"Man is enemy to virginity.
How may we barricado it against him?"
In this quotation, Helena tells Parolles that men are dangers to women, specifically to women's chastity. Here, she amplifies one of the play's major motifs – that there is a "war" going on between the sexes – by asking Parolles how women can "barricado" (barricade, or protect) themselves from the advances of unsavory men (like Parolles himself).
"'Twere all one
That I should love a bright particular star
And think to wed it, he is so above me.
In his bright radiance and collateral light
Must I be comforted, not in his sphere."
At the beginning of the play, Helena laments that she has fallen in love with Bertram, whom she compares to a "bright star" that does not exist in the same planetary sphere as she does. Here, Helena emphasizes how the difference between her and Bertram's social statuses stands in the way of a potential marriage. While it was uncommon to marry beneath one's social station, the play ultimately showcases how Helena is so virtuous and morally upstanding that she deserves to marry someone of a higher social class.
"Be thou blessed, Bertram, and succeed thy father
In manners as in shape. Thy blood and virtue
Contend for empire in thee, and thy goodness
Share with thy birthright."
Before Bertram leaves for Paris, the Countess (his mother) sends him away with sage advice. Here, she encourages her son to be like his father in his "manners" – his behavior – and indicates that his high social status is not enough to render him a good person. Instead, she encourages him to act virtuously as a manifestation of his birthright, rather than taking advantage of his status and abusing his social power.
"Among nine bad if one be good,
Among nine bad if one be good,
There's yet one good in ten."
This quotation is spoken in song form from the Countess's fool, Lavatch. He suggests that women are inherently promiscuous, and that nine out of ten will commit infidelity in their relationships. This quotation underscores the play's presentation of male characters who are obsessed with women's sexuality. Despite Lavatch's song, however, none of the female characters in the play act unfaithfully and it is indeed the male characters – like Bertram – who cannot remain loyal.
"Tax of impudence,
A strumpet's boldness, a divulgèd shame;
Traduced by odious ballads, my maiden's name
Sear'd otherwise; nay, worse if worst, extended
With vilest torture let my life be ended."
When Helena strives to heal the dying King, she acknowledges that her move is a risky one. Here, she imagines that in having such a private and intimate audience with the King, people will accuse her of being a "strumpet" (promiscuous woman), and will drag her "maiden's name" (her virginity) through the mud. Helena fears that in helping the King, she will destroy her own reputation.
"Those girls of Italy, take heed of them.
They say our French lack language to deny
If they demand. Beware of being captives
before you serve."
In another example of a character equating romance with battle, the King speaks here to French soldiers, warning them about the seductive nature of Italian women. He says that Italian women can render soldiers "captive" and inhibit them from doing their job in battle. Once again, the play focuses on the notion that love (and sex) are battlefields where the genders must vie for the upper hand.
"Fair maid, send forth thine eye. This youthful parcel
Of noble bachelors stand at my bestowing,
O'er whom both sovereign power and father's voice
I have to use. Thy frank election make.
Thou hast power to choose, and they none to forsake."
After Helena saves the King and restores his health, he rewards her by letting her select her own husband. This kind of narrative was not unprecedented. Indeed, the literary trope of the "quest" – in which a lowly but heroic knight achieves the impossible and is rewarded with a wife who will elevate his status – existed long before Shakespeare wrote this play. In this case, however, the hero is Helena, a woman, and she has her sights set on Bertram – a man who is less than eager to become her husband.
"Ay, that would be known. To th' wars, my
boy, to the wars! He wears his honor in a box unseen
That hugs his kicky-wicky here at home,
Spending his manly marrow in her arms
Which should sustain the bound and high curvet
Of Mars's fiery steed. To other regions!
France is a stable, we that dwell in 't jades.
Therefore, to th' war!"
In this quotation, Parolles encourages his fellow soldiers to head boldly into war. However, he uses a gendered comparison in order to make his point. Parolles suggests that men who stay home with their wives are less masculine, as their manhood should be put to better use (like fighting). When he says that those who dwell in France are "jades," he compares those who will not fight to female horses used for breeding (the word was also a slang term for "whore").
"Mine honor's such a ring.
My chastity's the jewel of our house,
Bequeathèd down from many ancestors,
Which were the greatest obloquy i' th' world
In me to lose. Thus your own proper wisdom
Brings in the champion Honor on my part
Against your vain assault."
In her attempt to stave off Bertram's advances, Diana compares her virginity to Bertram's ring, which he values because it is a family heirloom. Here, Diana suggests that without her virginity intact, no man will deign to marry her. Diana's reasoning emphasizes the plays focus on the policing of female sexuality while also foreshadowing the end of the play, in which the King rewards her with a husband of her choosing (but only, he says, if she is still a virgin).
"If she, my liege, can make me know this clearly,
I'll love her dearly, ever, ever dearly."
When Helena reappears at the end of the play (after faking her own death), she also reveals that she is pregnant with Bertram's baby. Bertram's response is to vow to love Helena for the rest of his days. While Bertram's transformation allows for a tidy ending to the play, critics have long questioned its genuineness. Some even suggest that the ending of the play is ironic, as things may "end well" for the characters but are not, in reality, well at all.
