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, from theatrical prompt-copies. Accuracy in the notation of entrances is an absolute necessity in such a script. An actor off-stage, not following the course of the play, must be notified by the prompter of his approaching entrance. Once on the stage, however, it is not likely that he will forget the moment of his exit: indeed, in most cases he is "cued off" by his own Unes or those of a fellow-actor. The indication of exits in the prompt-copy is therefore not a matter of such vital importance. For an analogous reason, it is not absolutely necessary to catalog the names of the attendants of an important character on the occasion of his entrance: notice to the principal actor of the group is generally sufficient.

With these facts in mind let us examine the crux which occurs in Act II, Scene I. The problem here is the disposition of the King between lines 23 and 62. During this interval Bertram, Parolles and the two Lords conduct a conversation in which the presence of royalty seems to be ignored. Something must be done to avoid the awkward spectacle of a king sitting silent and unattended while his courtiers discuss their private affairs among themselves. The Folios give no stage directions at this point, and the solution of the difficulty must be deduced from the lines of the actors.

Pope solved the problem by making the King leave the stage after line 23, and in this he has been followed by most subsequent editors. The King's last words, "Come hither to me," have been variously interpreted as being addressed to his attendants, who carry him away upon his couch, or to Bertram, who is about to follow him, but is prevented by the First Lord's exclamation, "O my sweet lord, that you will stay behind us!" There is a difference of opinion as to the moment of the King's re-appearance. The majority follow Pope in placing it just before line 50: others make it coincident with Lafeu's entrance at line 62. Capell, unwilling to remove the King from the stage without express warrant from the text, makes him retire to a couch at the back of the stage at line 23 and rise to come forward again at line 50.

There are serious objections to all of these interpretations. If the King's "Come hither to me" is addressed to Bertram, it is scarcely conceivable that he should disobey the command in order to talk with the Lords. If the King re-enters at Une 50 the object of his removal from the scene has not been attained, since the courtiers carry on the remainder of their private conversation in his presence. Moreover, his unmotivated retirement is patently an artificial device to permit the remaining characters to talk undisturbed. Finally, there is no indication of his re-entrance in the stage-directions.

The following arrangement is suggested as avoiding the difficulties enumerated above without doing violence to the text of the Folio. At the opening of the scene the King enters in a chair or upon a couch, and remains in the center of the stage throughout the scene. At line [22] he dismisses the lords who are departing for the Florentine war, and turning to still another lord, says, "Come hither to me." The two engage in pantomime until Lafeu's entrance. Bertram and Parolles, who were not included in the King's address at the beginning of the scene, have remained in the background near one of the side entrances. The departing courtiers pass them on their way off the stage and linger to make their farewells. This exchange of farewells in a far corner of the chamber is, under the circumstances, not unnatural, nor is the subsequent departure of Bertram and Parolles in the wake of the Lords. The King is engrossed in his talk, and there is nothing to show that he has ever been aware of the presence of the gentlemen from Rousillon. As they leave the stage Lafeu bursts in, drops upon his knee, and interrupts the King and his counsellor with "Pardon, my lord, for me and for my tidings" [II. i. 61].

A second problem is found in Act II, Scene v. Lines 94 and 95 read, in the Folio:

Hel. I shall not breake your bidding, good my
          Lord:
        Where are my other men? Monsieur, fare-
          well. Exit.

Many modern editions give the second line:

Ber. To Parolles. Where are my other men, mon-
    sieur? To
Helena. Farewell. Exit Helena.

The editors who retain the reading of the Folio point out that it makes perfect sense as it stands, since Helena may well have an attendant to whom her question is addressed.

One argument in favor of this view seems not to have been adduced, however. The scene is closely connected with the preceding one,—in fact, the two take place in neighboring rooms and are so close in time that they may possibly overlap. Parolles goes directly from Scene IV to Scene V, and Helena follows him after a short delay occasioned by the necessity of taking leave of the King. Her last words, as she left the earlier scene, were a command to the Clown to attend her. He would naturally be still in her company when she enters Scene V, and he is probably the person of whom she inquires, "Where are my other men?" although the real purpose of her question is to convey to Bertram her intention to obey his command at once.

The last problem to be considered occurs in the final scene of the play. The stage-direction at line 158 reads, in the Folio, "Enter Widow, Diana and Parolles." Parolles neither speaks nor is spoken to, however, until line 240, and in the interval, at line 232, appears the direction, "Enter Parolles." It has been tacitly agreed by all editors that the earlier direction is an error, and that Parolles does not appear until he is brought on at line 232. This view is founded on the assumption that no purpose is served by his presence during the first part of the scene, and on the fact that there is no direction for his exit between the two entrances. The first argument fails to take account of lines 201-204:

King.                       Mesthought you said
        You saw one here in court could wit-
                ness it.
Dia.    I did, my lord, but loath am to produce
               So bad an instrument: his name's
                       Parolles.

It may be urged that the phrase "in court" means the palace as a whole, and not the royal court in session. But Diana, apparently, has just arrived at the palace: if she has seen Parolles at all it must have been either in the audience-chamber or on the way thither. Moreover, it is dramatically desirable that the audience should know that Diana has seen Parolles, in view of her reliance upon his testimony. As for the second argument, it has already been pointed out that exits are frequently omitted from the stage-directions, especially where some speech acts as a cue for the actor's departure. Such a cue, in the writer's opinion, exists in the present instance. Parolles has been led to enter the audience-chamber on the heels of Diana, out of curiosity, but in his new-born spirit of humility he remains on the fringe of the crowd near one of the entrances. When he hears Diana name him as a witness he realizes his awkward predicament and slips hastily out of the door, unobserved by the characters on the stage, but not by the audience. The situation affords one of the few opportunities for laughter in the course of the sordid exposure of Bertram's baseness.