Summary
Helena is the ward of the Countess Rousillon, a noblewoman whose husband has recently died. Helena's father, a famous doctor, is also deceased when the play begins.
The Countess's son, Bertram, has garnered the attention of Helena: she is in love with him, but laments her emotions because the two derive from different social classes. As the daughter of a doctor rather than a nobleman, Helena is of a lower social rank than Bertram, and as such believes there is no hope for a potential marriage between them.
Bertram is called to Paris to serve the King, who is dying from a mysterious disease. Before departing, Helena exchanges thoughts on virginity with Bertram's friend, Parolles, who is a deceitful coward. Parolles urges Helena to marry and lose her virginity as soon as possible.
Meanwhile, Helena devises a plan that she hopes will allow her to marry Bertram.
In Paris, the King has vowed to remain neutral in a war between Austria and the Duke of Florence, but says that any Frenchmen who wish to fight are free to do so.
He tells Bertram that he wishes Helena's father was still alive, because only such a brilliant doctor could possibly cure him.
Meanwhile, the Countess overhears from her steward that Helena is in love with Bertram. She sends for Helena right away, and though Helena is cagey at first, she soon admits her feelings about the Countess's son and informs the Countess of her plan to go to Paris and heal the King using the medical knowledge her father had taught her. The Countess is skeptical of Helena's plan, but nonetheless gives her her blessing.
Analysis
The First Act of the play is largely dedicated to familiarizing audiences with each character and their respective motivations. The play quickly establishes that Helena is its central protagonist, as she is virtuous and intelligent but hampered by her love for Bertram, whom she thinks is too superior to ever want to marry a doctor's daughter.
By introducing this notion of unrequited love, the play establishes two of its major themes.
First, Helena's feelings for Bertram dramatize an inversion of gender norms, as it is usually a male who expresses love and desire for a woman that he cannot attain. In this play, it is Helena who pines after Bertram while having doubts about her ability to actually marry him.
Therein lies the second major theme of the play, because Helena's love is not unrequited simply because Bertram is not interested. On the contrary, Bertram and Helena both take their respective social classes (Bertram being a nobleman, and Helena being of a respectable class, but not nobility) quite seriously, and it is this difference in their social standing that Helena cites as the reason she cannot marry the man she loves. Thus, within the first act of the play, the performance establishes both its central conflict and its role as commentary on early modern social mores.
One relationship worth noting in Act One is that between Helena and the Countess. The Countess is Bertram's mother, and she urges her son to act with honor that is becoming of his noble title. It becomes clear early in the play that the Countess is a morally upstanding and respectable character, a characterization that is only amplified when she discovers Helena's secret love for her son. Despite the Countess's skepticism that Helena will be able to execute her plan at court successfully – the Countess, rightfully, doubts whether the King will allow himself such an intimate audience with a woman – she nonetheless gives Helena her blessing and encourages Helena to go to Paris. The Countess's support of Helena is significant, because it showcases how she is not one to pay too much attention to the "problem" of social class when it comes to her son's marriage. Moreover, this early support from the Countess introduces the motif of bonds between women that will continue throughout the play, especially once Helena meets the Widow and Diana in Florence.
