The Two Gentlemen of Verona

By William Shakespeare

Valentine and Proteus are devoted comrades ― until they travel to Milan and meet Silvia, the Duke's ravishing daughter. Torn between the bonds of friendship and the lure of romance, the two gentlemen are further bedeviled by Proteus's prior commitment to Julia, his hometown sweetheart, and the Duke's disdain for Valentine. Thus the stage is set for a comic spree involving a daring escape into a forest, capture by outlaws, and the antics of a clown and his dog.
Written early in Shakespeare's career, this madcap romp embodies many themes and motifs the playwright would explore at greater depth in his later works. The first of his plays in which the heroine dresses as a boy to seek out her beloved, it's also the first in which the characters retreat to the natural world to brave danger and disorder before achieving harmony, and the first in which passionate youth triumphs over dictatorial elders. And amid its merriment and jests, the play also raises thought-provoking questions about conflicts between friendship and love and the value of forgiveness.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Dover Publications
• Release date: May 11, 2015
• ISBN: 9780486790053

William Shakespeare

William Shakespeare is the world's greatest ever playwright. Born in 1564, he split his time between Stratford-upon-Avon and London, where he worked as a playwright, poet and actor. In 1582 he married Anne Hathaway. Shakespeare died in 1616 at the age of fifty-two, leaving three children—Susanna, Hamnet and Judith. The rest is silence.

Book preview

THE TWO GENTLEMEN OF VERONA

William Shakespeare

DOVER PUBLICATIONS, INC.

Mineola, New York

DOVER THRIFT EDITIONS

GENERAL EDITOR: MARY CAROLYN WALDREP

EDITOR OF THIS VOLUME: ALISON DAURIO

Copyright

Copyright © 2015 by Dover Publications, Inc.

All rights reserved.

Theatrical Rights

This Dover Thrift Edition may be used in its entirety, in adaptation, or in any other way for theatrical productions, professional and amateur, in the United States, without fee, permission, or acknowledgment. (This may not apply outside of the United States, as copyright conditions may vary.)

Bibliographical Note

This Dover edition, first published in 2015, contains the unabridged text of The Two Gentlemen of Verona as published in Volume I of The Windsor Shakespeare, Caxton Publishing Company, London, n.d. The introductory Note was prepared specially for this edition, and the explanatory footnotes from the Caxton edition have been revised.

International Standard Book Number

eISBN-13: 978-0-486-79005-3

www.doverpublications.com

Note

WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE (1564–1616) was born in Stratford-on-Avon, Warwickshire, England. Although much of his early life remains sketchy, it is known that he moved to London around 1589 to earn his way as an actor and playwright. He joined an acting company known as Lord Chamberlain’s Men in 1594, a decision that finally enabled him to share in the financial success of his plays. Only eighteen of his thirty-seven plays were published during his lifetime, and these were usually sold directly to theater companies and printed in quartos, or single-play editions, without his approval.

Completed sometime between 1589 and 1592, The Two Gentlemen of Verona may be Shakespeare’s first play. Dealing with the foolish behavior of people in love, the play focuses on close friends, Valentine and Proteus. When Proteus falls in love with Valentine’s girlfriend, Sylvia, the spirited daughter of the Duke of Milan, their friendship soon turns to rivalry as they compete for the object of their affection.

DRAMATIS PERSONÆ

D

UKE OF MILAN,

Father to Silvia.

A

NTONIO,

Father to Proteus.

T

HURIO,

Rival to Valentine.

E

GLAMOUR,

Agent for Silvia.

S

PEED,

Servant to Valentine.

L

AUNCE,

Servant to Proteus.

P

ANTHINO,

Servant to Proteus.

Host to Julia in Milan.

Outlaws.

S

ILVIA,

beloved by Valentine.

J

ULIA,

a Lady of Verona.

L

UCETTA,

her Waiting-woman.

Servants, Musicians.

S

CENE:

In Verona; in Milan; and in a forest near Milan.

