Finished with the first book of the day! I read All’s Well That Ends Well by Shakespeare. I have now officially read all of his comedies! Woohoo! My favorite is The Merchant of Venice. Portia is one of the best characters in literature and I think it’s interesting that Shakespeare created such a strong, rational female character since he’s not really known for great female characters overall. My least favorite would probably be Love’s Labor’s Lost. Even the introduction in my Riverside Shakespeare collection focused on how bad it is and how it doesn’t even really make sense.
All’s Well That Ends Well falls somewhere in between for me. I enjoyed it more than I thought I would since I knew it was a problem play. The problem is that the main characters aren’t really likeable. You’re supposed to like Helena (every character says so a million times) but she’s in love with a worthless man who doesn’t care for her. The whole play is about her trying to win him over, which just makes her pathetic. She needs a copy of He”s Just Not That into You. This makes the “happy” ending not that happy.
As for the man she loves, Bertram, he’s a scumbag. He only marries her because he has to, then promptly runs away without consummating the marriage. Then, he tries to sleep with another woman. He’s really not worth winning.
There is a funny side plot centered around Bertram’s friend Parolles that is similar to something that happens to Falstaff in the Henry plays. That at least made me laugh!
I’m not one to normally notice quotes, but there were a few that stuck out to me today.
“But most it is presumption in us when the help of heaven we count the act of men.” Helena, II.i.151-152
“They say miracles are past, and we have our philosophical persons, to make modern and familiar, things supernatural and causeless.” Lafew, II.iii.1-3
There were also quite a few funny scenes with the clown, who made raunchy jokes (and I’m sure I barely caught most of them). One conversation he has with Helena surprises me though. Helena asks how a woman can get rid of her virginity by her own choosing. I’m surprised they were discussing that, and even more surprised that Helena actually succeeds in that area, albeit through trickery.
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