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Proteus loves Julia. Valentine loves Silvia. When Proteus meets Silvia, he falls for her too, and the heartbroken Julia sets out in pursuit. This delightful early comedy of love lost and found offers lyrical poetry, outlaws, farce, and a most unreliable dog. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (7)

3.5 compared to other Shakespeare
One of Shakespeare's earliest plays, "The Two Gentlemen of Verona" reflects the novice playwright's skills. Plotting weaknesses and anachronisms detract from the play. Still, there is a lot to love about this piece.
One of the play's greatest strengths is the character of Launce. He is one of the funniest clowns that I have read in Shakespeare, and the two monologues Shakespeare gives him are not only laugh out loud funny, and incredibly witty, they also have very touching and human elements. In performance this character would steal the show.
Being a young man when he wrote "Two Gentlemen" it is no wonder that the focus of the text is friendship between two young men, and how romance changes friendships. I wish Shakespeare had explored this theme more, but he does some decent things with it here through the characters of Proteus and Valentine (the gentlemen of the title). Proteus is a real piece of work and I don't understand why Valentine loves this man, but such is the nature of friendship and love. It rarely makes sense to observers of it.
A major weakness of the play is the ridiculously tidy and very quick ending in Act 5:4. Valentine catches his friend betraying him, and threatening rape of his betrothed, and he forgives him in less then a minute. Obviously unbelievable! The two main female characters (Silvia and Julia) are also underdeveloped, and frankly not that interesting. I imagine it would be quite hard for an actress to make them compelling, especially if she was playing Julia.
Still, "Two Gentlemen" is a delightful read and I am anxious to see it performed. It would be a fun evening. In giving this play 3 stars, I am comparing it against Shakespeare's other work, not against any other writer.
As for the Pelican Shakespeare series, they are my favorite editions as the scholarly research is usually top notch and the editions themselves look good as an aesthetic unit. It looks and feel like a play and this compliments the text's contents admirably. The Pelican series was recently reedited and has the latest scholarship on Shakespeare and his time period. Well priced and well worth it.

One of Shakespeare's most underrated
An honorable man banished to become a bandit leader while the rogue woos a woman who loves the honorable man.Proteus and Valentine have the truth of human nature that is the hallmark of the Bard's best work.

"The Two Gentlemen of Verona" was lively, moving, humorous, and cause for reflection (especially to a cynical old curmudgeon like your's truly).

Valentine's handling of the bandits, and his actions to give his bandit followers a second chance are the best in Shakespeare; acknowledgement of the flaws of humanity, an offer of redemption, and a good man risking his honor and reputation to do the right thing.

Proteus' role throughout is the best in Shakespeare; an ammoral man, seeing what is right and struggling with his true nature.

Julia's adventures in disguise are super, as she balances what she wants with what is right, while standing at arms reach from her heart's desire.

All the elements of the Bard's greatest work are here in this seldom performed script.Excellent stuff.

E.M. Van Court

The Archetype of Later Romantic Comedies
Although few would claim that Two Gentlemen of Verona is one of Shakespeare's greatest plays, it is well worth reading in order to serve as a reference for the best of his romantic comedies.In essence, Two Gentlemen of Verona gives you a measuring stick to see the brilliance in the best works.

The play has the first of Shakespeare's many brave, resourceful and cross-dressing heroines, Julia.

Shakespeare always used his fools and clowns well to make serious statements about life and love, and to expose the folly of the nobles.Two Gentlemen of Verona has two very fine comic scenes featuring Launce.In one, he lists the qualities of a milk maid he has fallen in love with and helps us to see that love is blind and relative.In another, he describes the difficulties he has delivering a pet dog to Silvia on his master, Proteus', behalf in a way that will keep you merry on many a cold winter's evening.

The story also has one of the fastest plot resolutions you will ever find in a play.Blink, and the play is over.This nifty sleight of hand is Shakespeare's way of showing that when you get noble emotions and character flowing together, things go smoothly and naturally.

The overall theme of the play develops around the relative conflicts that lust, love, friendship, and forgiveness can create and overcome.Proteus is a man who seems literally crazed by his attraction to Silvia so that he loses all of his finer qualities.Yet even he can be redeemed, after almost doing a most foul act.The play is very optimistic in that way.

I particularly enjoy the plot device of having Proteus and Julia (pretending to be a page) playing in the roles of false suitors for others to serve their own interests.Fans of Othello will enjoy these foreshadowings of Iago.

The words themselves can be a bit bare at times, requiring good direction and acting to bring out the full conflict and story.For that reason, I strongly urge you to see the play performed first.If that is not possible, do listen to an audio recording as you read along.That will help round out the full atmosphere that Shakespeare was developing here.

