Two Gentlemen of Verona (Bard to the Bone #12)

Year written: 1594

Context of the writing (Shakespeare’s career, political events it was responding to): 

Possibly his first play? Or first comedy, anyway.

Plot in a paragraph: Valentine and Proteus are bezzies. Valentine heads to Milan and falls in love with the Duke’s daughter, Silvia. Proteus wanted to stay in Verona and woo Julia, but his dad turfed him to Grow Up.  Proteus falls in lust at first sight with Silvia (not reciprocated) and cock-blocks Valentine, whom he gets exiled. Valentine becomes leader of a gang of outlaws (obvs). Meanwhile, Julia, dressed as a boy, comes looking for Proteus in Milan, and is there when he woos Silvia, unsuccessfully. In the forest, Silvia meets the outlaws, is almost raped by Proteus who is then… forgiven?  WTAF. No, srsly, WTAF.

Things that worked well: The scenes with Julia and Silvia

Things that didn’t work well: The forgiveness shown to Proteus, who is a weapons-grade asshole

Favourite character: Julia, Silvia

Words I learnt: 

Word	Definition
Beadsman	Beadsman – a pensioner provided for by a benefactor in return for prayers, especially one living in an almshouse.
Testerened	Testerened (intransitive) to prepare one’s will(transitive) to leave or divide (one’s belongings) by means of a will
Vesture	Vesture – clothing, dress
Farthingale	Farthingale – A farthingale is one of several structures used under Western European women’s clothing – especially in the 16th and 17th centuries – to support the skirts in the desired shape and to enlarge the lower half of the body. The fashion originated in Spain in the fifteenth century. Farthingales served important social and cultural functions for women in Renaissance Europe as they expressed, primarily when worn by court women, high social position and wealth
Froward	Froward – (of a person) difficult to deal with; contrary.
Allycholly	Allycholly –  malapropism for ‘melancholy‘
Halidom	Halidom – something held sacred
Trencher	Trencher –  a thick slice of bread used as a primitive form of plate for eating and for slicing meat (hence its derivation from “trancher”—to cut, or carve), but by the 14th century a square or circular wooden plate of rough workmanship.
Postern	Postern – a back or side entrance.
Testern	Testern  give a sixpence [tester] as a tip

Lines worth knowing: 

Act scene lines	Character	Lines	Comment
1,1,8	Valentine	Wear out thy youth in shapeless idleness
2, 7, 72	Lucetta	All these are servants to deceitful men	(about people’s pledges etc  – men wanting to get inside your pants etc)
4, 143	Third outlaw	The fury of ungoverned youth
4,1,3		Make a virtue of necessity	First use? No – Chaucer- , including The Canterbury Tales – the Knight’s Tale
5,3,3	Silvia	A thousand more mischances than this one Have learned me how to brook this patiently

Marc’s entirely subjective verdict and score out of 5 bards (ymmv): 2

Will I be tracking down movies of this? :  no.

How far would I travel to see a good production of this? If it’s not in Stone.

Unless of course someone does a feminist retelling with either

1. Last scene somehow excised (Charlies’ Angels)
2. Redone with Valentine beating the living shit out of Proteus on general principles (“don’t rape people”) and then expecting good guy tokens from Silvia, who laughs in his face and elopes with Julia….

Limericks

It just isn’t Valentine’s day

From Verona he makes out his way 

He loves the young Jules

Her dad Proteus fools 

To the woods for exposure they stray

AND

Valentine and Proteus are bros

The latter is on ev’ry nose

By actions so odious

We learn about Proteus

But then Val, he says “bros before hos”

AND

Valentine and Proteus are rich

And given to many a switch

Neither is “gentle”

Prot’s all “repent”le

But he ought to be dead in a ditch

AND

Young Proteus claims he has class

But is lying and rapey- an ass

If you think he’s repented

Then you’re clearly demented

But STILL he is given a lass.

UPDATE

What other people think:

xxx

Books/chapters/articles I might try to track down: 

Xx

Podcasts and their contents

Date	Podcast	Episode title	Topic	Length	Score out of ten (ymmv)	Comments
	No Holds Bard	No Holds Bard: NHB 141 – So You’re Going To See THE TWO GENTLEMEN OF VERONA		33	9
	Approaching Shakespeare	The Two Gentlemen of Verona | University of Oxford Podcasts			10