All's Well That Ends Well is a play by William Shakespeare. It was probably written between 1601 and 1608, and it was first published in the First Folio in 1623.
Though originally the play was classified as a comedy, 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 or comedy.
The play is based on a tale (3.9) of Boccaccio's The Decameron. Shakespeare may have r...
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All's Well That Ends Well is a play by William Shakespeare. It was probably written between 1601 and 1608, and it was first published in the First Folio in 1623.
Though originally the play was classified as a comedy, 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 or comedy.
The play is based on a tale (3.9) of Boccaccio's The Decameron. Shakespeare may have read an English translation of the tale in William Painter's Palace of Pleasure.
The name of the play comes from the proverb All's well that ends well, which means that problems do not matter so long as the outcome is good.
Helena, a lowborn beauty, serves as a gentlewoman in the household of the Countess of Rousillon. Bertram, the Countess' son, is making preparations to leave for Paris to become a ward of the King of France. Helena has long nursed a secret love for Bertram, despite their class differences. It is revealed that the King is...
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