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  • Open Daily: 10am - 10pm
    Alley-side Pickup: 10am - 7pm

    3038 Hennepin Ave Minneapolis, MN
    612-822-4611

Open Daily: 10am - 10pm | Alley-side Pickup: 10am - 7pm
3038 Hennepin Ave Minneapolis, MN
612-822-4611
All's Well That Ends Well

All's Well That Ends Well

Shakespeare, William

Paperback

Shakespeare

ISBN10: 150270210X
ISBN13: 9781502702104
Publisher: Createspace Independent Publishing Platform
Published: Oct 4 2014
Pages: 118
Weight: 0.40
Height: 0.28 Width: 6.00 Depth: 9.00
Language: English
Love all, trust a few, do wrong to none.
--- William Shakespeare, All's Well That Ends Well

All's Well That Ends Well is a play by William Shakespeare. It is traditionally believed to have been written between 1604 and 1605, and was originally published in the First Folio in 1623.

Though originally the play was classified as one of Shakespeare's comedies, the play is now considered by some critics to be one of his problem plays, so named because they cannot be neatly classified as tragedy nor comedy. Critical comment

There is no evidence that All's Well was popular in Shakespeare's own lifetime and it has remained one of his lesser-known plays ever since, in part due to its odd mixture of fairy tale logic, gender role reversals and cynical realism. Helena's love for the seemingly unlovable Bertram is difficult to explain on the page, but in performance it can be made acceptable by casting an actor of obvious physical attraction or by playing him as a naive and innocent figure not yet ready for love although, as both Helena and the audience can see, capable of emotional growth. This latter interpretation also assists at the point in the final scene in which Bertram suddenly switches from hatred to love in just one line. This is considered a particular problem for actors trained to admire psychological realism. However, some alternative readings emphasise the if in his equivocal promise: If she, my liege, can make me know this clearly, I'll love her dearly, ever, ever dearly. Here, there has been no change of heart at all. Productions like the National Theatre's 2009 run, have Bertram make his promise seemingly normally, but then end the play hand-in-hand with Helena, staring out at the audience with a look of aghast bewilderment suggesting he only relented to save face in front of the King.

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