After you finish Two Gentlemen of Verona, think about where you would honor friendship above love, where equal to love, and where below love.Is friendship less important than love?Or is friendship merely less intense?Can you experience both with the same person?

Enjoy close ties of mutual commitment . . . with all those you feel close to!

An Interesting Stepping Stone
Many people would like to say that Shakespeare did not write this play. But this is hardly fair. Even with the world's finest writers such as Marlowe and Dickens, not every single thing they write can be a masterpiece. But what makes "The Two Gentleman of Verona" worthreading? Well,Shakespeare presents us with a valid theme. (Conflictsoften exist between romance and friendship.) There is also beautifullanguage. Launce and his dog offer some interesting comedy as well as abeautiful and memorable passage in 2.3. The scene where Valentine isaccepted amonst the outlaws is memorable. This is Shakespeare's first playwhere a woman (Julia) disuises herself as man to do some investigating. Itis also easy to see that several elements of this play were used in"Romeo and Juliet." To be sure, this is not a masterpiece like"The Comedy of Errors," "Richard III," or "KingLear." But it is still an good study that is worth some interest.

One of my favorite plays.
"The Two Gentlemen of Verona" is one of my favorite Shakespeare plays.Maybe that's because it's one of the only one's I understand.My youth Theatre did a wonderful production of this play. I was not in it, butI saw it twice.It was set in the 60's, peasant-shirted and bell-bottomed. I think it's a wonderful story, although a bit unrealistic because of allthe forgiveness that happens at the end of the play.But I think that it'sa play everyone should read.This edition of the play is, I think, a verygood one.If you are planning to buy a copy of "The Two Gentlemen ofVerona," I would advise you to buy the most current edidtion printedby the Folger Shakespeare Library.They have lots of information in thebook, and many definitions of the more difficult Elizabethian words. ... Read more

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Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA. Practical, pocket-sized guide to the sedation of children in the emergency department. For the resident and practitioner. Also outlines nursing guidelines for monitoring and discharging patients who have been sedated. Trim size: 6.5 x 4 inches. Previous edition: c1995. Softcover. ... Read more

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This digital document is an article from Florida Bar Journal, published by Florida Bar on November 1, 2008. The length of the article is 3732 words. The page length shown above is based on a typical 300-word page. The article is delivered in HTML format and is available immediately after purchase. You can view it with any web browser.

Citation Details
Title: Udder nonsense? The emerging issue of raw milk sales in Florida.(Legal Liability, part 2)
Author: Damian C. Adams
Publication: Florida Bar Journal (Magazine/Journal)
Date: November 1, 2008
Publisher: Florida Bar
Volume: 82Issue: 10Page: 41(4)

Distributed by Gale, a part of Cengage Learning ... Read more

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Chapters: Damian Cassidy, Fergal Doherty, Joe Cassidy, Joe Diver, Michael Mcgoldrick. Source: Wikipedia. Pages: 32. Not illustrated. Free updates online. Purchase includes a free trial membership in the publisher's book club where you can select from more than a million books without charge. Excerpt: Damian Cassidy (born 22 July 1965) is an Irish retired Gaelic footballer and currently a manager. He played for Derry in the 1980s and 1990s and was part of the county's 1993 All-Ireland Championship winning side, starting at left half forward. He also won two Ulster Senior Championship medals, three National League titles, and a range of under-age inter-county medals with the county. Cassidy played his club football for Bellaghy Wolfe Tones and won five Derry Championships and the 1994 Ulster Senior Club Football Championships with the club. For both club and county he usually played as a forward. Cassidy was also a talented hurler. Since retiring from playing football he has managed a number of teams. He guided home-club Bellaghy to success in the 2005 Derry Championship, and Tyrone club Clonoe O'Rahilly's to the Tyrone Championship in 2008. He is current manager of the Derry Senior and Under 21 teams. His brother Joe also played for Derry. Cassidy played the majority of his career in the forward line (corner forward for Bellaghy and half forward for Derry), but also had a spell in the half back line early in his career. Adrian McGuckin who coached him at St. Pat's, Maghera said he had a superb left foot and was very comfortable on the ball. GAA journalist and former Derry team-mate Joe Brolly said that despite the presence of many other great footballers at the time, Cassidy at his peak "was easily the best club footballer in Derry". Cassidy was part of the Derry Minor side that won the 1983 Ulster Minor and All-Ireland Minor Championships. Cassidy scored 2-03 (2 goals and 3 pointseach goal equals 3 points; 2 x 3 + 3 = 9 po...More: http://booksllc.net/?id=19176196 ... Read more