The Bed Trick

It’s taken a while, but it’s finally time to grapple with one of the most interesting (or frustrating) plot elements of All’s Well That Ends Well: the Bed Trick. Diana the virgin agrees to go to bed with the married Bertram, but substitutes the cad’s true wife Helena in her place, thus allowing their marriage to be consummated (and for Helena to become pregnant).

So what to make of this?

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All’s Well That Ends Well: That’s a big… answer.

[CONTENT REDACTED: In this blog entry, I made reference to Dr. Pauline Kiernan’s work and book on bawdy in the Bard, Filthy Shakespeare; in doing so, I have offended her by my tone and use of her material. I apologize for the offense, and have thus redacted the reference.]

All’s Well That Ends Well: Welcome to Rossillion, next stop Bawdyville!

[EXPLICIT CONTENT, ADULT LANGUAGE AND SEXUAL IMAGERY AHEAD… SKIP IF EASILY OFFENDED.]

When I first read Act One, Scene One of All’s Well That Ends Well, I thought bawdiness was ushered in by Parolles. But on a second reading, I see Shakespeare priming the nudge-wink pump with some very VERY subtle bawdiness from Helena. Continue reading “All’s Well That Ends Well: Welcome to Rossillion, next stop Bawdyville!”

All’s Well That Ends Well: With this ring…

Just a quick note to kill off the month… The major piece of iconography from All’s Well That Ends Well is the ring. Or rather, rings:

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Podcast 110: Reviews — All’s Well That Ends Well Videos and Mobile Apps

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This week’s podcast continues our two month-long discussion of All’s Well That Ends Well with some reviews of the video versions available for viewing, as well as some of the Android-platform Shakespeare-related apps.

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All’s Well: A Male Power Play

Yesterday, I touched on the subject of subjection in All’s Well That Ends Well. Today, I want to flip that coin, and look not so much at submission but rather at the imposition of power, especially male power.

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All’s Well… Subject-ively speaking

Yesterday, I looked at the concept of marriage (if not wedded bliss) in All’s Well That Ends Well. Today, I want to look at a subject that in other plays can be inextricably tied to matrimony: subjection.

[see what I did there? subject… subjection]

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All’s Well … that ends in marriage?

The last play we discussed, Troilus and Cressida, was a kind of anti-comedy, where if marriage wasn’t a non-issue, then it was the root of a problem (Helen’s kidnapping by Paris from her husband Menelaus). But it’s a new month (actually closer to the second month of our discussion), a new play, and a new view on marriage. All’s Well That Ends Well‘s entire raison d’etre is matrimony. The first half of the play is all about Helena getting her husband, and the second half is all about her getting her husband, if you know what I mean (nudge nudge, wink wink).

But within the confines of the play, what is the meaning of marriage?

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All’s Well That Ends Well: A question of gender

All’s Well That Ends Well begins with a number of patriarchal deaths, both recent and seemingly imminent. The widowed Countess mourns not only the loss of her husband but of her son as well, since he is off to become the “ward, evermore in subjection” (I.i.5) to the dying king. If the death of a father is what frees the son to take on the mantle of manhood–as in the tales of kings–it certainly doesn’t seem so in Rossillion.

This king, a dying man, still holds all the power.

Save for that over death.

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Two characters under the same inky cloak

As I dive back into the first scene of All’s Well That Ends Well, I’m struck by Helena’s first words:

I do affect a sorrow indeed, but I have it too.
  • I.i.53-4

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