The Two Gentlemen of Verona

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1. ACT 1.

   In Verona, the two friends part: Valentine sets off to see the world at the Duke of Milan's court, teasing the homebound, lovesick Proteus. Julia, courted by Proteus, coyly tears up and then pieces back together his love-letter. Proteus's father Antonio decides to send his idle son to Milan too — just as Proteus has won a letter back from Julia.

   1. Scene 1 — Verona. An open place

      Valentine leaves for Milan, mocking his friend Proteus for staying behind 'to be in love.' Proteus's servant Speed and Valentine banter about a letter Speed carried to Julia, for which he got nothing.

   2. Scene 2 — THe same. The garden Of JULIA'S house.

      Julia asks her waiting-woman Lucetta which of her suitors to favour; when Lucetta delivers Proteus's letter, Julia tears it up in feigned disdain, then gathers and kisses the pieces, reading the lovers' names.

   3. Scene 3 — The same. A room in ANTONIO'S house.

      On Panthino's advice, Antonio resolves to send Proteus to the Duke's court at Milan to be schooled in the world. Proteus, who has just received a loving letter from Julia, must hide his dismay and obey.

2. ACT 2.

   At Milan, Valentine has himself fallen in love — with the Duke's daughter Silvia, who teasingly makes him write a love-letter to a 'friend' that is really for himself. Proteus and Julia exchange rings and vows before he leaves; Launce makes his farewell to his unfeeling dog Crab. But the moment Proteus reaches Milan and sees Silvia, he resolves to betray friend and love alike, while Julia plans to follow him disguised as a boy.

   1. Scene 1 — Milan. A room in the DUKE'S palace.

      Speed teases the now-lovesick Valentine, who fails to see that Silvia, by having him pen a love-letter to an unnamed friend, has cleverly made him write to herself.

   2. Scene 2 — Verona. A room in JULIA'S house.

      Proteus and Julia exchange rings and vows of constancy as he prepares to leave Verona for Milan.

   3. Scene 3 — The same. A street

      Launce, with his dog Crab, delivers his great comic monologue on leaving home: he stages the tearful family farewell using his shoes, his staff, and the tearless dog as stand-ins.

   4. Scene 4 — Milan. A room in the DUKE'S palace.

      At court Valentine and Thurio spar for Silvia's favour before the Duke. Proteus arrives; Valentine praises Silvia to him and confides their plan to elope. Left alone, Proteus admits he is already smitten with Silvia and feels his love for Julia melting away.

   5. Scene 5 — The same. A street

      In Milan, Launce and Speed joke about whether Proteus and Julia's match will hold, and about Launce's own love.

   6. Scene 6 — The same. The DUKE's palace.

      Proteus, alone, reasons himself into treachery: he will betray Valentine's elopement to the Duke and abandon Julia, since 'I to myself am dearer than a friend' and love of Silvia outweighs every oath.

   7. Scene 7 — Verona. A room in JULIA'S house.

      Back in Verona, Julia resolves to follow Proteus to Milan disguised as a page, and has Lucetta fit her with a boy's clothes, trusting in his constancy.

3. ACT 3.

   Proteus betrays Valentine's elopement plan to the Duke, who discovers the rope-ladder and banishes Valentine. With Valentine gone, Proteus pretends to help the foolish Thurio woo Silvia — by slandering Valentine to her and serenading her — all to win her for himself.

   1. Scene 1 — Milan. An anteroom in the DUKE'S palace.

      Tipped off by Proteus, the Duke traps Valentine, finds the rope-ladder and a love-letter to Silvia under his cloak, and banishes him on pain of death. Launce reads out the comic catalogue of his own sweetheart's virtues and faults while consoling the heartbroken Valentine.

   2. Scene 2 — The same. A room in the DUKE'S palace.

      The Duke and Thurio enlist the treacherous Proteus to turn Silvia against the banished Valentine; Proteus advises slander and a serenade — secretly meaning the wooing for himself.

