Countess of Rossillon

Play

All's Well That Ends Well

Summary

Bertram's widowed mother and Helena's guardian, the Countess is one of Shakespeare's most admired maternal figures — shrewd, warm, and unfailingly just. She sees through her son's pride, champions Helena's worth with clear-eyed honesty, and her interviews with Helena about love are among the play's most tender scenes. Samuel Johnson called her "the most beautiful old woman's part ever written."

Notable Quotations

"Even so it was with me when I was young... / The count's a fool, and full of gold." *(I.iii)*

"If she had partaken of my flesh and cost me the dearest groans of a mother, I could not have owed her a more rooted love." *(IV.v)*

Cross-references

• All's Well That Ends Well — the play
• Comedies
• character_helena_awtew — her ward and surrogate daughter
• character_bertram — her son, whose failings she does not excuse
• character_lafew — her peer and companion in wisdom