Gender
All's Well That Ends Well is unique among Shakespeare's canon and early modern drama more generally because it features a female protagonist. Not only that, the play places Helena in a position typically occupied by men: that of the pursuer in a romantic relationship. Helena pursues Bertram with fervor despite her position as a lower-class woman, and she ultimately succeeds in winning over Bertram's affection as her husband. This inversion of traditional gender roles could at once be considered entertaining – at the time, this plot would have been relatively preposterous – and suggestive of the play's commentary on the expectations placed on both men and women in romantic courtships.
Sexuality
Sex and sexuality play a pivotal role in the play. Characters are constantly questioning and debating female sexuality, offering their takes on how and when a woman should lose her virginity. The exaggerated discourse on women's sexual status could be interpreted as an ironic commentary on how thoroughly female sexuality was policed, especially by men. Furthermore, a sexual encounter is one of the play's most memorable plot devices: a "bed trick," featuring a man who does not know who he is really having sex with, turns out to be the catalyst for the play's resolution in the final act.
War
War and warfare lingers in the background of All's Well That Ends Well, and indeed in later versions became an important subplot after audiences showed interest in the character of Parolles. More than that, however, war becomes a metaphor through which the play presents romance and heterosexual courtship. The popular notion that love is a "battlefield" is entirely operative in the play, as the men and women (but mostly the women) scheme and fight to achieve their desired outcome.
Class
Class is an important theme in the play because it presents the play's first major conflict: Helena desperately wants to marry Bertram, but fears he will reject her because of her low social status. That is, in fact, exactly what happens, even after Helena uses her cleverness to impress the King and marry Bertram anyway. At its conclusion, however, the play suggests that it is Bertram who is to blame for the ensuing problems, as he had failed to see beyond class distinctions and recognize Helena's virtue and loyalty.
Rebirth
All's Well That Ends Well begins on a grim note: two fathers are dead, and the King of France is (allegedly) deathly ill. This leads the characters to ponder more potential deaths to come. Instead, however, the play takes a turn away from death to focus instead on possibility, resurrection, and rebirth. That Helena saves the King's life is the first example of "resurrection" we see (this moment is often compared to that of Hermione in The Winter's Tale). Helena's pregnancy at the end of the play also represents rebirth and the possibility of new life, suggesting that the looming sense of mortality that dominated the beginning of the play has been combated by the characters' actions at the end.
Deception
Like many early modern comedies, deception plays a major role in All's Well That Ends Well. Nearly every character is involved in some sort of deceptive scheme, most notably the trick played on Parolles regarding the drum and the bed trick that Diana and Helena play on Bertram to secure Helena's place as Bertram's wife. For the most part, the deception enacted in the play is not judged too harshly and is mostly carried out in a lighthearted manner. Indeed, the bed trick – in which Bertram unknowingly sleeps with his wife instead of Diana – catalyzes the "happy ending" in the final act, when Helena reveals she is pregnant.
Marriage
Early modern comedies are easily identifiable as plays that feature at least one marriage at the end. All's Well That Ends Well features a marriage in the middle, and an unhappy one at that. Bertram runs away from his wife after being forced into a marriage to which he did not agree, and he refuses to consummate the marriage and make it official. When he finally capitulates and vows to love Helena (after learning she is pregnant and had essentially "bested" him with the bed trick), the play suggests that perhaps the notion of marriage as the solution to all problems is unrealistic and contrived.
