Along with Measure For Measure and Troilus and Cressida, All’s Well That Ends Well is traditionally labeled a “problem play”. This term derives from F. S. Boas’s 1896 study, Shakespeare and His Predecessors, which considered All’s Well That Ends Well, Measure For Measure, Troilus and Cressida, and Hamlet to be “dramas so singular in theme and temper [that they] cannot be strictly called comedies or tragedies”. In common with the other “problem plays”, All’s Well That Ends Well follows a comic trajectory that ends in marriage, but that marriage is imposed on an unwilling groom and does not resolve the tensions aroused in the play. Shakespeare also used mixed modes in All’s Well, combining fairy tale improbabilities (magic potion, miraculous recoveries, and a bed trick) with darker, more realistic elements (bawdy jokes, Paroles’ unveiling) that...
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Citation: Harrington, Louise. "All's Well That Ends Well". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 29 April 2004; last revised 07 June 2020. [https://www.litencyc.com/php/sworks.php?rec=true&UID=6776, accessed 09 June 2026.]
