All's well that ends well

Ancient Greece Myths Prototypes in

All

’

s

Well That Ends Well

Abstract:

Frailty,

thy name is woman.

Shakespeare

puts

this

saying

in

Hamlet.

However, in many of his comedies, Shakespeare always emphasizes the emancipation

of

women

who

fight

for

their

individual

happiness

and

freedom.

He

vividly

demonstrates the intelligence and bravery of women in

All’

s Well That Ends Well

. The

protagonist Helena in this play is an ordinary

girl, but she succeeds in marrying the

noble count Bertram. Helena’s pur

suance for love is like a marathon, in which there

appears many interesting characters with the characteristics of prototypes in ancient

Greece myths. This article is going to make a further illustration of them.

Key word:

Athena ArtemisHercules

Love is a sweet tyranny, because the lover endures his torment willingly. As the

daughter

of

a

recently

deceased

doctor

in

the

household

of

Rousillon,

Helena

is

deeply attracted by the young count Bertram who is not only wealthy and noble but

also handsome and charming. Even though her passionate and enthusiastic love does

not

win

her

a

momentary

glimpse

from

the

arrogant

Bertram,

Helena

can

’

t

stop

herself from aspiring for his response.

She is like Clytie, a fairy living beside the water, who admires Apollo so much.

All the day, Clytie just keeps looking into the sky, appreciating the gorgeous shadow

of

Apollo

who

drives

his

carriage

with

a

halo

of

radiance.

That

handsome

deity,

however, has no interest in the ordinary fairy even no glimpse on her. At last, the fairy

wins lots of sympathy from other gods and goddesses. They change the fairy into a

sunflower so that she can always enjoy the happiness of looking at her ideal lover.

Helena

can

’

t

move

her

eyes

off

Bertram,

either.

But

the

differences

in

social

status is as many as that between Clytie and Apollo. How it comes that a plain girl

like she herself could win back the love from such a noble man like Bertram? On the

one hand, Helena can

’

t stop lamenting her pure love definitely without response; on

the other hand, deep in her heart, she wishes miracles on herself. After all, she

’

s not

real Clytie, who doesn

’

t really endeavor to earn her desired love.

Individual

happiness

can

be

achieved

with

individual

efforts.

Brilliant

Helena

has a great faith in that. Hearing the news that the King of France has been suffering a

serious

illness

that

none

in

their

country

is

able

to

give

an

appropriate

treatment,

Helena

immediately

think

of

her

father

’

s

safe-guardian

medicine

recipe

which

is

capable of curing the King. As intelligent as Athena, who comes up with the Trojan

Horse to help the heroes of Greek occupy the city of Troy successfully, Helena wants

to

trade

her

recipe

with

the

King

for

the

exchange

of

an

opportunity

to

choose

her

legal husband herself. Capturing the wit and courage of the goddess of wisdom and

war, Helena guarantees the cure with her life. Only if she can cure the King dose she

can live and gain the invaluable chance to marry Bertram. And fortunately she makes

it. This girl did not leap forth from her father

’

s head with physically maturity though,

she is so good at tactics as the beloved daughter of Zeus.

From

this

point,

we

can

see

that

Shakespeare

does

well

in

depicting

deified

common people with the characteristics of ancient Greek anthropomorphic gods. Both

Helena and Athena are wise and brave enough to reach any goals they have designed

themselves. Out of the aspiration for love, Helena bets her life because she has a great

confidence in her father

’

s recipe as well as her own intelligence and fortune. Because

of her spirit of uprightness and courage, Athena has no sympathy with Ares

’

s savage

love of violence and bloodshed and always involves herself in some defensive wars

with some terrific tactics.

Nevertheless,

the

legalization

of

their

relationship

does

not

mean

that

Helena

gets her true love. The barriers before her are more than that in her imagination.

Bertram has no affection for Helena. The only thing he wants is to enroll himself

in the war in Italy. Looking down upon Helena on the basis of her lower status and

poverty, Bertram refuses to accept her as his legalized wife. At the beginning, he is

similar to Hippolytus, a mortal man in Greece myths, son of Theseus and the Majesty

of Amazon, who has no interest in any women, devoting himself to the hunting field

and

the

goddess

of

moon

and

virgin

Artemis.

But

there

is

an

important

factor

that

results

in

their

different

fate,

that

is,

their

pursuers

share

totally

different

thoughts.

Helena longs for Bertram

’

s love, indeed, whereas she will never do anything to hurt

him. Phaedra, on the contrary, though immorally loves her step-son very much, she is

too

angry

to

face

his

resistance

and

is

determined

to

set

him

up

to

death

with

the

payment of her own life. Helena is a master of tricks and tactics, though, only wants

to live a happy life with her day- dreaming Mr. Right. She is so lovable, kind and loyal

that she even won

’

t

think about

bring a little misfortune to

her husband.

Therefore,

Bertram is luckier than Hippolytus.

Even though Bertram unwillingly follows the King

’

s order to marry Helena, he

has nothing feeling but hatred for his newly married wife. Deceived by Parolles who

is recognized by Helena as a coward and a braggart, Bertram makes the decision to go

to the battlefield in Italy secretly. He indifferently orders Helena to go home without a

farewell kiss. Fighting hard in the battlefield and beating his enemies down, Bertram

doesn

’

t want to go back to France because he doesn

’

t want to live with Helena. And

he writes to Helena, saying that, she can only have him as her husband once she gets

his family ring and has his child.

Far

away

from

her dear husband, Helena knows that she will never satisfy his

requirements

only

if

she

finds

him

and

sleeps

with

him.

Thus,

she

decides

to

disappear from Rousillon in the night.

She leaves her mother-in-law a farewell letter,

declaring her

pilgrimage

to Saint Jaques. The Countess sends word of this to Bertram,

hoping he'll return from Florence now that Helena is away.

However, the young man finds something interesting there that makes him stay

for another period, he acquainted with a girl named Diana and wants to seduce her. An

authoritative

general,

a

handsome

and

wealthy

young

man

though

he

is,

he

cannot

succeed in seducing the innocent virgin Diana.

Diana does not only share the same Roman name with Artemis, the goddess of