All’s Well That Ends Well – A. J. Drake's Shakespeare Site

Questions on
Shakespeare’s Comedies

Shakespeare, William. All’s Well That Ends Well. (The Norton Shakespeare: Comedies, 3rd ed. 971-1033.)

ACT 1

1. In Act 1, Scene 1, how do the Countess of Roussillon and Lord Lafeu assess what goes into the making of a young person’s character? What praises do they lay upon them? How, here in the first part of the play, do these presumably middle-aged (or older) characters relate to and advise their juniors Bertram and Helen? Do they seem to understand these younger characters well? Why or why not?

2. In Act 1, Scene 1, consider Helen’s exchange with Paroles the miles gloriosus or “boastful soldier” (a Roman New Comedy term for this kind of stock character). Why does Helen bother talking to him at all? What is the basic theme or subject of their conversation, and how does this subject relate to Helen’s private romantic attachment to the distant and nobly born Bertram?

3. In Act 1, Scene 1, how do Helen’s reflections on her love for Bertram illustrate the power of romantic love? In what way has her affection transformed her, moved her beyond her ordinary self? What are Helen’s expectations of success in winning Bertram’s love, and why? What stands in her way, and what is her plan to achieve this seemingly impossible match?

4. In Act 2, Scene 2, the French King and the Second Lord Dumaine discuss the merits of the kingdom’s young noblemen (“young lords”). What seems to be the opinion of each in this regard? Why is the Second Lord Dumaine so bullish about the prospects for these young men to take part in the Italian wars—what might it do for them?

5. In Act 1, Scene 2, in a conversation about his kingdom’s youth with the Second Lord Dumaine, the French King says modestly, “I fill a place, I know’t” (line 69). We know that in his comedies, Shakespeare often explores the difficulties of passing forward the values and experiences of older generations to newer ones. How does the King’s world-weary commentary, along, perhaps, with the thoughts and attitudes of certain other older characters—touch upon this central comic concern about the generational transmission of values?

6. In Act 1, Scene 3, the Countess and her clown Lavache have a conversation about his reason for marrying. Why does Lavache want to marry? How does his understanding of his motivations to marry serve as a foil to the perspective on love that Helen adopts in the first scene? Based on your own reading beyond the present play, how would you describe the range of quality and purpose in some of the other marriage matches you have encountered in Shakespeare’s comedies? At what place on the marriage spectrum does Lavache’s idea fit?

7. In Act 1, Scene 3, what are the Countess’s thoughts regarding Helen’s interest in her son Bertram? How does the older woman weigh the prospects of a match between her son and Helen? Why does she so readily take Helen’s side in the matter—what accounts for her strong empathy with the young woman, and how does she lead her to confess her passion? Why does Helen nonetheless find it so hard to discuss her love for Bertram with the Countess?

ACT 2

8. In Act 2, Scene 1, the Lords Dumaine encourage Bertram to accompany them to the Italian wars, and he eagerly agrees. Paroles also speaks to Bertram, and recommends the Lords warmly to the young man. What is it about them that Paroles favors? How does he define the concept of “fashion” and broaden it to apply even to military activities? How does Paroles himself try to impress Bertram and the Lords Dumaine in this scene?

9. In Act 2, Scene 1, why is the King so resistant to Lafeu and Helen’s offers of a cure? What arguments does Helen advance to convince the King that he ought to give her remedies a try? Why does he eventually accept? What does Helen ask of the King in return, if she should succeed in her attempt to cure him? What is the point of the harsh quality to the bargain—i.e. the clause that Helen may be tortured and executed if she fails?

10. In Act 2, Scene 2, in an exchange between the Countess and Lavache, who seems to think that he has found the perfect catchphrase, an “answer [that] will serve all men.” What is this answer, and how does it supposedly serve in any social situation, at least among those of relatively high status? What kind of economy or environment of knowledge and attitude does it suggest is the standard at court and more generally among people of some standing in society?

11. In Act 2, Scene 3, the King is fully cured, and Helen chooses Bertram as her reward. How does Bertram deal with this development? How does he at first explain his reaction, which is to reject Helen? Does this reaction have at least something to do with the manner and words whereby Helen announces her decisions? Explain. Moreover, how does the King respond to Bertram’s protest? How does he explain the concept of “honor” or social rank to Bertram, and finally, what strategy does the King adopt to force Bertram’s hand?

12. In Act 2, Scene 3, Lafeu and Paroles converse. Shakespeare often highlights the lesson that artifice (as opposed to whatever we consider “natural”) is part of human nature and not to be condemned, but in what sense does Paroles abuse that aspect of humanity? What distinguishes his artifice from that of, say, Helen, who is trying to engraft herself into the aristocratic stock of France by marrying Bertram? How does Lafeu take the measure of Paroles?

13. In Act 2, Scene 3, what advice does Paroles offer Bertram regarding his current situation—namely his marriage to a woman not of his choosing? Why is the young man at this point unable to see through Paroles? And why (here and elsewhere in the play) is war rather than love such an attractive enterprise to Bertram? What plan does he make to get rid of his brand-new unwanted wife?

14. In Act 2, Scene 4, Lavache first rolls out a pessimistic view of life to the Countess. What is that view? Then he and Paroles exchange witticisms. Describe the difference between their two philosophies. Who wins this “match” of wits between a clown and a fraud, and why?

15. In Act 2, Scene 5, Lafeu tries, without success, to wean Bertram from Paroles. How does Lafeu proceed, and why doesn’t his attempt work? Moreover, how does Bertram manage to degrade our perception of his value even more in this scene than he already has—what does he do to accomplish this unenviable feat?

