthony Trollope
The Belton Estate is a novel by Anthony Trollope, written in 1865. The novel concerns itself with a young woman who has accepted one of two suitors, t...
Justice by John Galsworthy
Justice is a 1910 play by the British writer John Galsworthy. It was part of a campaign to improve conditions in British prisons.
Lost for Love by Mary Elizabeth Braddon
Will Flora Everard ever find true love? Or is she destined to be forever lost? Lost for Love is a captivating novel by Mary Elizabeth Braddon, one of...
Welcome to Spring by Ring Lardner
Spring has sprung, but for these characters, it's anything but welcome. Welcome to Spring is a collection of poems by Ring Lardner that captures the...
The Semi-Attached Couple by Emily Eden
Young and beautiful Helen Eskdale and fabulously wealthy Lord Teviot seem to be the perfect match. But when they marry, they find that misunderstandin...
Why Marry? by Jesse Lynch Williams
Why Marry? is a 1917 play written by American playwright Jesse Lynch Williams. It won the first Pulitzer Prize for Drama in 1918.
The Hand of Ethelberta by Thomas Hardy
The Hand of Ethelberta: A Comedy in Chapters is a novel by Thomas Hardy, published in 1876. It was written, in serial form, for the Cornhill Magazine,...
Reviews for All's Well That Ends Well
No reviews posted or approved, yet...