All's Well That Ends Well

• Helena, a physician's daughter, loves Bertram — a young count far above her station. He doesn't love her back • Helena cures the King of France of a fatal illness. Her reward: she gets to choose any husband at court. She picks Bertram • Bertram is forced to marry her but refuses to consummate the marriage. He flees to the wars in Italy with his friend Parolles • His condition: "When thou canst get the ring upon my finger... and show me a child begotten of thy body that I am father to" — impossible tasks, he thinks • Helena follows him. The "bed trick": she substitutes herself for Diana (a Florentine girl Bertram is seducing). He sleeps with his own wife without knowing it • She gets his ring. She gets pregnant. Both conditions technically met • Parolles (Bertram's blowhard companion) is exposed as a coward and liar through an elaborate prank — blindfolded, he betrays everyone • Bertram returns to France thinking Helena is dead. He's caught in lies about Diana. Helena appears, alive, pregnant, with his ring • Bertram: "If she, my liege, can make me know this clearly, I'll love her dearly, ever, ever dearly." The weakest reconciliation in Shakespeare • The title is deeply ironic — does it really "end well"? Helena gets a man who doesn't want her. Bertram accepts under duress • A "problem play" because it refuses the satisfactions of comedy while using its structures