Synopsis

All's Well That Ends Well

After the death of his father, Count Bertram of Rossillion is called to Paris to serve the King of France. The King is deathly ill, and the physician who might have cured him has died, though not before leaving his medical secrets to his daughter, Helena. Bertram’s mother, the Countess, regards Helena as a daughter, and discovers that her recent melancholy has been caused by her unrequited love for Bertram. Hearing of the King’s illness, Helena decides to follow Bertram to Paris, where she will attempt to cure the King. The King learns of a war in Italy, and he gives permission to the young nobles of the court to join either side to gain experience.

When Helena arrives in the court, she offers to cure the King; if she fails, she will forfeit her life, but if she succeeds, the King must give her the husband of her choice. When she succeeds, she asks to be married to Bertram. Not wanting to marry a girl of low birth, Bertram protests, but the King commands Bertram to obey. After he reluctantly agrees, his soldier friend Parolles urges him to run away to the war. Bertram sends Helena back to Rossillion, promising to follow after.

In Rossillion, Helena receives a letter from Bertram asserting that they will never truly be married until she wears his ring and carries his child, two things which he will make sure never happen, for he has joined the Florentine army. Helena decides to follow Bertram to Italy disguised as a religious pilgrim. While lodging at a hostel kept by a widow and her beautiful daughter Diana, Helena learns that Bertram has been courting Diana. Helena offers Diana three thousand crowns to assist her plot against Bertram: Diana will only let Bertram come to her room if he first gives her the ring he wears. In the room, however, Helena will be the one waiting for the midnight liaison.

Several French officers in the Florentine army, determined to prove to Bertram that Parolles is a coward, capture and threaten Parolles, pretending to be the enemy. Bertram returns to camp, having spent the night with the woman he thought was Diana. Word comes to the camp that Helena has died of grief, and Bertram’s fellow officers malign him for the way he treated her. The officers then bring in the blindfolded Parolles, who tells all he knows and goes on to insult his comrades. When the blindfold is removed, the humiliated Parolles vows revenge on his former companion.

The King visits the Countess at Rossillion, and agrees to forgive Bertram despite his treatment of Helena. Suddenly, the King recognizes the ring on Bertram’s finger as the one the King gave to Helena. Bertram makes up a story that it was thrown to him by a lady in Florence; just then, Diana appears and, claiming that Bertram seduced her, demands that he marry her. Bertram denounces her as a prostitute, but Diana produces the ring he gave her. When she refuses to tell the King how she came to possess the ring, he orders her imprisoned. Diana sends for her “bail”: Helena, alive and pregnant with Bertram’s child. Thus Helena has fulfilled Bertram’s two conditions to become his real wife, and Bertram promises to love her faithfully.