The Duke of Florence speaks with the measured authority of a man who knows he's right but won't shout about it — his language is formal without being pompous, gracious without being soft. Watch for how he turns every awkward subject into an opportunity for magnanimity.
So that, from point to point, now have you heard
The fundamental reasons of this war,
Whose great decision hath much blood let forth,
And more thirsts after.
So that, from point to point, now have you heard The fundamental reasons of this war, Whose great decision has much blood let forth, And more thirsts after.
so that, from point to point, now 've you heard the fundamental reasons of th's war, whose great decision has much blood let forth, and more thirsts after.
So that, from point to point, now have you heard The fundamental...
Holy seems the quarrel
Upon your Grace’s part; black and fearful
On the opposer.
Holy seems the quarrel Upon your Grace’s part; black and fearful On the opposer.
holy seems the quarrel upon your grace’s part; black and fearful on the opposer.
Holy seems the quarrel Upon your Grace’s part; black and fearful On...
Therefore we marvel much our cousin France
Would, in so just a business, shut his bosom
Against our borrowing prayers.
Therefore we marvel much our cousin France Would, in so just a business, shut his bosom Against our borrowing prayers.
therefore we marvel much our cousin france would, in so just a business, shut h's bosom against our borrowing prayers.
Therefore we marvel much our cousin France Would, in so just a...
Shakespeare's Italy is a kind of moral testing ground — a place where English characters go to either prove or lose themselves. The Italian wars in All's Well are loosely based on the ongoing conflicts between the Italian city-states that marked the sixteenth century, but Shakespeare isn't interested in historical accuracy. What Florence gives him is a stage for masculine virtue: war, honor, leadership, tested courage. This is the world Bertram runs toward because it seems simple — you fight, you win honor, there are no women complicating things. The play will complicate this. Helena is heading to Florence too. The war, which looks like Bertram's escape, is actually the trap that closes around him. Keep watching how the masculine code of honor that Bertram embraces in Florence is eventually turned against him — by a woman who has been watching him perform it.
Good my lord,
The reasons of our state I cannot yield,
But like a common and an outward man
That the great figure of a council frames
By self-unable motion; therefore dare not
Say what I think of it, since I have found
Myself in my incertain grounds to fail
As often as I guess’d.
Good my lord, The reasons of our state I cannot yield, But like a common and an outward man That the great figure of a council frames By self-unable motion; therefore dare not Say what I think of it, since I have found Myself in my incertain grounds to fail As often as I guess’d.
good my lord, the reasons of our state i cannot yield, but like a common and an outward man that the great figure of a council frames by self-unable motion; therefore d're not say what i think of it, since i 've found myself in my incertain grounds to fail as often as i guess’d.
Good my lord, The reasons of our state I cannot yield, But...
Be it his pleasure.
Be it his pleasure.
be it h's pleasure.
Be it his pleasure.
But I am sure the younger of our nature,
That surfeit on their ease, will day by day
Come here for physic.
But I am sure the younger of our nature, That surfeit on their ease, will day by day Come here for physic.
but i am sure the younger of our nature, that surfeit on their ease, will day by day come here for physic.
But I am sure the younger of our nature, That surfeit on...
Welcome shall they be;
And all the honours that can fly from us
Shall on them settle. You know your places well;
When better fall, for your avails they fell.
Tomorrow to the field.
Welcome shall they be; And all the honours that can fly from us Shall on them settle. You know your places well; When better fall, for your avails they fell. Tomorrow to the field.
welcome shall they be; and all the honours that can fly from us shall on them settle. you know your places well; when better fall, for your avails they fell. tomorrow to the field.
Welcome shall they be; And all the honours that can fly from...
The Reckoning
A brief scene that reorients the play geographically and politically — we are now in Florence, and there is a real war happening. The Duke is a gracious figure: he doesn't press too hard about France's refusal to send official help, and he welcomes private volunteers with honor. The scene plants the world Bertram is running toward — military, honorable, completely male — and sets it in contrast to the domestic world he's fleeing.
If this happened today…
A small country's minister of defense is meeting with foreign volunteers who have come to help without official government backing. He's careful not to embarrass anyone by asking too directly why their country officially stayed out. He thanks them, tells them there'll be room for advancement if they perform well. The foreign volunteers are young men looking for something their own country can't give them.