ABSTRACT
In Act II, Scene I of Shakespeare’s All’s Well That Ends Well, the King of France lies dying from an unspecified fistula. Given up for lost by the court physicians, the king sadly watches the departure of his troops for the Italian wars, convinced he will not live to see their return. Help, however, is at hand in the form of Helena, daughter of a famous doctor now deceased, who has inherited her father’s skill and has come to the French court in search of the man she loves, Bertram, Count of Roussillon. Gaining access to the stricken king, Helena promises to restore his health, but finds her offer initially repulsed:
The congregated college have concluded
That labouring art can never ransom nature
From her inaidable estate.
