Book
The Two Gentlemen of Verona
First published 1623
Valentine leaves Verona for Milan while his friend Proteus initially remains behind with Julia. After joining Valentine, Proteus falls in love with Valentine’s beloved Silvia and betrays both his friendship and his earlier commitment to Julia, who has followed him in disguise.
The action moves between courtly society and a forest inhabited by outlaws, allowing loyalty and desire to be repeatedly tested. As one of Shakespeare’s early comedies, the play experiments with devices that recur throughout his work—disguise, letters, divided friendship and mobile young lovers—while its abrupt reconciliation leaves the consequences of Proteus’s behaviour deliberately difficult for modern readers.
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