In “All’s Well That Ends Well,” Helena is the heroine who cures the King of France.
Helena is the intelligent daughter of a deceased physician and a ward of the Countess of Roussillon. She loves Bertram, the countess’s son, but he considers her socially beneath him. Her medical knowledge gives her a chance to change her fate when Bertram travels to Paris to attend the seriously ill King of France.
Helena offers to cure the King using a remedy inherited from her father. The King initially doubts her, but she succeeds and is rewarded with the right to choose a husband from the court. She selects Bertram, although he immediately rejects the marriage and leaves for war in Italy.
The rest of the play follows Helena’s determined efforts to fulfil the conditions Bertram sets for accepting her. With help from Diana and the Widow of Florence, Helena obtains Bertram’s ring and meets his demand that she bear his child. Their eventual reconciliation is deliberately uneasy, which is why the play is often called a “problem comedy.”
Helena is sometimes confused with Diana, who assists her in the later plot, but Diana does not cure the King.