Neither “Problem Plays” Nor “Problem Comedies”: Sexuality and Survival in All’s Well that Ends Well, Measure for Measure and Troilus and Cressida

Abstract

ABSTRACT The paper argues that All’s Well That Ends Well, Measure for Measure and Troilus and Cressida are neither “Problem Comedies” nor “Problem Plays”. They have been viewed in terms of a genre to which they do not quite belong, and the fact that they deal with problems has somehow been construed to mean that they are problems. These plays show continuities with the previous comedies but also mark a forward movement and a further development. Where romantic love is the basis of early comedy, “the urgency of sexuality” is now the major theme and complex issues of sexual desire and its fulfilment are explored. The focus is primarily on women and their vulnerability, women who are insecure, threatened, and discover they can use their sexuality, the very thing that makes them vulnerable, as a weapon, as leverage, to help them survive. These are plays about sexuality, compromise, and survival.