"All's Well That Ends Well" (Arden Shakespeare) - Hardcover

William Shakespeare

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0174435894 ISBN 13: 9780174435891

Publisher: The Folio Society, 1963

Synopsis

"All's Well That Ends Well" is one of Shakespeare's most poetic and subtle comedies. When the clever and appealing Helena cures the ailing king of France of an illness, she asks for the hand of Bertram (a proper young Englishman) in return. Her efforts to win Bertram's love are rendered with wit and verve by a distinguished cast, including Claire Bloom, John Stride, Dame Flora Robson, Eric Portman and Jack MacGowan. This performance brings to life this surprisingly modern play.

About this title

Review:

All's Well That Ends Well has generally been considered one of Shakespeare's most difficult and unpopular plays. Labelled a "Problem Comedy", editors believe that the play was written between 1604 and 1605, and exhibits a darkening of Shakespeare's interest in comedy. The play deals with the complicated relationship between Helena, the daughter of a famous physician, and Bertram, the arrogant son of the Countess of Roussillon. Helena is secretly in love with Bertram, and when she miraculously cures the ailing King, she asks for Bertram's hand in marriage, to which the grateful sovereign happily agrees. Bertram bitterly opposes marriage to Helena, who he regards as a social inferior. After reluctantly agreeing to the marriage, Bertram flees to the wars in Italy with his companion Parolles.

What ensues is Helena's increasingly desperate and complex attempts to retrieve her errant husband, which involves various machinations and a piece of mistaken identity and an infamous "bed-trick" which has never fully convinced audiences or critics. More recently critics have been kinder to the play, seeing its cynical disillusionment with romance as reflecting contemporary social and political anxieties about warfare and commerce, and feminist critics have been keen to celebrate Helena as a particularly complex heroine. The play is also fascinated by language, encapsulated in the character of Parolles (or "words"), and his memorable line for which the play is chiefly remembered: "Simply the thing I am / Shall make me live". --Jerry Brotton

Review:

"A remarkable edition, one that makes Shakespeare's extraordinary accomplishment more vivid than ever."--James Shapiro, professor, Columbia University, bestselling author of "A Year in the Life of Shakespeare: 1599" "A feast of literary and historical information.""--The Wall Street Journal"

About this edition

• Publisher: The Folio Society
• Publication date: 1963
• ISBN 10: 0174435894
• ISBN 13: 9780174435891
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1