William Shakespeare
All's Well That Ends Well
The full script in Final Draft, Word & PDF
Helena, a physician's daughter, cures a king to win the husband she loves, then outwits him when he abandons her.
PDFs Only
$4.99
- ✓ Stageplay PDF (105 pp.)
- ✓ Screenplay PDF (100 pp.)
- ✓ Instant download
Full Package
$12.99
- ✓ Final Draft (.fdx)
- ✓ Microsoft Word + RTF
- ✓ Screenplay + Stageplay PDFs
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- Genre
- Problem play
- Written
- c. 1604–1605
- Setting
- Rossillion, Paris and Florence
- Scenes
- 23
- Speaking roles
- 22
- Uncut running time
- ~2h 50m
What happens in All's Well That Ends Well
Helena, the orphaned daughter of a famous physician, loves Bertram, the young Count of Rossillion, who is far above her in rank. When the King of France falls gravely ill, she cures him with her father's remedy and claims Bertram as her reward. Bertram, compelled to marry her, refuses to accept it and flees to the Italian wars with the boastful follower Parolles, sending word that he will be her husband only if she gets his family ring and bears his child.
Helena follows him to Florence. There she arranges to take the place of a young woman Bertram is trying to seduce, and so obtains the ring and conceives his child. Meanwhile Bertram's companions expose Parolles as a coward in a staged ambush. Helena, believed dead, returns to France, where the tangle of rings and lies is unravelled before the King.
See the formatting
The first page of Act I, exactly as it appears in the files you download.
The biggest roles
Share of the play's spoken words, counted from the script. 22 characters speak; 9 of them have under 1% of the text — natural candidates for doubling.
| Role | Share of the text | Speeches |
|---|---|---|
| Helena | | 113 |
| Parolles | | 141 |
| King | | 91 |
| Lafeu | | 103 |
| Countess | | 88 |
| Bertram | | 105 |
| Clown | | 59 |
| Second Lord | | 57 |
For directors
Helena leads with about 16 percent of the words, closely followed by Parolles at 13, the King at 13 and Lafeu at 10, so the play depends on four strong actors rather than one. Eight roles exceed 5 percent, and the 22 speaking roles are comparatively few, so doubling is modest and cast requirements are small. At 23 scenes and an uncut estimate of 170 minutes, it needs trimming to fit a standard evening, and the unsympathetic Bertram demands careful casting.
Cutting notes
- Trim Parolles's long comic set pieces and the interrogation scene in the Florentine camp, which run long for modern audiences.
- Compress the Florentine war scenes and the Duke of Florence's exchanges, which carry little plot.
- Shorten the closing scene's chain of revelations, keeping the ring exchange.
For teachers
The play is classed as a problem play because it resists easy comic resolution. Students examine class and merit, the bed-trick, the ethics of Helena's pursuit, Bertram's character and the ambiguous title. Frequently taught passages include Helena's soliloquies, the King's argument that virtue, not birth, makes nobility, and the exposure of Parolles. The ending is a standard topic for essays on genre and on how productions handle ambiguity.
Questions
Is this the complete, uncut text of All's Well That Ends Well?
Yes. Every file contains the full play — 23 scenes and about 22,600 spoken words. Cut it yourself in Word or Final Draft to fit your running time.
What is the difference between the stageplay and screenplay layouts?
The stageplay layout indents stage directions and sets dialogue full-width, like a theatre script. The screenplay layout follows film conventions: scene headings and action flush left, character names centred, dialogue in a narrower column. Both tiers include both layouts as PDFs; the Full Package adds editable Final Draft and Word files of each.
Can I use this All's Well That Ends Well script for a production or a class?
Yes. Shakespeare's plays are in the public domain, so there are no royalties to pay for staging them. Edit, stage, film or teach with these files.
How do I receive the files?
Right after checkout you land on a private download page, and the link is also emailed to you. It keeps working, so you can re-download any time.
