DOES “ALL’S WELL THAT ENDS WELL” END WELL?
DOES “ALL’S WELL THAT ENDS WELL” END WELL? Shakespeare knew when he created Bertram that he was playing with the audience’s expectation of a happy ending to a romantic comedy. At the end of the play boy and girl have been brought together. But what if the boy has shown himself to be a jerk? Tony Tanner points out that Helena in the last act twice says—“optimistically”—“All’s well that ends well”. But the king says has a final word after that: “All yet seems well….” Shakespeare had problematic “happy endings” in Love’s Labor’s Lost, Measure for Measure, and The Two Gentlemen of Verona. I only realized recently that the title of “All’s Well that Ends Well” is meant to pose a question.