# Scene III explained — All’s Well That Ends Well

> Chapter companion for All’s Well That Ends Well by William Shakespeare.

## What happens

In a military camp near Florence, Bertram and the Dumain lords orchestrate the exposure of Parolles as a coward and liar. Disguised soldiers interrogate Parolles, who readily betrays military secrets and slanders his comrades, including Bertram. His treachery is fully revealed when a letter to Diana is read aloud, exposing his duplicity. Parolles is unmasked and left humiliated, while Bertram prepares to return to France after receiving news of Helena's death.

## Themes in this chapter

### Deception and Appearance

Parolles's entire identity as a brave soldier is revealed as a facade; the lords' trick exposes the gap between appearance and reality.

### Honor and Reputation

Parolles's slander of Bertram and the Dumain lords damages their reputations, while his own honor is completely destroyed.

### Love and Obsession

Bertram's pursuit of Diana is referenced in Parolles's letter, highlighting his obsessive and predatory behavior toward her.

## Character check-ins

### Bertram

Bertram orchestrates the exposure of Parolles, showing his contempt for the braggart. He also mentions having 'buried a wife' and plans to return to France.

### Parolles

Parolles is captured, interrogated, and exposed as a coward and liar. He betrays military secrets and slanders his comrades, including Bertram, before being humiliated.

### First Lord Dumain

First Lord Dumain participates in the plot to expose Parolles, acting as an interrogator and mocking Parolles's false bravado.

### Second Lord Dumain

Second Lord Dumain assists in the deception, reporting Parolles's fearful confession and mocking his cowardice.

### Diana

Diana is mentioned in Parolles's intercepted letter, which warns her against Bertram's advances and reveals Parolles's duplicity.

## Key lines

> I have to-night dispatched sixteen businesses, a month's length a-piece, by an abstract of success: I have congied with the duke, done my adieu with his nearest; buried a wife, mourned for her; writ to my lady mother I am returning; entertained my convoy; and between these main parcels of dispatch effected many nicer needs; the last was the greatest, but that I have not ended yet.

Bertram boasts of completing many tasks in one night, including saying goodbye to the duke, mourning his wife, writing to his mother, and arranging his return to France.

_Bertram's cold efficiency in dismissing his wife's death underscores his emotional detachment and selfishness._

> Yet am I thankful: if my heart were great, 'Twould burst at this. Captain I'll be no more; But I will eat and drink, and sleep as soft As captain shall: simply the thing I am Shall make me live.

Parolles accepts his humiliation and decides to live as a common man, abandoning his pretense of being a captain.

_Parolles's pragmatic acceptance of his shame reveals his survival instinct and lack of true honor._

> He will steal, sir, an egg out of a cloister: for rapes and ravishments he parallels Nessus: he professes not keeping of oaths; in breaking 'em he is stronger than Hercules: he will lie, sir, with such volubility, that you would think truth were a fool.

Parolles falsely accuses Captain Dumain of being a thief, a rapist, an oath-breaker, and a compulsive liar.

_Parolles's slander reveals his own dishonesty and willingness to destroy others' reputations to save himself._

## Links

- HTML: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/all_s_well_that_ends_well_se/chapters/act-iv-scene-iii
- Book: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/all_s_well_that_ends_well_se
- All chapters: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/all_s_well_that_ends_well_se/chapters