CONTENTS

ACT I

SCENE I. Verona. An Open Place in the City

SCENE II. The Same. The Garden of Julia’s House

SCENE III. The Same. A Room in Antonio’s House

ACT II

SCENE I. Milan. A Room in the Duke’s Palace

SCENE II. Verona. The Garden of Julia’s House

SCENE III. The Same. A Street

SCENE IV. Milan. A Room in the Duke’s Palace

SCENE V. The Same. A Street

SCENE VI. The Same. A Room in the Duke’s Palace

SCENE VII. Verona. A Room in Julia’s House

ACT III

SCENE I. Milan. An Ante-room in the Duke’s Palace

SCENE II. The Same. A Room in the Duke’s Palace

ACT IV

SCENE I. A Forest Near Milan

SCENE II. Milan. The Court of the Duke’s Palace

ACT V

SCENE I. Milan. An Abbey

SCENE II. The Same. A Room in the Duke’s Palace

SCENE III. The Forest

SCENE IV. Another Part of the Forest

ACT I.

SCENE I. Verona. An Open Place in the City.

Enter V

ALENTINE

and P

ROTEUS.

V

AL.

Cease to persuade, my loving Proteus:

Home-keeping youth have ever homely wits.

Were ’t not affection chains thy tender days

To the sweet glances of thy honour’d love,

I rather would entreat thy company

To see the wonders of the world abroad,

Than, living dully sluggardized at home,

Wear out thy youth with shapeless idleness.¹

But, since thou lovest, love still, and thrive therein,

Even as I would, when I to love begin. [10]

P

RO.

Wilt thou be gone? Sweet Valentine, adieu!

Think on thy Proteus, when thou haply see’st

Some rare note-worthy object in thy travel:

Wish me partaker in thy happiness,

When thou dost meet good hap; and in thy danger,

If ever danger do environ thee,

Commend thy grievance to my holy prayers,

For I will be thy beadsman,² Valentine.

V

AL.

And on a love-book pray for my success?

P

RO.

Upon some book I love I ’ll pray for thee. [20]

V

AL.

That ’s on some shallow story of deep love;

How young Leander cross’d the Hellespont.

P

RO.

That ’s a deep story of a deeper love;

For he was more than over shoes in love.

V

AL.

’Tis true; and you are over boots in love,

And yet you never swam the Hellespont.

P

RO.

Over the boots! nay, give me not the boots.³

V

AL.

No,

I will not, for it boots not.

PRO.

What?

V

AL.

To be

In love, where scorn is bought with groans; coy looks [30]

With heart-sore sighs; one fading moment’s mirth

With twenty watchful, weary, tedious nights:

If haply won, perhaps a hapless gain;

If lost, why, then a grievous labour won;

However,⁴ but a folly bought with wit,

Or else a wit by folly vanquishéd.

P

RO.

So, by your circumstance,⁵ you call me fool.

V

AL.

So, by your circumstance, I fear you ’ll prove.

P

RO.

’Tis love you cavil at: I am not Love.

V

AL.

Love is your master, for he masters you: [40]

And he that is so yokèd by a fool,

Methinks, should not be chronicled for wise.

P

RO.

Yet writers say, as in the sweetest bud

The eating canker dwells, so eating love

Inhabits in the finest wits of all.

V

AL.

And writers say, as the most forward bud

Is eaten by the canker ere it blow,

Even so by love the young and tender wit

Is turn’d to folly; blasting in the bud,

Losing his verdure even in the prime, [50]

And all the fair effects of future hopes.

But wherefore waste I time to counsel thee,

That art a votary to fond desire?

Once more adieu! my father at the road

Expects my coming, there to see me shipp’d.

P

RO.

And thither will I bring thee, Valentine.

V

AL.

Sweet Proteus, no; now let us take our leave.

At Milan let me hear from thee by letters

Of thy success in love, and what news else

Betideth here in absence of thy friend; [60]

And I likewise will visit thee with mine.

P

RO.

All happiness bechance to thee in Milan!

V

AL.

As much to you at home! and so, farewell. [ exit.

P

RO.

He after honour hunts, I after love:

He leaves his friends to dignify them more;

I leave myself, my

Reviews for The Two Gentlemen of Verona

[birdie.newborn · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Not your usual Shakespeare play, but worthy.

