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Two Gentlemen of Verona

Role: Julia
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by Elaine Matlock
Two Gentlemen of Verona
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. The 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 the audience 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 ever found 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.

Two Gentlemen of Verona leads one to consider whether you would honor friendship above love. Is friendship equal to love or not? Is friendship less important than love? Or is friendship merely less intense? Can you experience both with the same person?

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