!ALL’S WELL, THAT ENDS WELL (ca. 1602-05)
The First Folio is the sole authority for this play. The print house copy appears to have Shakespeare’s foul papers.
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!!X AXIS (abscisses): 3079 lines
The traditional division of ACTS is that of the FOLIO. F gives no scene divisions but, in this case, the Graph should reveal scene-breaks quite clearly, since they all result from “cleared stages” (i.e. general EXEUNTs).
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1.1: line 1 (reads "Act 1 scene 1 begins at line 1")
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2.1: line 593
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3.1: line 1371
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4.1: line 1910
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5.1: line 2592
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!!Y AXIS: ENTRANCES & EXITS
Entrances & exits of Characters
According to their order of appearance.
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(2,48) reads "enters at line 2, exits at line 80".
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PRINCIPAL CHARACTERS are capitalized.
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COUNTESS of Rossillion (Bertram’s mother)
(2,82) (328,592) (824,891) (1401,1507) (1555,1601) (1481,2591) (2695,3078)
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BERTRAM (Count of Rossillion)
(2,82) (262,326) (594,660) (892,1088) (1171,1208) (1269,1370) (1539,1554) (1696,1718) (1730,1854) (2016,2095) (2189,2420) (2734,2841) (2869,3078)
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LAFEW (an old Lord)
(2,82) (262,326) (661,705) (892,1139) (1147,1170) (1269,1319) (2481,2591) (2659,2694) (2695,3078)
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HELENA
(2,236) (450,492) (699,823) (930,1088) (1209,1268) (1325,1366) (1446,1538) (1640,1729) (1855,1909) (2439,2480) (2593,2639) (3039,3078)
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PAROLLES (a braggart)
(103,222) (262,326) (594,660) (892,1208) (1222,1267) (1284,1370) (1540,1554) (1696,1718) (1772,1817) (1936,2006) (2224,2438) (2640,2694) (2960,3078)
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KING
(238,326) (594,823) (930,1088) (2695,3078)
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Lord G. (a.k.a. Captain G)
(239,326) (594,647) (1372,1400) (1446,1507) (1730,1844) (1911,2016) (2106,2420)
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Lord E. (a.k.a. Captain E)
(239,326) (594,647) (1372,1400) (1446,1507) (1730,1854) (2106,2420)
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Steward (of Countess Rossillion)
(328,449) (1555,1601)
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CLOWN (Lavatch)
(328,418) (824,891) (1209,1268) (1401,1419) (1435,1507) (2481,2543) (2575,2591) (2640,2666)
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Duke of Florence
(1372,1400) (1539,1554)
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WIDOW
(1603,1729) (1855,1909) (2439,2480) (2593,2639) (2870,3029) (3039,3078)
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DIANA
(1603,1729) (2016,2105) (2439,2480) (2593,2639) (2870,3078)
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1ST Soldier (& “interpreter”)
(1911,2006) (2224,2427)
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Astringer
(2601,2639) (2842,3078)
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!!PLOTS & COLOURING
The play has a PLOT and a SUBPLOT :
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• The plot
HELENA, having cured the KING of a grave malady, is recompensed with a husband, BERTRAM. Helena loves Bertram but Bertram does not love Helena (whom he furthermore believes to be far below his status). The reluctant Bertram therefore flees to war in Italy leaving Helena with the following message:
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“When thou canst get the ring upon my finger which
never shall come off, and show me a child begotten
of thy body that I am father to, then call me
husband: but in such a 'then' I write a 'never.'”
— 3.2 (p.241 in FOLIO)
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Exactly as in MEASURE FOR MEASURE, the main plot will find its resolution in another “bedtrick”.
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• The Subplot
Perhaps Shakespeare had wanted to take up the bedtrick challenge again because he had found a more satisfying stage decoy for the absent catastasic event: in this case, the “fall from grace” of Bertram’s favourite, the braggart PAROLLES. The fallen braggart leaves open a place beside Betram that the wise Helena can thereafter occupy.
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HELENA & PAROLLES are the two forces that guide the play and therefore need to be colourfully distinguished.
!!METATHEATRE
The gulling of Parolles occurs through “play-acting”.
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• Act 4.1 (Folio pp. 245-6), Parolles’ own soldiers — masquerading as “enemies” — “capture” him (1900,2016);
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• Act 4.3 (Folio pp. 247-51), Parolles is “interrogated” and thereby proven a coward (2224,2420).
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Parolles therefore falls from grace through a form of theatre or “masquerade”. And, as such, it is similar to the bedtrick but with the difference that it can be “shown”.
