All's Well That Ends Well: Act 3, Scene 5 Translation

A side-by-side translation of Act 3, Scene 5 of All's Well That Ends Well from the original Shakespeare into modern English.

  Original Text

 Translated Text

  Source: Folger Shakespeare Library

A tucket afar off. Enter old Widow of Florence, her
daughter Diana, and Mariana, with other Citizens.

WIDOW Nay, come, for if they do approach the city, we
shall lose all the sight.

DIANA They say the French count has done most honorable
service.

WIDOW It is reported that he has taken their great’st 5
commander, and that with his own hand he slew
the Duke’s brother. A trumpet sounds. We have
lost our labor. They are gone a contrary way. Hark,
you may know by their trumpets.

MARIANA Come, let’s return again and suffice ourselves 10
with the report of it.—Well, Diana, take heed of
this French earl. The honor of a maid is her name,
and no legacy is so rich as honesty.

WIDOW, to Diana I have told my neighbor how you
have been solicited by a gentleman, his 15
companion.

MARIANA I know that knave, hang him! One Parolles, a
filthy officer he is in those suggestions for the
young earl.—Beware of them, Diana. Their promises,
enticements, oaths, tokens, and all these 20
engines of lust are not the things they go under.
Many a maid hath been seduced by them; and
the misery is example that so terrible shows in the
wrack of maidenhood cannot for all that dissuade
succession, but that they are limed with the twigs 25
that threatens them. I hope I need not to advise
you further, but I hope your own grace will keep
you where you are, though there were no further
danger known but the modesty which is so lost.

DIANA You shall not need to fear me. 30

WIDOW I hope so.

Enter Helen as a pilgrim.

Look, here comes a pilgrim. I know she will lie at
my house; thither they send one another. I’ll question
her.—God save you, pilgrim. Whither are
bound? 35

HELEN, as pilgrim To Saint Jaques le Grand.
Where do the palmers lodge, I do beseech you?

WIDOW
At the Saint Francis here beside the port.

HELEN, as pilgrim Is this the way?

A march afar.

WIDOW
Ay, marry, is ’t.—Hark you, they come this way.— 40
If you will tarry, holy pilgrim,
But till the troops come by,
I will conduct you where you shall be lodged,
The rather for I think I know your hostess
As ample as myself. 45

HELEN, as pilgrim Is it yourself?

WIDOW If you shall please so, pilgrim.

HELEN, as pilgrim
I thank you, and will stay upon your leisure.

In Italy, a Widow and her daughter, Diana, are watching the guys return from battle.

Bertram has become a famous war hero and everyone wants a piece of him before his fifteen minutes of fame are up.

It turns out that Bertram's pal Parolles has solicited Diana on Bertram's behalf. (Translation: Parolles told Diana that Bertram wants to hook up with her.)

But a woman named Mariana warns Diana that Bertram and Parolles are bad news. They've been seducing Italian virgins and ruining their reputations. Busy guys. 

Diana's not worried. She's a smart girl and knows enough to stay away from the likes of Bertram.

This is when Helen shows up wearing her pilgrim get-up.

(Remember, a pilgrim is just a person on a religious pilgrimage to a holy place. Pilgrims were also called “palmers” because they often carried palm leaves on their journeys, like the characters in Chaucer's The Canterbury Tales.)

She says she's on her way to the shrine of St. Jaques and wants to know where all the other pilgrims stay.

The Widow just so happens to be an innkeeper (how convenient!) so she invites Helen to stay at her place.

WIDOW
You came I think from France?

HELEN, as pilgrim I did so. 50

WIDOW
Here you shall see a countryman of yours
That has done worthy service.

HELEN, as pilgrim His name, I pray you?

DIANA
The Count Rossillion. Know you such a one?

HELEN, as pilgrimBut by the ear, that hears most nobly of him. 55
His face I know not.

DIANA Whatsome’er he is,
He’s bravely taken here. He stole from France,
As ’tis reported, for the King had married him
Against his liking. Think you it is so? 60

HELEN, as pilgrim
Ay, surely, mere the truth. I know his lady.

DIANA
There is a gentleman that serves the Count
Reports but coarsely of her.

HELEN, as pilgrim What’s his name?

DIANA
Monsieur Parolles. 65

HELEN, as pilgrim O, I believe with him.
In argument of praise, or to the worth
Of the great count himself, she is too mean
To have her name repeated. All her deserving
Is a reservèd honesty, and that 70
I have not heard examined.

DIANA Alas, poor lady,
’Tis a hard bondage to become the wife
Of a detesting lord.

WIDOW
I warrant, good creature, wheresoe’er she is, 75
Her heart weighs sadly. This young maid might do
her
A shrewd turn if she pleased.

HELEN, as pilgrim How do you mean?
Maybe the amorous count solicits her 80
In the unlawful purpose?

WIDOW He does indeed,
And brokes with all that can in such a suit
Corrupt the tender honor of a maid,
But she is armed for him and keeps her guard 85
In honestest defense.

MARIANA
The gods forbid else!

Drum and Colors. Enter Bertram Count Rossillion,
Parolles, and the whole Army.

WIDOW So, now they come.
That is Antonio, the Duke’s eldest son;
That, Escalus. 90

HELEN, as pilgrim Which is the Frenchman?

DIANA He,
That with the plume. ’Tis a most gallant fellow.
I would he loved his wife. If he were honester,
He were much goodlier. Is ’t not a handsome 95
gentleman?

HELEN, as pilgrim I like him well.

DIANA
’Tis pity he is not honest. Yond’s that same knave
That leads him to these places. Were I his lady,
I would poison that vile rascal. 100

HELEN, as pilgrim Which is he?

DIANA
That jackanapes with scarves. Why is he melancholy?

HELEN, as pilgrim Perchance he’s hurt i’ th’ battle.

PAROLLES Lose our drum? Well.

MARIANA He’s shrewdly vexed at something. Look, he 105
has spied us.

WIDOW, to Parolles Marry, hang you.

MARIANA, to Parolles And your courtesy, for a
ring-carrier.

Bertram, Parolles, and the army exit.

WIDOW
The troop is passed. Come, pilgrim, I will bring you 110
Where you shall host. Of enjoined penitents
There’s four or five, to Great Saint Jaques bound,
Already at my house.

HELEN, as pilgrim I humbly thank you.
Please it this matron and this gentle maid 115
To eat with us tonight, the charge and thanking
Shall be for me. And to requite you further,
I will bestow some precepts of this virgin
Worthy the note.

BOTH We’ll take your offer kindly. 120

They exit.

The Widow learns that Helen is from France and mentions there's a yummy French soldier living in Florence. Word on the street is that he ran away from home because the king married him against his will.

Helen's ears perk up.

The widow tells her that Bertram has been trying to seduce her virginal daughter but that Diana won't have any of it.

Just then, Bertram and his army march by.

Diana sighs and says Bertram sure is dreamy. It's just too bad that he's always trying to cheat on his poor wife.

When the ladies spot Parolles, they start to heckle him. Diana calls him a "jackanapes" (a monkey) and the widow tells him to drop dead.

Taunting Parolles makes the ladies hungry, and they run off to grab a bite to eat together.