The Two Gentlemen of Verona

The Two Gentlemen of Verona is an early comedy about two friends, Valentine and Proteus, whose loyalty is tested when they fall for the same woman. It may be the first play Shakespeare wrote.

Main characters

• Valentine, a young gentleman of Verona
• Proteus, his friend
• Julia, beloved of Proteus
• Silvia, daughter of the Duke of Milan
• Launce, Proteus's servant, and his dog Crab
• Speed, Valentine's servant
• The Duke of Milan
• Thurio, a foolish rival suitor

Plot summary

This summary gives away the ending.

Valentine leaves Verona to see the world at the court of Milan, teasing his friend Proteus for staying at home for love of Julia. Soon Proteus's father sends him to Milan too. There Valentine has fallen for Silvia, the Duke's daughter, and the two lovers plan to elope. Proteus, the moment he sees Silvia, forgets Julia entirely, betrays Valentine's plan to the Duke and has his friend banished.

Valentine is captured by outlaws in the forest and, impressed by his bearing, they make him their leader. Julia, meanwhile, disguises herself as a page called Sebastian and follows Proteus to Milan, only to find herself employed by him to carry love tokens to Silvia. When Silvia flees to find Valentine, everyone ends up in the forest. Proteus tries to force himself on Silvia; Valentine intervenes, Proteus repents, and in a notoriously abrupt moment Valentine offers to give Silvia up to him. Julia's disguise is revealed, Proteus returns to her, and the play ends with a double wedding in prospect.

Themes

• Friendship against romantic love
• Inconstancy and forgiveness
• Disguise, especially a woman dressed as a boy
• Courtly manners set against comic servants

Famous lines

They do not love that do not show their love.

Julia, Act 1 Scene 2

Who is Silvia? what is she, That all our swains commend her?

Song, Act 4 Scene 2

More in our collection of famous Shakespeare quotes.

Sources

The love plot draws on Jorge de Montemayor's Spanish prose romance Diana (1559), probably known through a French translation or a lost English play.

On stage and screen

It is rarely staged compared with the later comedies, but it is prized for Launce and his dog Crab, one of the few scripted animal roles in Shakespeare, and for trying out ideas he returned to later: the heroine disguised as a boy, the escape to the forest and the betrayed friendship.

See where The Two Gentlemen of Verona sits in Shakespeare's career on the timeline, or read about the playhouses it was written for.