All’s Well That Ends Well · Chapter
Scene I explained
Bertram departs for the King's court, leaving behind his mother the Countess, Helena, and Lafeu.
What happens
Bertram departs for the King's court, leaving behind his mother the Countess, Helena, and Lafeu. The Countess mourns the loss of her son and recalls Helena's father, the renowned physician Gerard de Narbon. Lafeu informs them that the King is ill with a fistula and has abandoned his physicians. After Bertram and Lafeu exit, Helena reveals her deep love for Bertram and laments the social gulf between them. Parolles enters and engages in a witty, bawdy debate about virginity. Left alone, Helena resolves to use her father's medical knowledge to cure the King and thereby win Bertram.
Themes in this chapter
Social Class and Merit
Helena laments that her low birth prevents her from marrying Bertram, despite her love and merit.
Virginity and Sexuality
Parolles and Helena engage in a lengthy, witty debate about the value and preservation of virginity.
Love and Obsession
Helena's soliloquy reveals her intense, almost idolatrous love for Bertram, which drives her actions.
Characters to notice
- Bertram
Departs for the King's court, mourning his father's death and expressing duty to the King.
- Countess of Rousillon
Bids farewell to her son, praises Helena's virtues, and recalls Helena's father Gerard de Narbon.
- Helena
Reveals her love for Bertram, laments her low birth, and resolves to cure the King.
- Lafeu
Comforts the Countess, informs them of the King's illness, and praises Gerard de Narbon.
- Parolles
Engages in a witty debate with Helena about virginity, revealing his cynical and boastful nature.
- King of France
Mentioned as being ill with a fistula and having abandoned his physicians.
Key passages
“In delivering my son from me, I bury a second husband.”
Sending my son away feels like losing another husband.
The Countess expresses her grief at Bertram's departure.
“The hind that would be mated by the lion Must die for love.”
A deer that tries to mate with a lion will die from the attempt.
Helena compares her love for Bertram to a lowly creature seeking a noble mate.
“Our remedies oft in ourselves do lie, Which we ascribe to heaven.”
The solutions to our problems are often within us, though we attribute them to fate.
Helena resolves to take action rather than passively hope.