ACT 3

16. In Act 3, Scene 1, what is the First Lord Dumaine’s response when the Duke of Florence asks him why the King of France has thus far refused to take sides in the Italian wars? What benefit does the First Lord Dumaine himself see in participation by the young men of France? Briefly search the Internet to find and discuss a few ancient and modern views that are somewhat similar to the one Dumaine sets forth—Plato on the difference between Sparta and Athens, for example, or Friedrich Nietzsche.

17. In Act 3, Scene 2, we hear through his letter to the Countess that Bertram has betaken himself to the Italian wars. What more does he say to her? How does the Countess take this news? How does it affect her opinion of Bertram and Helen? Also, what conditions does Bertram lay down for Helen in his letter to her? How does she react to these harsh conditions?

18. In Act 3, Scene 4, what do we find out from Helen’s letter about her proposed course of action now that Bertram has departed? What instructions does the Countess give the Steward Rinaldo upon hearing this information? How does she respond to it at an emotional level, and why does this response speak well of her? In what way does her response contribute to the play’s exploration of youth and age?

19. In Act 3, Scene 5, we meet the Florentine Diana and her widowed mother at a parade for their city’s soldiers. These two women speak with Helen, who has recently arrived in Florence, supposedly as a pilgrim on her way to the shrine of St. James at Compostela, Spain. What does Helen learn from the widow in particular about Bertram and Paroles? What purpose does this scene serve in the play’s developing action?

20. In Act 3, Scene 6, with Paroles as usual pretending to be the valiant soldier he is not, what scheme do Bertram’s friends the two Lords Dumaine devise in order to reveal to him the true nature of Paroles? What’s the basis of their own understanding of this rascal? How willing is Bertram at present to be un-deceived about Paroles, and why?

21. In Act 3, Scene 7, Helen elaborates on her plan with Diana and the widow. What is that plan? Consider also the various acts of deception going on by now: Helen is plotting to outsmart Bertram, Paroles is trying to deceive nearly everyone near him, and Bertram and his friends are playing a trick on Paroles. What makes some of these acts of deception more (or less) legitimate than others?

ACT 4

22. In Act 4, Scenes 1 and 3, how does the trick devised by the two Lords Dumaine play out against Paroles? Aside from shamefully promising treasonous information to his supposed captors, what “information” does Paroles offer, and why is this information sought by the captors? What does this character think of the deceptions he has practiced and the humiliations he has been exposed to for them? Why, in his view, has he done the dishonest things that he has done, and more broadly, what is his philosophy of life as he now explains it to himself and us?

23. In Act 4, Scenes 1 and 3 and in general, we might ask a separate question about Paroles: how does this character compare to other comic wordmongers, eccentric stylists of whatever sort, or general rascals and villains in Shakespeare’s plays? If you are familiar with Sir John Falstaff in I and II Henry IV (or The Merry Wives of Windsor), for example, that character would make a good subject for comparison and contrast. But there are others as well.

24. In Act 4, Scene 3, the two lords Dumaine make Bertram’s actions and predicament the subject of their earnest conversation. What reflections do they share about Bertram’s treatment of his wife Helen and of Diana, whom they know as “a young gentle- / woman here in Florence of a most chaste renown” (1014, 4.3.14-15)? Why are the two lords insistent on Bertram’s being present when they finally expose Paroles as the dishonest rogue they, at least, know him to be?

25. In Act 4, Scene 4 at line 35 and then in Act 5, Scene 1 at line 25, Helen utters the play’s title phrase, “All’s well that ends well.” At one level the phrase’s meaning is obvious—we still use it today when we want to say that some situation was a mess but now everything’s fine. But what does it mean in these scenes and with regard to the play as a whole, when you have finished reading it? Does it connote a happy ending with no disturbing loose ends, or do we need to recontextualize it to suit the present play? Explain.

26. In Act 4, Scene 5, Lafeu and Lavache the Clown have a rather strange conversation. What is the subject? What difference of opinion do the Countess and Lafeu have concerning Lavache? Moreover, how does Lafeu propose to deal with Bertram’s predicament at court (i.e. he’s out of favor with the King), and what view does the Countess take of his proposition?

ACT 5

27. In Act 5, Scene 1, how is Helen’s plan furthered by a gentleman who is traveling to Roussillon? What favor does she ask of him? Moreover, explain, in terms of the play’s plot, the significance of the delay implied between the gentleman’s arrival in Roussillon and the arrival there of Helen and her two friends (Diana and the widow).

28. In Act 5, Scene 2, how do first Lavache and then Lafeu receive the disgraced Paroles at Roussillon? Does this reception by Lafeu confirm the philosophy that Paroles has already adopted regarding his disgrace (expressed mainly in Act 4, Scene 3)? If so, in what way is it confirmed? In what sense might Paroles’s perspective, even if not admirable, be considered essentially in line with the aims of comedy?

29. In Act 5, Scene 3, how is Bertram undone by a pair of rings and by Diana’s explanations when she arrives on the scene? That is, explain the basic plot mechanics of this scene. How does the king react to the deceptive responses Bertram has given and then to the apparent defiance of Diana when she is challenged to explain herself more fully?

30. In Act 5, Scene 3, when Helen finally enters and proves that she has fulfilled Bertram’s two supposedly impossible conditions for gaining his affection, Bertram relents. How do you assess his sincerity or lack thereof when he exclaims, “I’ll love her dearly, ever, ever, dearly” (310)? Does the play leave you feeling that Bertram and Helen are finally a genuine love match of the sort you expect from romantic comedy, or does the play’s emphasis lie elsewhere? Explain.

Document Timestamp: 10/26/2025 2:55 PM