As it’s already been stated repeatedly, “All’s Well That End’s Well” is admittedly the most well-liked play of all of Shakespeare. While I think this play can be undervalued most of the time, I can somewhat understand why people don’t have a tendency to enjoy this play. As Harold Bloom states it, “The initial question of “All’s Well That End’s Well” is: How can Helena be so massively wrong?” (348) The question loomed over my head the entire time I read this play.
Bertram is of noble blood and surpasses Helena’s social rank, but he’s an immature, stingy, spoiled, dishonorable monster of a man. Helena on the other hand is his opposite, a woman deserving to be loved and prized as a wife and yet still remains infatuated with Bertram despite his horrid qualities. She’s stubborn never ceasing to win over the affection Bertram refuses her until she meets his two conditions:
“When thou canst get the ring upon my finger, which never shall come off, and show me a child begotten of they body that I am father to, then call me husband, but in such a “then” I write a “never.” (Act III, Scene 2, 56-59)
It’s surprising Helena even puts up with Bertram’s disdainful behavior toward her. She’s so stubborn or so set on gaining Bertram’s affections she eventually finds a way to pull the ‘bed trick’ on him and succeeds. It’s hard to grasp the idea that such a horrid man, in the end “is dismissed to happiness” as Dr. Johnson is quoted in Harold Bloom.
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