For Thursday: All's Well That Ends Well, Acts 3 & 4

[sorry for the late post--somehow it didn't take when I posted it last night!]

Here are some ideas to consider for Acts 3 and 4:

* Is Parolles more of a flat or round character in Acts 3 & 4? Do we feel sympathetic to him when he is humiliated by Bertram and the Lords?

* Does Helen become more "flat" in these acts, particularly when she engages in the bed trick with Diana? Would she have done this in Acts 1 and 2?

* In justifying her actions, Helen says, "Let us assay our plot, which, if it speed,/Is wicked meaning in a lawful deed,/And lawful meaning in a lawful act,/Where both not sin, and yet a sinful fact" (3.7.). What does this mean?

* Why do the Widow and Diana go along with this? Are they convinced that this is a just action to support a maligned wife? Or are they simply well paid?

* Does Bertram emerge as a rounder character in these acts? What kind of lover is he to Diana? Is he authentic or comic in his lovemaking?

* Also, does Bertram betray himself (as the Second Lord later suggests) or is he tricked into laying with Diana? In other words, is he a villain or do they make him a villain?

* Act 3, scene 1 is a tiny scene that shows us the war going on behind the scenes. Why do we need to see this? Indeed, many versions of the play would cut this out entirely. But why do you think Shakespeare included this in the play? You might consider that some of the Duke's lines are echoed elsewhere in the play, as so:

Duke: "So that from point to point now you have heard/The fundamental reasons for this war..." (3.1)

First Lord: "Ay, and the particular confirmation, point from point, to the full arming of the verity" (4.3)

* Like Hero, Helen also engages in a staged death to trick her husband and force his repentance. Does this initially seem to have the intended effect? And is this something we would expect from her (or any 'round' character)?