‘Show me a child begotten of thy body that I am father to’: Pregnancy, Paternity and the Problem of Evidence in All’s Well That Ends Well

Commenting on the controversial ending of Shakespeare’s All’s Well That Ends Well Susan Snyder concludes, ‘Helena’s claim on Bertram is validated’.1 Similarly, Jay Halio writes, ‘There is, of course, no doubt that Helena can settle all Bertram’s suspicions of his being “doubly won”’.2 He later asserts, ‘At the end, Helena triumphs’.3 But does she? While much critical ink has been devoted to illuminating the play’s notably problematic ending, there has been little attention paid to Helena’s pregnancy as central to interpreting the resolution. Reading popular printed early modern maternity texts, including gynecological manuals and midwifery guides, in relation to Helena’s theatrical presentation of her pregnant body as evidence of her union with Bertram, I explore what difference emphasizing the staging of maternity makes in understanding the ending of the play.