[audreya2 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Though it seems rather presumptuous to criticize Shakespeare, The Two Gentlemen of Verona is not one of the Bard's greatest works. Though an enjoyable read with some truly humorous moments and one particularly beautiful bit of verse (III.i.170-187), the end is hastily tied together and the characters very unbelievable. Still, as one of Shakespeare's earliest works, it is an interesting look at his development as a playwright.

[alanwpowers · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

When I taught Shakespeare, I would often start with TGV, on the second class myself doingLaunce and his dog Crab, along with removable shoes, a cane--and for a couple years, our English Sheepdog Ugo. The first year he did okay, the second year he headed fro the classroom door, to leavefor a treat from my wife who drove him there. The Launce scenes really take a pro with the props and the stage business: taking off one's shoes,demonstrating the sad scene of parting by designating one of the shoes for each parent etc, meanwhile reprimanding the dog fro being unsentimental. An added tincture of interest for me was the play's MIlan references: Ugo came from Milan,where my daughter has lived for many years.

[amerynth · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

While "The Two Gentlemen of Verona" is not considered one of William Shakespeare's greatest works, I still found it to be a pretty enjoyable play. It was one of the bard's earlier comedies so much of it is used again later in this other, stronger works.The story follows Proteus and Valentine, two gentlemen who fall in love with ladies and troubles ensue. There is the typical Shakespeare disguise thrown in for good measure too.This play is pretty readable and was fairly amusing. The ending was kind of forced and wrapped everything up a little too prettily, but other wise I liked this one.

[dinadansfriend · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

One rates Shakespeare plays to acknowledge that in art, there are varying responses to the same work. For the drama, "Is this the right director and cast, are the costumes correct, did the spirit of the author's original intent come through?" there's a different set of criteria for single poems, or paintings. Some modest thoughts follow. This is early Shakespeare, and quite readable, but a test bed for a lot of better stuff that came later. Not many famous quotes/clichés in this one, but a workable script.Read seven times.

[bookworm12_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

This is an interesting play in the world of Shakespeare, though not one of his strongest. It is assumed to be one of his first plays. It has one of his smallest casts and it contains one of the biggest jerks in the whole of Shakespearean literature. The two gentlemen of the title are Valentine and Proteus, best friends living in Verona. One of the two, Proteus, is deeply in love with a woman named Julia. The other, Valentine, is sent to Milan at his father’s bidding, where he falls in love with the Duke’s daughter, Silvia. The horrid Proteus follows Valentine and despite swearing his undying love to Julia, he quickly falls in love with Silvia. Not only is he betraying Julia with this infatuation, he is betrays his best friend. He is a selfish and horrible man and it’s hard to understand why Julia would remain true to him. My favorite scene in the play is between Julia and Silvia. The women find common ground where Silvia expresses her disgust with Proteus for abandoning the woman he swore to love. She had no idea that she was telling this to that same woman and it touches Julia deeply. The play shares a dozen similarities with Shakespeare’s later work. It has a woman following the man she loves and meeting him in disguise when he falls for someone new from All’s Well That Ends Well. It has Thurio, a useless lover picked by the girl’s family ala Paris from Romeo and Juliet. It also has a bit from Twelfth Night with a woman pretending to be the male servant of the man she loves. These elements don’t work well together to make a great play, but each bit is an interesting plot point that is used more successfully in a later play. BOTTOM LINE: This play is definitely a precursor to some of the great work that came later, but it doesn’t have the strongest plot. It contains hilarious puns and beautiful lines. Unfortunately the flip-flopping Proteus’ happy ending is not satisfying to audiences and the play is rarely preformed live. “She is mine own, And I as rich in having such a jewel As twenty seas, if all their sand were pearl, The water nectar, and the rocks pure gold.” 

[mariannem85-1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

One of my favorite comedies.

[girl_detective · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

It’s easy to see it’s one of Shakespeare’s earliest. The prose and poetry aren’t as polished, and it prefigured many of his later, better plays in some of the phrasing, and the cross-dressing of a female character in love. Its ending is neatly tied up, though surprising in some of the particulars, like a threat of rape and an overquick, overgenerous forgiveness. For completists, or in anticipation of a production, which is why I read it.

[therebelprince · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Essential scholarly edition of this early Shakespeare play.