4. ACT 4.

   Banished Valentine is captured by a band of gentleman-outlaws in the forest and made their leader. At Milan, Proteus serenades Silvia ('Who is Silvia?') as the disguised Julia looks on heartbroken; Silvia scorns his suit and his falseness. Silvia arranges to flee to Valentine with Sir Eglamour's help, while Julia, now Proteus's page, is sent to carry his ring to her rival.

   1. Scene 1 — A forest between Milan and Verona.

      Outlaws — themselves banished gentlemen — seize Valentine and Speed in the forest; impressed by Valentine, they make him their captain, on condition he does the band no wrong.

   2. Scene 2 — Milan. The sourt of the DUKE'S palace.

      Proteus has the musicians serenade Silvia with 'Who is Silvia?' The disguised Julia and the Host look on; Julia hears her love woo her rival. Silvia rebukes Proteus for his falseness to Valentine and to Julia.

   3. Scene 3 — The same.

      Silvia begs the courteous knight Sir Eglamour, himself mourning a dead love, to escort her in flight from Milan to find the banished Valentine.

   4. Scene 4 — The same.

      Launce despairs over Crab's misbehaviour at court. Proteus takes on the disguised Julia as his page 'Sebastian' and sends 'him' with his ring — the very ring Julia gave him — to Silvia. Silvia refuses it and pities the absent Julia, while Julia, in disguise, hears herself praised and wronged at once.

5. ACT 5.

   All parties converge on the forest. Silvia flees with Eglamour but is taken by the outlaws; Proteus rescues her, only to threaten to force her when she still refuses him. Valentine intervenes; Proteus repents; Valentine offers to yield Silvia to him; the disguised Julia faints and reveals herself, recalling Proteus to his first love. The Duke, captured by the outlaws, pardons everyone, and two marriages are promised.

   1. Scene 1 — Milan. An abbey

      Silvia meets Eglamour at the friar's cell and they flee the city together.

   2. Scene 2 — The same. A room in the DUKE'S palace.

      Thurio, Proteus, and the disguised Julia tell the Duke of Silvia's flight, and all set off in pursuit toward the forest.

   3. Scene 3 — Frontiers of Mantua. The forest.

      The outlaws capture Silvia (Eglamour having fled) and bring her toward their captain.

   4. Scene 4 — Another part of the forest.

      In the forest Proteus rescues Silvia from the outlaws, then, enraged by her continued scorn, threatens to force her — until Valentine steps out and denounces him. Proteus repents at once; Valentine, moved, offers him 'all that was mine in Silvia.' The page 'Sebastian' swoons and is revealed as Julia, recalling Proteus to his first love. The Duke, brought in captive, pardons Valentine and the outlaws and blesses both couples.

Characters

• Valentine protagonist

  One of the two gentlemen of Verona, who leaves for the Duke's court at Milan to 'see the wonders of the world' and there falls genuinely in love with the Duke's daughter Silvia. Constant and idealistic, he is betrayed by his friend Proteus, banished, and made captain of a band of forest outlaws. In the startling final scene, believing Proteus repentant, he offers 'All that was mine in Silvia I give thee' — a gesture of extreme male friendship that has troubled readers ever since.

• Proteus antagonist

  The other 'gentleman,' named for the shape-changing sea-god — fittingly, since he proves utterly inconstant. Devoted to Julia in Verona, he no sooner reaches Milan than he falls for his friend Valentine's beloved Silvia, betrays Valentine to the Duke, and abandons Julia. His pursuit of Silvia ends in an attempted assault in the forest (5.4), interrupted by Valentine; he repents at once and is forgiven and reunited with the disguised Julia. The play presents his treachery and abrupt redemption as a problem, not a model.

• Julia major

  A lady of Verona, beloved of Proteus. After tearing up and then kissing his love-letter, she follows him to Milan disguised as a page-boy, 'Sebastian,' and ends up carrying his love-tokens to her rival Silvia and hearing his betrayal at first hand. Loyal and resourceful, she reveals herself only at the close. The prefix is always 'JULIA.'; 'Sebastian' is her disguise-name (a different character from the Sebastian of Twelfth Night).

