The Decameron: Off to the Original Source

Shakespeare was known for borrowing plots from other sources. Here's a link to the text that might have inspired All's Well That Ends Well. A lot of the language is flowery and complex, but if you show students a few key excerpts, you can get them engaged in a decent discussion about the differences between the play and this story. For example, in the original text, the Helen character (named Juliet) doesn't return to the Bertram character pregnant; she shows up with twin boys that look exactly like him. Ask your students why they think Shakespeare replaced already-born babies with a pregnancy, and if they think the play is better or worse as a result.