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Characters:- Helena
- orphan daughter of great doctor
- ward of Countess of Rousillon
- in love with Bertram
- Bertram
- Count of Rousillon
- Countess's only son
- unwilling marries Helena, then abandons her
- Countess of Rousillon
- mother of Bertram
- sides Helena when Bertram leaves her
- King of France
- cured by Helena
- sides Helena when Bertram leaves her
- Lafew
- old French nobleman who offers advice to the King
- Parolles
- Bertram's companion
- coward and liar who pretends to be great soldier
- First Lord (Dumaine) and Second Lord
- plots to expose Parolles' lies
- Diana
- young virgin in Florence whom Bertram attempts to seduce
- aids Helena in tricking him into sleeping with Helena
- Widow
- Diana's mother
- Clown
- Countess's go-to guy
Plot summary
- Helena is hopelessly in love with Bertram but they can't marry because she is a commoner and he a nobleman.
- Helena goes to the King's palace and cures the king with medicine her father had given her. As a reward, the King allows her to choose whoever she wants to marry.
- Helena chooses Bertram and he marries her reluctantly.
- Bertram immediately leaves to Florence to join the war without consummating his marriage. He is accompanied by Parolles.
- Bertram leaves Helena a letter which states that only when she wears his ring and is carrying his child will he become a true husband to her. Helena is brokenhearted and goes to Florence.
- In Florence, Helena discovers that Bertram has been trying to seduce Diana, a virgin. She reveals that she is Bertram's wife and they agree to help Helena to win her husband back.
- In the meantime, the First and Second Lord Dumaine come up with a plan to expose Parolles. They goad him into retrieving his regiment's drum but, disguised as enemy soldiers, kidnap and blindfold him. They then interrogate him under threat of torture in front of Bertram and Parolles reveals his true nature.
- Bertram, on the other hand, succeeds in persuading Diana to sleep with him. She demands his family's ring as a token of love. In the dark she and Helena switch places, so Bertram has sex with Helena instead.
- Bertram receives news that Helena is dead and since the war is over, returns to France.
- The King is about to announce Bertram's marriage to the daughter of Lafew when he notices a ring he had given to Helena as thanks for saving his life on Bertram's finger (Helena had given the ring to Diana who had given the ring to Bertram).
- Bertram does not want to reveal where he got the ring from but then Diana, the Widow and Helena arrive and explain everything. Because Helena has fulfilled Bertram's conditions he is chastened and promises to be a good husband to her.
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