Shakespeare's Problem Plays: All's Well That Ends Well, Measure for Measure, and Troilus and Cressida

by William Shakespeare

Comedy and Tragedy-- Collected here in one binding are All's Well That Ends Well, Measure for Measure, and The History of Troilus and Cressida. Collectively they are known as Shakespeare's Problem Plays. While the first two are usually placed with the comedies and the later with the tragedies none of them fit neatly into either classification.

Genres: Drama, Classics, Shakespeare, Plays, Poetry

344 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1988

About the author

William Shakespeare was an English playwright, poet, and actor. He is widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's national poet and the "Bard of Avon" (or simply "the Bard"). His extant works, including collaborations, consist of some 39 plays, 154 sonnets, three long narrative poems, and a few other verses, some of uncertain authorship. His plays have been translated into every major living language and are performed more often than those of any other playwright. Shakespeare remains arguably the most influential writer in the English language, and his works continue to be studied and reinterpreted.
Shakespeare was born and raised in Stratford-upon-Avon, Warwickshire. At the age of 18, he married Anne Hathaway, with whom he had three children: Susanna, and twins Hamnet and Judith. Sometime between 1585 and 1592, he began a successful career in London as an actor, writer, and part-owner ("sharer") of a playing company called the Lord Chamberlain's Men, later known as the King's Men after the ascension of King James VI and I of Scotland to the English throne. At age 49 (around 1613), he appears to have retired to Stratford, where he died three years later. Few records of Shakespeare's private life survive; this has stimulated considerable speculation about such matters as his physical appearance, his sexuality, his religious beliefs, and even certain fringe theories as to whether the works attributed to him were written by others.
Shakespeare produced most of his known works between 1589 and 1613. His early plays were primarily comedies and histories and are regarded as some of the best works produced in these genres. He then wrote mainly tragedies until 1608, among them Hamlet, Romeo and Juliet, Othello, King Lear, and Macbeth, all considered to be among the finest works in the English language. In the last phase of his life, he wrote tragicomedies (also known as romances) and collaborated with other playwrights.
Many of Shakespeare's plays were published in editions of varying quality and accuracy during his lifetime. However, in 1623, John Heminge and Henry Condell, two fellow actors and friends of Shakespeare's, published a more definitive text known as the First Folio, a posthumous collected edition of Shakespeare's dramatic works that includes 36 of his plays. Its Preface was a prescient poem by Ben Jonson, a former rival of Shakespeare, that hailed Shakespeare with the now famous epithet: "not of an age, but for all time".

Reviews

[Elena Sala]

ALL'S WELL THAT ENDS WELL 3⭐

TROILUS AND CRESSIDA: 3.5 ⭐
Considered one of Shakespeare's "problem plays", Troilus and Cressida is a play about the fall of Hector, and later, the inevitable fall of Troy. There is a love story, too, between Troilus and Cressida. Thersites, a cowardly, irreverent character, sums the conflict with these words: "All the argument is a whore and a cuckold". Yes, he is referring to Paris and Helen, but this description would perfectly apply to this play too.

There is some comedy but mostly, a lot of cynicism. Heroic ideals are put into question. Paris, for example, stays behind lolling with Helen, instead of going into the battle field. Agamemnon is pompous and soft, Nestor is senile, Menelaus is a cuckold, and everyone jokes obscenely about it, Helen is described as an "old aunt". Achilles spends his time in bed with Patroclus, his "male varlet", instead of fighting. Achilles has promised Polyxena he would not fight, so he does not fight nor will he acquire the cherished fame which motivated his actions in Homer's epic. For this reason, Ajax, who is described as "beef-witted", a dim-witted brute, is chosen to fight Hector in single combat. However Patroclus will be killed in battle later on and Achilles, enraged, will order his Myrmidons to surround the unarmed Hector and kill him, while he watches the spectacle.

Against this background of debased heroic ideals, we have the love story. Troilus, idealistic and passionate, sounds like a lover from a medieval romance. He is prone to poetic excesses and very fond of Petrarchan clichés. Cressida is the daughter of Calchas, a famous seer, who has recently defected to the Greek side because he foresaw Troy's tragic end. When the Trojan Antenor is made prisoner, Calchas demands the return of Cressida, in exchange for Antenor. The trouble is that Troilus and Cressida are now lovers, and they have just spent their first night together after months of wooing. Troilus is caught between love and duty but consents to her departure to the Greek camp without protest.

Cressida is determined to stay in Troy and cries and wails desperately. However, when she is returned to the Greek camp she is kissed by Agamemnon, Nestor, Achilles, Patroclus and she seems to enjoy their attentions and bawdy jokes. Very swiftly, Diomedes becomes her lover. Troilus watches his beloved from some distance and he becomes violently disenchanted.

In this play of declining reputations, promiscuity and caricatures, Cressida becomes the stereotype of inconstancy and Troilus, of the cheated man. Thersites was right after all: "Lechery, lechery, still wars and lechery, nothing else holds fashion". TROILUS AND CRESSIDA is a play about disillusionment and cynical, ugly people. Their corruption and dishonor are difficult to forget, however the characters are so wordy, their speeches are so long and drawn-out, that the play bogs down very frequently. Not the best of Shakespeare's plays, in my opinion.

[C. Michael]

A good inexpensive edition of the three plays included with basic critical material included. The commentary and footnotes are not nearly as extensive as, say, in the Arden Shakespeare, where each play gets its own volume; the material included in this edition is well-selected for a beginning reader of Shakespeare rather than an experienced scholar. Useful entry in the series, though there's plenty of competition here.

[Sam]

All's Well That Ends Well By William Shakespeare

Summary:
This is a about a women named Helena who is orpahned by a famous physician. She is the ward of a countess Rousillon and is in love with her son Bertram who is sent to the court of the king of France. Helena agrees to lend a hand as a physician during the war, in return she says she gets to pick any man that she wants to marry. The king a agrees and she picks Bertram. Bertram thinks he is too good for her, but is forced to marry her anyway.

Characters:
Helena-woman heroin, orphaned daughter of a physician, is in love with bertram.

Bertram-Count of Rousillon, the Countess' only son, very well liked man, and is proved to be and excellent soldier.

Countess-Bertrams mom, gaurdian of Helena, Countess of Rousillon

King of France-Bertram's Leige Lord, is deathly ill at the beginning of the play and is miracoulsly cured by Helena.

Review:
I haven't read the play all the way through yet, but so far I am enjoying reading it. It is very interesting so far. Helena has cured the king and has wed Bertram. I am interested to find out what happens after Bertram abandons Helena and after he decides not to concemate the marriage. But so far I'm enjoying it and excited to find out what happens next