King of France (All's Well That Ends Well)

Play

All's Well That Ends Well

Summary

The ailing King of France who is miraculously cured by Helena's inherited medical skill and in gratitude gives her the right to choose any husband from among his young lords. His exercise of royal authority to compel Bertram to honor the marriage drives the plot's central conflict, and his long speech in praise of Helena's low-born but virtuous father is one of the play's finest passages on merit versus rank.

Notable Quotations

"Strange is it that our bloods, / Of colour, weight, and heat, pour'd all together, / Would quite confound distinction." *(II.iii)*

"'Tis only title thou disdain'st in her, the which / I can build up." *(II.iii)*

Cross-references

• All's Well That Ends Well — the play
• Comedies
• character_helena_awtew — who cures him and receives Bertram as reward
• character_bertram — the ward he compels to marry Helena
• character_lafew — his counselor