Hello and welcome to the Discourse. The Two Gentlemen of Verona is one of the earliest plays by William Shakespeare that he wrote around 1594 and the play was probably first performed in 1598. The primary source for the plot of the play is considered to be the Spanish romance titled La Diana Enamorada by Jorge de Montemayor which was published in 1559 and was translated in English in 1582. Other sources include Thomas Elyot’s story of Titus and Gissipus told in The Book of the Governor (1531), Giovanni Boccaccio’s The Decameron, and John Lyly’s Eupheus: Anatomy of Wit (1578).
The play deals with the themes of friendship, fidelity, the transformative power of lust, and the inconstancy of mercurial characters. It is a comedy and while The Two Gentlemen of Verona is considered the weakest play by the bard, the value of this play lies most in Shakespeare's first versions of characters who appear later in his more mature plays. It was the first English play that presents a woman disguised as a man (cross-dressing). It was an innovative idea because female actors weren’t allowed to perform on the stage and often male actors used to perform the female roles. However, this was the first play that required a male actor, performing a female role, to cross-dress and appear as a male again. The play follows a Five-Act structure.
Characters of The Two Gentlemen of Verona :
Valentine is the main character or the first gentleman in the play. He is a close friend of Proteus. He is an adventurous man who "after honor hunts" rather than after love. Valentine goes on an adventure in Milan where he falls in love with Silvia, the daughter of the Duke of Milan. However, Silvia’s father doesn’t like Valentine much and when he comes to know that Silvia is planning to elope, he banishes Valentine from Milan. Valentine is forced to go into the forest where he becomes the leader of the outlaws.
Proteus is the other gentleman from Verona who is more romantic than adventurous. He is in love with Julia and wishes to marry her. But his father Antonio asks him to go and join Valentine in Milan. Before leaving, he exchanges rings with Julia. In Milan, he encounters Silvia and forgets his love for Julia. His lust for Silvia forces him to betray his friend Valentine. He deserts Julia, plots to have Valentine banished, and tries to rape Silvia. When Valentine confronts him to save Silvia, he accepts his fault and offers a genuine apology. Seeing his seemingly genuine remorse, Valentine and Julia forgive him.
Julia is a decent girl from Verona who is pursued by Proteus. While she resists her feelings for Proteus, she admits her love for him just before Proteus’ father asks him to leave for Milan. To keep track of Proteus, she decides to follow him and observes him debasing himself out of love for another woman. She tries to bring him back and helps him by disguising herself as his page boy Sebastian to stay closer to him.
Silvia is the daughter of the Duke of Milan. She is a beautiful and high-spirited girl whom many gentlemen wish to marry. However, she falls in love with Valentine whom her father rejects. She plans to elope with him but Proteus makes sure that her plan is foiled. Later on, Proteus tries to force himself on her but Valentine saves her. His bravery in saving Silvia impresses the Duke who agrees to their marriage.
The Duke of Milan is a caring father and strong-handed administrator who wishes Silvia to marry the most suitable man. Thurio is a wealthy rival gentleman to Valentine whom the Duke prefers. However, Thurio proves to be a fool and coward in the end. Elgamour is another suitor of Silvia who is sympathetic towards her and helps her escape from Milan to be with Valentine. Speed is Valentine’s servant who enjoys teasing his master. Launce is Proteus’ servant who takes great pleasure in aggravating his master. Lucetta is Julia’s maid girl who encourages her to accept Proteus’ love proposal. Crab is a pet dog of Proteus whom he loves.
Summary of The Two Gentlemen of Verona:
Act 1:
The play begins as Proteus bids farewell to Valentine who is going to Milan for an adventure. Valentine encourages Proteus to travel with him but Proteus is love-stricken with a young girl named Julia and doesn’t wish to go until he succeeds in marrying her. Valentine chides him and says that traveling will help him gain worldliness. Proteus says that Valentine is doing enough adventure for both of them. As Valentine leaves, Proteus laments that his love for Julia has turned him into a useless person. When he meets his servant Speed, he asks him if he delivered his letter to Julia. Speed continues to tease him rather than answering back but later admits that he delivered his love letter to Julia. However, she wants Julia to whom he actually gave the letter. She was Lucetta, Julia’s maid girl disguised as Julia.