• Silvia major

  The Duke of Milan's spirited daughter, beloved of Valentine and pestered by the wealthy fool Thurio (her father's choice) and the treacherous Proteus. Witty and steadfast, she helps plan her elopement with the banished Valentine, flees with the help of Sir Eglamour, and is seized by outlaws and then by Proteus in the forest. She has almost no lines in the play's troubling final scene.

• Speed supporting

  Valentine's quick-tongued, punning page, a stage 'clown' who mocks his master's lovesickness and trades nimble wordplay (he reads the comic catalogue of a milkmaid's virtues and vices). His name fits his ready wit, if not always his errands.

• Launce supporting

  Proteus's servant, a slow, good-hearted clown famous for his monologues to his unresponsive dog, Crab — 'the sourest-natured dog that lives.' He describes weeping the whole family's farewell with his shoe and staff as stand-ins, and takes the blame (and the whipping) for Crab's misdeeds at court. His earthy, blundering humour counterpoints the play's high romance.

• Crab minor

  Launce's dog — a silent, non-speaking role, but the object of two of Shakespeare's funniest monologues. Launce complains that Crab shed no tear at their parting and disgraced him by misbehaving under the Duke's table, for which Launce took the punishment. Often counted the most scene-stealing animal part in the canon.

• Lucetta supporting

  Julia's shrewd waiting-woman, who teases her mistress about her suitors, delivers Proteus's letter, and watches Julia tear it up only to gather the pieces. Worldly and affectionate, she helps Julia plan her boy's disguise and warns, drily, of men's inconstancy.

• Duke of Milan supporting

  Silvia's father, who intends her for the rich fool Thurio and, tipped off by the treacherous Proteus, discovers and foils Valentine's plan to elope by rope-ladder — banishing him from Milan. He is reconciled to Valentine at the end and consents to the marriage.

• Thurio supporting

  A rich, foolish, cowardly rival to Valentine for Silvia, favoured by the Duke for his wealth. He hires musicians to serenade Silvia ('Who is Silvia?') with the help of Proteus, who is secretly wooing her himself. At the end he renounces his claim the moment Valentine threatens him, exposing his hollowness.

• Antonio minor

  Proteus's father, who on his servant Panthino's advice decides to send his idle son to the Duke's court at Milan to be schooled in the world — the decision that launches the plot. (A different character from the several other Antonios in Shakespeare.)

• Panthino minor

  Antonio's servant, who urges his master to send Proteus to court and later hurries Launce to the ship so his master will not be left behind.

• Host minor

  The kindly host of the inn where the disguised Julia lodges in Milan. He takes 'Sebastian' to overhear Proteus's serenade of Silvia, and falls asleep during the very scene in which Julia's heart breaks.

• Eglamour minor

  A courtly gentleman who, himself mourning a dead love, agrees to help Silvia escape Milan to seek the banished Valentine. He guides her flight but flees when the outlaws attack, leaving her taken.

• First Outlaw minor

  One of the band of banished gentlemen turned forest outlaws who capture Valentine and, impressed by him, make him their captain. They live in the greenwood 'as the old Robin Hood,' on a code that spares women and the poor.

• Second Outlaw minor

  A second of the forest outlaws, himself banished (he says) for a stabbing, who helps recruit Valentine to lead the band.

• Third Outlaw minor

  A third of the banished outlaws, who lists the crimes that drove the band to the greenwood and swears Valentine in as their leader.

• Outlaw minor

  An unnumbered member of the outlaw band, who cries 'A prize, a prize!' as the outlaws bring in the captured Duke and Thurio in the final scene.

• Servant minor

  A servant in the Duke's household at Milan who announces the arrival of suitors and messengers.

• Musicians ensemble

  The hired musicians who perform the serenade 'Who is Silvia? What is she' beneath Silvia's window (4.2), set on by Thurio but turned by Proteus to his own secret wooing while the disguised Julia looks on heartbroken.

Cross-references

• Folger Shakespeare
• MIT plain text
• Wikipedia