All's Well That Ends Well (Vol. 26) | Arthur E. Case (essay date February 1927)
Arthur E. Case (essay date February 1927)
SOURCE: "Some Stage-Directions in All's Well that Ends Well," in Modern Language Notes. Vol. 43, No. 2 February, 1927, pp. 79-83.
In the absence of any early separate edition of All's Well that Ends Well, the text of the play derives solely from the corrupt version of the Folio. One notable fault of that version is the frequent omission of stage-directions. In at least a dozen instances it is necessary to supply "Exit" or "Exeunt": entrances, on the other hand, are always correctly indicated, unless, indeed, two of the problems discussed below involve exceptions to the rule. One reservation to this general statement should be made,—when a principal character enters, those in attendance are not always enumerated.
There is a good reason for this discrepancy in the accuracy of the stage-directions. All's Well belongs to the group of plays whose texts derive, mediately or immediately,...
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