All’s Well That Ends Well, comedy in five acts by William Shakespeare, written in 1601–05 and published in the First Folio of 1623 seemingly from a theatrical playbook that still retained certain authorial features or from a literary transcript either of the playbook or of an authorial manuscript. The principal source of the plot was a tale in Giovanni Boccaccio’s Decameron.

The play concerns the efforts of Helena, daughter of a renowned physician to the recently deceased count of Rossillion, to win as her husband the young new count, Bertram. When Bertram leaves Rossillion to become a courtier, Helena follows after, hoping to minister to the gravely ill king of France with a miraculous cure that her father had bequeathed to her. In return for her success in doing so, the king invites her to select a husband, her choice being Bertram. The young man, unwilling to marry so far below himself in social station, accedes to the royal imperative but promptly flees to military action in Tuscany with his vapid but engaging friend Parolles. By letter Bertram informs Helena that he may not be considered her husband until she has taken the ring from his finger and conceived a child by him. Disguised as a pilgrim, Helena follows Bertram to Florence only to discover that he has been courting Diana, the daughter of her hostess. Helena spreads a rumour of her own death and arranges a nighttime rendezvous with Bertram in which she substitutes herself for Diana. In exchange for his ring, she gives him one that the king has given her. When Bertram returns to Rossillion, where the king is visiting the countess, the royal guest recognizes the ring and suspects foul play. Helena then appears to explain her machinations and claim her rightful spouse.

For a discussion of this play within the context of Shakespeare’s entire corpus, see William Shakespeare: Shakespeare’s plays and poems.

David Bevington

This is an alphabetically ordered list of plays by William Shakespeare. Dates following titles indicate the dates the plays were written unless otherwise noted. Asterisks indicate plays likely written by Shakespeare and other playwrights, though evidence has been disputed. Edward III and Cardenio (Double Falsehood) have also been attributed wholly or partly to Shakespeare, but that attribution is not generally accepted. See also list of Shakespeare characters.

The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica This article was most recently revised and updated by J.E. Luebering.