Author: thebillshakespeareproject

Back when I was discussing the conclusion of Troilus and Cressida a couple of months back, I said while that play has an ending, it really doesn’t have a resolution to either of its plots, neither the love (comic) plot of our titular lovers, nor the tragic plot of the war (and our–or at least my–tragic hero Pandarus). Well, this play’s ending is just as problematic: All’s Well That Ends Well ends, but not well. It ends too quickly. Not that there isn’t a resolution–in a seeming contradiction, it’s that there may very well be too much resolution.

[And notice the preponderance of “well”s in the last few sentences… but more on that in a bit.]

Continue reading “All’s Well That Ends Well — Endingus Interruptus: a fairy fail”

I’m not the first to point out the fairy tale aspects of All’s Well That Ends Well. Famously, Susan Snyder, in an introduction to her seminar on the play in 1992, called the play a “deconstructed fairy tale.” Much has been made of the fairy tale motifs that can be found in the play: The Healing of the King (obviously), The Fulfillment of Tasks (Bertram’s conditions for a matrimonial future), The Man Who Deserted His Wife (Bertram’s flight to war).

Continue reading “All’s Well That Ends Well: A Fractured Fairy Tale”

Yesterday, I talked a little about the heavy use of letters and writing in All’s Well That Ends Well. This was an offshoot of my usual look at a play assisted by the concordance at OpenSource Shakespeare. But there’s another concept that I found repeatedly in my reading of the play…

If you combine the variations of god, heaven, fortune, divine, providence, grace and miracles, the play sits just above the middle of the pack in the Canon. If that doesn’t sound impressive, note that it has more references than any “problem play” and the second most of any comedy; all the other plays above it on the list are histories, tragedies, and tragicomedies. If we talk about just “heaven” references, it ranks in the top seven, tied for the most among comedies, and second among the “problem plays.” And if we look only at the use of “fortune” and its variances, the play is in the top four, tops in both comedies and “problem plays,” and more than any tragicomedies.

Continue reading “All’s Well That Ends Well: it would take a miracle”

Occasionally, I like to take a look at a concordance–a reference book that lists every major word used in a work and the number of appearances there–for words that I notice popping up repeatedly throughout a text. For Julius Caesar, it was “noble,” while in Twelfth Night, it was “gull.” “Play” in Hamlet. “Man” in As You Like It. “Noting” and “listening” in Much Ado About Nothing. So what about All’s Well That Ends Well?

Well, in my deeper dives into this play, I’m seeing quite a bit about writing and letters.

Continue reading “All’s Well That Ends Well: Write me a letter”