All’s Well That Ends Well – Act Three – “No legacy is so rich as honesty.”

All’s Well That Ends Well – Act Three – “No legacy is so rich as honesty.”

The action of the play briefly crosses to Florence where the Duke of Florence is upset that the King of France will not provide an army for his war with Austria. He is consoled by two noblemen who state that independent young French nobles will come to fight anyway.

“But I am sure the younger of our nature,

That surfeit on their ease, will day by day

Come here for physic.”

We then return to Rousillon, where Helena has arrived and given the Countess the letter from her son which she reads out aloud although Helena is not present at the time:

“ ‘I have sent you a daughter-in-law: she hath

recovered the king, and undone me. I have wedded

her, not bedded her; and sworn to make the 'not'

eternal. You shall hear I am run away: know it

before the report come. If there be breadth enough

in the world, I will hold a long distance. My duty

to you. Your unfortunate son,

BERTRAM.’ ”

Then Helena enters. She also has a letter from her husband Bertram which she reads out aloud to the Countess and which states that Bertram will only truly become her husband when has Helena is able to wear his ring (which he always has in his possession and he never takes off) and is able to bear him a child (which seems as if it can’t happen because Bertram refuses to sleep with Helena).

“ ‘When thou canst get the ring upon my finger which

never shall come off, and show me a child begotten

of thy body that I am father to, then call me

husband: but in such a 'then' I write a 'never.' ”

The Countess is shocked at her son’s behaviour and tells some lords who are present to tell her son that “…his sword can never win the honour he loses…” The Countess exits and Helena is heartbroken reveals in a monologue that she will leave Rousillon and go somewhere else:

“ ‘Till I have no wife, I have nothing in France.'

Nothing in France, until he has no wife!

Thou shalt have none, Rousillon, none in France;

Then hast thou all again. Poor lord! is't I

That chase thee from thy country and expose

Those tender limbs of thine to the event

Of the none-sparing war? and is it I

That drive thee from the sportive court, where thou

Wast shot at with fair eyes, to be the mark

Of smoky muskets? O you leaden messengers,

That ride upon the violent speed of fire,

Fly with false aim; move the still-peering air,

That sings with piercing; do not touch my lord.

Whoever shoots at him, I set him there;

Whoever charges on his forward breast,

I am the caitiff that do hold him to't;

And, though I kill him not, I am the cause

His death was so effected: better 'twere

I met the ravin lion when he roar'd

With sharp constraint of hunger; better 'twere

That all the miseries which nature owes

Were mine at once. No, come thou home, Rousillon,

Whence honour but of danger wins a scar,

As oft it loses all: I will be gone;

My being here it is that holds thee hence:

Shall I stay here to do't? no, no, although

The air of paradise did fan the house

And angels officed all: I will be gone,

That pitiful rumour may report my flight,

To consolate thine ear. Come, night; end, day!

For with the dark, poor thief, I'll steal away.’ ”

The action of the play then moves quickly from one location to another. Back in Florence, the Duke of Florence makes Bertram a general of his horse. While in Rousillon, the Countess finds a letter written by Helena, who says that she intends to go to a monastery to stay. The Countess is upset with her son and orders for letters to be drafted and sent quickly to her so that he will come home soon so she can resolve the issue. She also hopes that Helena will return as well.

“What angel shall

Bless this unworthy husband? he cannot thrive,

Unless her prayers, whom heaven delights to hear

And loves to grant, reprieve him from the wrath

Of greatest justice. Write, write, Rinaldo,

To this unworthy husband of his wife;

Let every word weigh heavy of her worth

That he does weigh too light: my greatest grief.

Though little he do feel it, set down sharply.

Dispatch the most convenient messenger:

When haply he shall hear that she is gone,

He will return; and hope I may that she,

Hearing so much, will speed her foot again,

Led hither by pure love: which of them both

Is dearest to me. I have no skill in sense

To make distinction: provide this messenger:

My heart is heavy and mine age is weak;

Grief would have tears, and sorrow bids me speak.”

We cross to Florence, where an old Widow and her daughter Diana talk about the exploits of the French soldiers fighting for Florence especially Bertram. The Helena enters disguised as a pilgrim. The conversation reveals that Bertram, seems to fancy Diana and that he probably wants to sleep with her. Helena is obviously interested in the conversation (being married to Bertram) and joins in without revealing her true identity. The old Widow tells Diana to not give into Bertram and that she should keep her virginity. It is revealed that Bertram has a wife who he hates. No-one knows that the wife is in fact Helena who is beside them. Helena is invited to stay at the Old Widow’s house for the night.

At the Florentine army camp, a couple of lords advise Bertram that Parolles is a liar and a braggart. They develop a plan to reveal Parolles as a coward through getting him to retrieve a drum that was lost in battle, and then in disguise as enemy soldiers they will blindfold him and interrogate and get him to betray Bertram. Parolles enters and he declares that he will retrieve the drum. Parolles exits and Bertram declares that the plan won’t work and that Parolles is loyal and brave. The Second Lord invites Bertram to come with him to see Diana, who it is obvious all think he fancies and will sleep with.

At the Old Widow’s house, Helena has revealed her true identity to the Old Widow. Helena then wants to give the Old Widow some money so that her daughter Diana will get the ring that Helena needs from Bertram, and then invite him to her bedchamber where in the dark, Helena will switch places with Diana and Bertram will sleep with his wife and thus consummate his marriage to his real wife.

“Take this purse of gold,

And let me buy your friendly help thus far,

Which I will over-pay and pay again

When I have found it. The count he wooes your daughter,

Lays down his wanton siege before her beauty,

Resolved to carry her: let her in fine consent,

As we'll direct her how 'tis best to bear it.

Now his important blood will nought deny

That she'll demand: a ring the county wears,

That downward hath succeeded in his house

From son to son, some four or five descents

Since the first father wore it: this ring he holds

In most rich choice; yet in his idle fire,

To buy his will, it would not seem too dear,

Howe'er repented after…

You see it lawful, then: it is no more,

But that your daughter, ere she seems as won,

Desires this ring; appoints him an encounter;

In fine, delivers me to fill the time,

Herself most chastely absent: after this,

To marry her, I'll add three thousand crowns

To what is passed already.”

The Old Widow agrees, and tells Helena that with Diana’s bessing, that Helena’s plan can and should go ahead.