CRITICISM

Babula, William. “The Character and the Conclusion: Bertram and the Ending of All's Well That Ends Well.” South Atlantic Bulletin 42, no. 2 (May 1977): 94-100.

Argues that Bertram's “conversion” or “rebirth” at the end of All's Well That Ends Well is an indication of his first steps toward personal maturation.

Briggs, Julia. “Shakespeare's Bed-Tricks.” Essays in Criticism 44, no. 4 (October 1994): 293-314.

Studies Shakespeare's use of the bed-trick (a clandestine exchange of sexual partners) for the purposes of legitimizing sexual transgression in All's Well That Ends Well and Measure for Measure.

Cole, Howard C. “Preliminary Concerns: Tradition and Innovation in the All's Well Story.” In The All's Well Story from Boccaccio to Shakespeare, pp. 1-11. Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 1981.

Claims that critical dissension over All's Well That Ends Well may be reconciled when the work is considered within its proper literary and social contexts. The critic also notes that the complicated drama is deeply concerned with the religious and political issues of its time.

Cosman, Bard C. “All's Well That Ends Well: Shakespeare's Treatment of Anal Fistula.” Upstart Crow 19 (1999): 78-95.

Claims that All's Well That Ends Well's King of France suffers from a fistula (ulcerous abscess) located on his anus, the location of which was likely intended for comic effect.

Doran, Gregory. “Unhappy Ever After: It Is a Bittersweet Tale of Unrequited Love and Troubled Marriage, But Is All's Well That Ends Well Also Shakespeare's Portrait of Secret Desires?” Guardian (29 November 2003): 18.

Provides a topical reading of All's Well That Ends Well that views Bertram's character as a literary projection of the historical William Herbert.

Grode, Eric. Review of All's Well That Ends Well. Backstage 41, no. 8 (25 February 2000): 64.

Offers a mixed assessment of director Andrew Grosso's 2000 production of All's Well That Ends Well at the HERE Theater in New York. The critic praises the director's incisive rendering of the play's darker themes, but laments the loss of its much-needed comedic elements.

Harmon, A. G. “‘Lawful Deeds’: The Entitlements of Marriage in Shakespeare's All's Well That Ends Well.” Logos: A Journal of Catholic Thought and Culture 4, no. 3 (2001): 115-42.

Explores the legal dimensions of legitimacy and the early modern marriage contract as depicted in the coupling of Bertram and Helena in All's Well That Ends Well.

Harrison, G. B., ed. Introduction to All's Well That Ends Well, by William Shakespeare, pp. 15-20. Harmondsworth, UK: Penguin Books, 1955.

Offers a brief introduction to All's Well That Ends Well.

Leonard, Nancy S. “Substitution in Shakespeare's Problem Comedies.” English Literary Renaissance 9, no. 2 (spring 1979): 281-301.

Probes the dynamics of impersonation and ambiguity as thematic and comic principles in All's Well That Ends Well, Measure for Measure, and Troilus and Cressida.

Rothman, Jules. “A Vindication of Parolles.” Shakespeare Quarterly 23, no. 2 (spring 1972): 183-96.

Claims that Parolles is the principal source of comedy in All's Well That Ends Well.

Snyder, Susan. “Naming Names in All's Well That Ends Well.” Shakespeare Quarterly 43, no. 3 (autumn 1992): 265-79.

Examines the significance of such mythological names as Helena and Diana in All's Well That Ends Well.

Styan, J. L. “Youth and Age.” In Shakespeare in Performance: All's Well That Ends Well, pp. 23-29. Manchester: Manchester University Press, 1984.

Examines All's Well That Ends Well's elder characters—the Countess of Roussillon, the King of France, Lafew, and Lavatch—as sources of wisdom and wit.

Sullivan, Garrett A., Jr. “‘Be This Sweet Helen's Knell, and Now Forget Her’: Forgetting, Memory, and Identity in All's Well That Ends Well.” Shakespeare Quarterly 50, no. 1 (spring 1999): 51-69.

Explores Shakespeare's innovative social construction of memory and forgetting as thematic and structural devices in All's Well That Ends Well.

Wheeler, Richard P. “Marriage and Manhood in All's Well That Ends Well.” Bucknell Review 21, no. 1 (spring 1973): 103-24.

Attributes Bertram's refusal to marry Helena in All's Well That Ends Well to his unconscious sexual anxieties.