When Julia comes to know that Lucetta has accepted the letter from Proteus, she frowns at her and tears away the letter. Lucetta however encourages her to accept her feelings for Proteus who is a fine gentleman.
Proteus soon gets a letter from Julia who accepts his love. While he is reading the letter, he hears Antonio, his father approaching him. Antonio asks him about the letter. Proteus lies and says that it is a letter from Valentine who is asking him to join in Milan. Antonio too wishes Proteus to go and assist Valentine in his adventurous journey. Proteus finds it hard to deny his father and accepts going on the travel.
Act 2:
In Milan, Valentine meets and falls in love with Silvia, the daughter of the Duke of Milan. Silvia too loves him and they have exchanged love letters to express their acceptance. However, Silvia’s father prefers, Thurio, a wealthy merchant from Milan as a suitor for Silvia.
Proteus leaves Verona after exchanging rings with Julia to ascertain his love for her. He is worried about his pet dog Crab and decides to take it with him. Launce tells him that he thinks Crab is the most ill-behaved and sour animal on earth.
When Proteus reaches Milan, Valentine is overjoyed. He tells Proteus how he fell in love with Silvia. Proteus is a bit amazed to know that a girl could make Valentine fall in love. When he sees Silvia, he finds her very attractive and lusts for her. He decides to do anything to win Silvia and marry her. Valentine, meanwhile shares his plan to elope with Silvia with him.
Proteus decides to betray Valentine by informing the Duke about their plan to elope at night. He hopes that by doing so, he will win the Duke’s favor while Valentine will be banned and ultimately, he will win Silvia’s love.
In Verona, Julia is too pensive and worried about Proteus. She asks Lucetta’s help in going to Milan. Lucetta warns him that the journey can be dangerous. She also shows her concern about the veracity of Proteus’ love. However, Julia insists and says that she will disguise herself as a high-class page boy to avoid any possible danger. Lucetta finally agrees to help her disguise as a page boy and go to Milan.
Act 3:
Proteus meets the Duke and informs him about Valentine’s plan to elope with Silvia but asks him not to tell the source of information to anybody. The Duke gets angry and decides to confront Valentine. He goes to him and says that he is infatuated with a woman and wants to win her love but doesn’t know how to. He asks for Valentine’s help. Valentine feels something fishy but plays along out of politeness. He advises the Duke to keep a rope ladder in the pocket of his coat so that he may climb up the wall to meet the woman at her window whenever he gets a chance.
The Duke says that Valentine must have such a rope ladder and insists on checking the pockets of Valentine’s coat. While doing so, he finds a letter in Valentine's pocket that details his love for Silvia and his plan to run away with her. The Duke gets furious and banishes Valentine out of Milan.
Launce appears at the stage and announces that his master is a treacherous man. He meets Speed and tells him that he too has fallen in love with a lady who knows how to fetch milk and brew beer. She is toothless, drinks a lot, and has illegitimate children.
The Duke asks Proteus to help Thurio win Silvia’s love. Proteus feigns sadness at betraying his friend but the Duke says that it was the right thing to do. Proteus meets Thurio and tells him to assemble a band of musicians to serenade Silvia that night and impress her. However, he plans to foil Thurio’s attempt and win Silvia’s approval for himself.
Act 4
Valentine is forced to leave Milan and go into the forest where he encounters a gang of outlaws. The outlaws ask him why was he banished. Instead of saying that he was banished for trying to elope with the Duke’s daughter, he falsely claims that he murdered a man. The outlaws are impressed by him and ask him to be their gang leader, otherwise, they will kill him because now he knows their whereabouts. Valentine agrees to be the leader but asserts that he and the other men of the gang will never harm women. The outlaws agree.
