History Theatre / AllsWellThatEndsWell

* DirtyCoward: The play's subplot consists of Bertram's soldiers trying to expose Parolles as this. They succeed by setting up a situation where they make him think he's been captured by the enemy, and Parolles proceeds to slander his fellow soldiers and provide information (voluminous information at that) on troop composition and movements

* AllLoveIsUnrequited: Helena to Bertram, Bertram to Diana
* ArrangedMarriage: [[RareMaleExample Unusual]] male version. He doesn't take it well.

* CueTheFlyingPigs: Bertram's rejection/challenge.

* HealingHerb: Helena knows of one.

* NatureAbhorsAVirgin: Parolles argues for it.

* PoisonousFriend: Adaptations that try to take the plot seriously play up Parolles as this in an attempt to make Bertram less of a Jerkass.

* TheJester: Lavache fills this role for the Countess. Due to being a favorite of her late husband and because of his role, he's able to [[ServileSnarker say anything he wants to his betters and get away with it]].

Helena is distraught, but sets out to retrieve her husband. She winds up in Florence, where Bertram is living, and discovers he now has his sights set on Diana, the daughter of a widow. With help from the young lady, Helena tricks Bertram: First, she has Diana convinces Bertram to give up his family ring as a love token, which she then gives to Helena. Next, Diana invites Bertram into her room; Diana and Helena execute a BedTrick, and Bertram ends up sleeping with his wife. In an unrelated subplot, Parolles is exposed as a coward and exiled from the army.

A play by Creator/WilliamShakespeare. With its unusual plot and [[EsotericHappyEnding odd resolution]], it straddles the line between comedy and tragedy, and is considered to be one of Shakespeare's "problem plays".

* MilesGloriosus: Parolles

* {{Jerkass}}: Bertram. At first, you can understand why he might be angry about the arranged marriage to Helena. He came to court believing that he would finally be able to prove his manhood and get out of his father's shadow, and instead the King bars him from going to war and gives him away as a prize to one of his mother's servants. But he ends up handling the situation very childishly (proving that he's not as grown up as he would like to think he is), and he cruelly takes out his anger on the good-natured Helena, even though it was the King who forced the marriage. And sending your wife a letter ''bragging'' about leaving her, then trying to sleep with another woman, is pretty low.
** Notably, this is ''not'' a case of ValuesDissonance -- even ''the other characters in the play'', including the king, point out that he's being a complete tool.

->"''All is well ended, if this suit be won.''"

* ValuesDissonance: Helena and Diana's [[Bed Trick]] on Bertram does not play so well today.

->"''All is well ended, if this suit be won.''"

* AllIsWellThatEndsWell: Bertram spends most of the play hating and avoiding Helena, but they get together in the end without any apparent remaining hard feelings.

!!TropeNamer for
* AllIsWellThatEndsWell

* AllIsWellThatEndsWell: TropeNamer

* ArrangedMarriage: Unusual male version. He doesn't take it well.

* BedTrick

* DirtyCoward: The play's subplot consists of Bertram's soldiers trying to expose Parolles as this.
* EngagementChallenge: Well, they're already married, but it still counts.

* NamesTheSame: Creator/JaneAusten's ''Literature/MansfieldPark'' has a family named Bertram... and a rather similar plot, come to think of it...

* NamesTheSame: JaneAusten's ''MansfieldPark'' has a family named Bertram... and a rather similar plot, come to think of it...

She chooses Bertram as her husband, but adds that he doesn't have the marry her if he doesn't want. The king will have none of it, and orders that Bertram marry his rescuer. Furious about the match, Bertram escapes to Italy shortly after the wedding, along with his cowardly friend Parolles. Bertram sends a taunting letter to Helena, declaring that he will not have her as a wife unless she meets two requirements: She must get hold of his family ring, and she must become pregnant with his child. Since he never plans on returning to France, he brags that neither will ever take place.

-->"All is well ended, if this suit be won."

** And again at the end:
-->All is well ended, if this suit be won.
----

* PoisonousFriend: Adaptations that try to take the plot seriously play up Parolles as this in an attempt to make Bertram less of a JerkAss.

A play by WilliamShakespeare. With its unusual plot and [[EsotericHappyEnding odd resolution]], it straddles the line between comedy and tragedy, and is considered to be one of Shakespeare's "problem plays".