All's Well That Ends Well Society and Class

It doesn't take a Ph.D. in Renaissance literature to see that Helen thinks Bertram is way too good for her. But why does she feel this way? Here, she calls Bertram a "star" because his social status is so far above hers that they're not even in the same "sphere." In other words, Bertram was born into a noble, high-ranking family and Helen was not. Like we've said elsewhere, Helen's not exactly a peasant, but in Shakespeare's day, being the daughter of a doctor wasn't exactly the same as being the child of, say, a rich count. In some Shakespearean plays, trying to marry above one's social station was frowned upon. (Check out what happens to Malvolio in Twelfth Night if you don't believe us.) Still, Shakespeare does something new in this play by showing us that Helen is more than good enough for Bertram.

Here, the countess gives her son some parting advice before he leaves for Paris. She wants her son's behavior ("manners") to match his noble blood. This is worth thinking about: the countess says that being born into a high ranking family isn't enough. Being a good person also requires "virtue," which isn't necessarily something a person is born with. 

After the countess says that she considers Helen a daughter, Helen insists that her social station is too "humble" for her to be considered a sister to Bertram. In fact, we hear her say that she's not good enough over and over (and over) again in this play. The funny thing is that, later, Helen will insist on being Bertram's <em>wife</em>. Hmm. It sounds to us like Helen is more worried about the potential incest factor than anything else, but can we blame her? After all, nobody wants to think of their dream guy as their brother.

This is kind of an odd moment: Paroles is giving social advice to Bertram, who's a count (a.k.a. a nobleman who outranks Paroles in every way). The thing about Paroles is that he's kind of a poser. As we can see, he thinks of himself as an expert on how to fit in at court, but the reality is that nobody (except for Bertram) respects him. By the end of the play, he's put in his place, so to speak, when he loses all his friends and becomes a beggar.

When Lafeu refers to Bertram as Paroles' "lord and master," he means it as an insult; and Paroles is definitely offended. Like we've said, Bertram obviously outranks him, but Paroles acts like it's the other way around, which is what bothers Lafeu. Apparently, in this play it's okay to be poor and low ranking (like Helen), but it's not okay to pass yourself off as something you're not.

This is where Helen makes a deal with the king: if she can cure him, then he has to let her choose any husband she wants. What's weird is that Helen promises that she won't try to choose a guy with "royal blood." In other words, Helen thinks she's not good enough to "propagate" (have babies with) a member of the royal family. (The idea is that she wouldn't want to contaminate the royal family tree with her "humble name.") We also notice that the king doesn't exactly argue with her. Does he think she's good enough to marry one of his noblemen but that she isn't exactly royal marriage material?

Bertram is a snob who doesn't want to marry Helen because she's a "poor physician's daughter" and her lowly social status could "bring [him] down." Although we can understand why Bertram doesn't want to marry a girl he's not in love with, this is where he begins to lose sympathy points.

This is where the king of France promises to make Helen rich and elevate her social status so Bertram can feel good about marrying her. The king also says that Helen has something even better going for her: she's full of "virtue" (she's a good person and also a virgin). The funny thing is, Bertram still doesn't want her.

Even after she's married, Helen portrays herself as being unworthy of Bertram's love and affection. Notice the way she uses the word "servant" to suggest that she's an obedient wife who's willing to serve her husband. This word is also a reminder that Helen comes from a lower social class than Bertram. In other words, Helen is being a martyr here and Bertram knows it.

In many ways, <em>All's Well </em>is a play about the reversal of social fortune. When Paroles is revealed to be a liar and a coward, he loses his friends <em>and </em>his social status, showing up in France as a beggar whose fortune has been reversed. In other words, Paroles has now been punished for his behavior. We can also say that Paroles' fate turns out to be the exact opposite of Helen's. As we know, Helen goes from being a "poor physician's daughter" to the wife of a noble count.

In the previous passage, we pointed out that Helen's and Paroles' social fortunes are reversed by the play's end. Here, the actor playing the role of the king steps out on stage to "beg" for the audience's applause. Of course, the king isn't actually a beggar (he's still the king of France, after all), but this is a subtle reminder that the play is interested in the possibility of one's fortune being reversed. As Shakespeare was writing <em>All's Well</em>, social class was becoming more fluid; basically, just because a person was born into a certain class, they didn't necessarily have to stay put. The Epilogue hints at that.