Meanwhile, Julia reaches Milan and sees that Proteus has completely forgotten her while he pursues Silvia. She is disheartened but decides to enlist as Proteus’ page boy to get a chance to be near him. In the evening, Proteus and Thurio arrange a band of musicians under the window of Silvia. However, Proteus makes Thurio go away while claiming that he will plead his love to Silvia for him. When Silvia arrives, Proteus begins trying to woo her. Silvia gets annoyed and blames him for betraying his friend Valentine and his love Julia. Proteus claims that Julia is dead. Julia, who is disguised as his page boy, overhears him but fails to resist his fraud.
Silvia was hoping to get help from Proteus to meet Valentine but now she is convinced that Proteus will never help her. Thus, she asks Sir Eglamour to help her run away from Milan to meet Valentine. Eglamour himself wishes to marry her but respects her feelings for Valentine and decides to help her.
Launce appears again and informs how he smuggled Crab into the Duke’s dining chamber to give it to Silvia as a gift from Proteus but Crab peed on the floor. When the Duke noticed, he ordered to kill the dog. But Launce protected the dog by accepting the blame on himself and said that it was he who urinated on the floor. The servants beat Launce instead of Crab, the dog.
Proteus asks Sebastian the page boy to deliver a ring as a gift to Silvia. Sebastian notices that it is the same ring that she (Julia) gave to Proteus. With a heavy heart, she follows the order of Proteus. When she meets, Silvia and offers the ring, Silvia again accuses Proteus of treachery and disloyalty against Valentine and Julia without realizing that Sebastian is Julia in disguise. Sebastian praises Silvia for her respect towards Julia’s true love for Proteus.
Act 5
Sebastian returns to Proteus who asks him if Silvia accepted his love and the ring. Meanwhile, Silvia runs away with Eglamour to meet Valentine in the forest. The Duke announces that his daughter is missing and takes Proteus, Thurio, and Sebastian with him to search for Silvia.
In the forest, the outlaws confront Eglamour and Silvia. Eglamour runs away leaving Silvia alone. However, the outlaws have vowed never to harm any woman. Meanwhile, Proteus too reaches there and pretends as if he saved Silvia.
Proteus asks Silvia to accept his love for saving her from the outlaws. Silvia angrily retorts that she would prefer eaten by a lion alive than accept Proteus as her lover. The leader of the outlaws was hearing all this from a distance. Proteus gets angry at the continuous rebuttal of his love by Silvia and threatens to rape her. Valentine appears at the same time and confronts Proteus and saves Silvia against the sexual assault. When Proteus recognizes the leader of the outlaws as Valentine, he feels guilt and remorse and begs forgiveness. Valentine, moved by his genuine apology, forgives Proteus and rather offers to sacrifice his love for Silvia in favor of Proteus. When Sebastian hears this, he faints and falls. Proteus lifts him up and asks what happened. Sebastian says that he just forgot to give the ring to Silvia and takes two rings out of his pocket When Proteus sees the ring he gave to Julia while asserting his true love for her, he feels remorse and says, "O heaven, were man/But constant, he were perfect. That one error/Fills him with faults, makes him run through all th'sins;/Inconstancy falls off ere it begins," claiming that his inconstancy and infidelity made him do all the sins and asks for forgiveness.
Sebastian then reveals that she is Julia herself and Proteus decides to marry her.
Meanwhile, the Duke arrives with Thurio who claims Silvia for himself. Valentine takes his sword out and confronts Thurio for a duel. Thurio out of cowardice decides to run away, giving up his claim for Silvia. The Duke notices all this and praises Valentine for his bravery and gives his nod for his marriage with Silvia. Valentine asks the Duke to offer the outlaws a chance to rehabilitate in the city and the Duke decides to offer mercy to the outlaws. The play ends with the Duke announcing that Proteus and Julia and Valentine and Silvia will be married on the same day.
So this is it for today. We will continue to discuss the history of English literature. Please stay connected with the Discourse. Thanks and Regards!
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