In All’s Well That Ends Well, the clown is named Lavatch. He serves the Countess of Roussillon and provides a sharp comic presence within a play otherwise focused on Helena’s determined attempt to win Bertram.
Lavatch is more than a decorative fool. His jokes, sexual innuendo and observations puncture the self-importance of the nobles around him, especially as the plot moves between the Countess’s household and the military world of Florence. He is also among the characters who recognize Parolles as a boastful coward before Bertram fully understands the truth.
Lafew is a different character: an old lord who helps comment on Parolles and the courtly action. Bertram is the Countess’s son and Helena’s reluctant husband, while Parolles is Bertram’s dishonest companion. Shakespeare’s play was printed in the First Folio in 1623 and is often called a problem play because its morally uneasy relationships and abrupt resolution complicate its comic label. Its main plot adapts a tale from Boccaccio’s Decameron.