Episode 54 - All's Well That Ends Well

Another one of Shakespeare's problem plays, All's Well That Ends Well doesn't really, well... end well. It's a play deeply concerned about gender norms, sex, and lies, with some interesting characters who - like those in other problem plays - defy the typical conventions we usually associate with Shakespeare's better known figures. We talk about these themes and the characters that lay trapped within them, in this episode!

Notes:

As always, the Folger accompanying essay, "All's Well That Ends Well: A Modern Perspective" is a good resource for digging into some of the thornier issues of this play.

The Shmoop guide ain't half bad either!

The BBC version really does rip off the baroque and other famous painters shot-for-shot at times - well worth checking out for that alone!

The film Aidan mentions in the outro is definitely Ran by Akira Kurosawa. not Rain, which is a lesser known film that doesn't sound nearly as good.

Ancient Bickerings:

It's a simple question for this one: is all well at the end of the play? Lindsay says no, Aidan says yes. Aidan is wrong.