Robert Ornstein and John M. Love have provided the most comprehensive commentary on the barrier of social class in All's Well That Ends Well Ornstein argues that Bertram would likely have opposed any marriage forced on him at that particular stage in his life. What makes it worse for him is that Helena is a dependent in his household. Although the differences in their social station is his voiced objection to the union, he cares little about rank and wealth at this point in his life. If they were concerns, he would have likely embraced a union with a royal favorite whom the King has promised to grace with honor and wealth to make up for the disparity in their rank. Love calls the barrier of social class the play's "source of darkness" and its "alien, ineradicable element." He argues that social rank determines the fate of...