1441300 1623 Shakespeare. Two Gentlemen. Two Leaves.
10227.
Two Gentlemen of Verona. First Folio. 1623.
First Printing. Two Leaves. Comedies 27-28, 33-34.
Two gentlemen tells the story of two best friends who for different reasons wind up leaving Verona and pursuing interests in the world. Valentine goes off simply for adventure and seeing the world. Proteus wants to stay behind to woo his girlfriend Julia but his father says no and packs him off in a different direction. They both wind up going to Milan where Valentine falls in love with the Duke’s daughter, Silvia. It then turns out that Proteus is also smitten with Sylvia and complications ensue. Proteus is quite clearly the villain in this story as he lies and connives his way into wooing Silvia.
The first two page fragment is pivotal in that among other things it shows Proteus’ decision to deceive his friend and run off with Sylvia before Valentine has the opportunity to woo her. Proteus deceives the Duke, Silvia’s father, as well and from this point on the plot thickens as the two of them compete for Silvia’s love. In the meantime, Julia, whom Valentine had vowed to return to and marry is worried about what he’s doing over in Milan so she disguises herself as a boy Sebastian and goes to spy on him. This is Shakespeare’s use of a woman disguising herself as a man, a device he will repeatedly employ in his comedies.
In the second fragment Julia, disguised as a boy, arrives in Milan and overhears that her boyfriend Proteus has been seeing Silvia frequently and has apparently been wooing her. She decides to show up at the Duke’s tower, where the other two have intended to meet. Complexities ensue and very gradually the comedy becomes quite dark with Proteus insinuating that if Silvia does not give in to him he will rape her ("I'll force thee yield to my desire"), but at this point, Valentine intervenes and denounces Proteus.. Eventually the lovers all resolve their difficulties, the gentlemen reunite, Valentine with Julia and Proteus with Silvia.
Before that happens the second segment reveals one of the funniest scenes in all of Shakespeare: a monologue between a man and his dog. Lancelot Gobbo has a dog named Crab that for an awful lot of burlesque and pantomime he tells the story of why Crab hasn’t really worked out that well for him. It’s a wonderful showpiece for an actor that never fails to enchant an audience.
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