For Tuesday: All's Well That Ends Well, Acts 1-2

Sorry for the delay--I got bogged down with Scissortail activities this week! Here are some question and ideas to consider for the first two acts of the play:

* The language of All's Well is much more difficult than the previous plays. Many of the speeches are notably more dense, such as Helen's line "The mightiest space in fortune nature brings/To join like likes and kiss like native things" (1.1).Why might a playwright make his verse (and prose) more difficult to penetrate? How would this play on-stage?

* Why are there so many 'fools' in this play? Not only in there a Fool, but Paroles plays the role of a fool, Helen speaks like a "fool" (in that she is wise, and spars with the fools), and even Lafew plays this role. Why might Shakespeare be continually adding fools to the ingredients of his play (and they have been increasing--we had a few in As You Like It, too).

* Why is so much of this play in prose? Everyone, except the King, speaks prose for much of the time. When do they switch to verse and why? Related to this, why when Helen confronts the King does their verse become largely rhymed couplets? (this happens almost nowhere else)

* Why does Paroles urge Helen not to be a virgin? Is he offering wisdom here or simply raillery? How does she 'spar' with him throughout this exchange in 1.1? Consider the line, "That you were made of is metal to make virgins."

* What makes Paroles a comic figure, and perhaps, an unwitting fool? Why does Lafew, in particular, hate him so much? Consider his line, "there's no kernel in this light nut. The soul of this man is his clothes" (2.5).

* Why does this play have a "square plot"? (remember van Es?). Why is it a difficult play for "round" character to inhabit?

* What makes Helen such a sympathetic and "round" character? Consider her speech in 1.3 when she confesses her love for Bertram to the Countess.

* One of the themes of this play is the difference between nobility and birth. Nobles are "born" noble from their blood, yet to be noble is a quality beyond blood or birth--it is an act. How does the King weigh in on this in 2.3?

* Why does Bertram refuse to marry Helen initially, even though all the other courtiers do, and the King has demanded it? What do you think he objects to--is it really just her inferior birth?