*Shakespearean Facepalm* Reading Shakespeare’s The Two Gentlemen of Verona
Yeah look. When you’ve published dozens of plays, some of them are probably gonna be a bit dogshit. That’s a bit harsh actually, as The Two Gentlemen of Verona is not terrible, but perhaps comes off as one of the weakest in Shakespeare’s repertoire. There are a few reasons for this:
There are glaring inconsistencies in the story
Sometimes we jump from Mantova, sometimes to Padova even though things are happening in the same space. But this is a small misdemeanor, as the inconsistencies run through the plotlines. Case in point: One time Valentine is allowing Proteus to have his way with Silvia any way he wants, the next he takes Silvia wholeheartedly after the Duke deems that he is a deserving suitor. The fact that Valentine offered his beloved to his traitor mate is a glaring inconsistency in itself. And what the fuck happened to that worthy Sir Eglamour who just ran away at the face of trouble?
Yes, at some point in time, Shakespeare would demand more of the readers for these massive ass plot jumps. But there are too many here and regretfully not too far in between that the play is jerkier than beef jerky from 7/11.
The play is considered to be incomplete
The inconsistencies mentioned above is perhaps due to the fact that it has not been fully revised by the Bard, and perhaps during his lifetime was never performed. It is possible that the play had finished as a mere draft in the backlog of Shakespeare’s folio rather than something that he would proudly show to his men so that they can rehearse it immediately.
The play is not very original
In fact, most of the story is borrowed from La Diana from The Seven Books of Diana, almost play by play. it is difficult to be original and most playwrights will need to borrow here and there. But short of plagiarising, Shakespeare perhaps did indeed borrow a little too much from Diana, from the characters, the themes of the play, even the cross-dressing element of the play.
It is speculated to be one of Shakespeare’s earliest plays
The play is Shakespeare stretching his playwrighting muscles, warming up before the other marathons which like Kipchoge he would be better known for. It is prerequisite to the push and pull comedy in The Taming of the Shrew, where the conflict of the characters were scantily delivered in witty passive aggressive manner; Julia’s pretence to take up the mantle of a man will later resurface in The Twelfth Night and As You Like It; the themes of betrayal and human frailty to their passions will be ever prominent in many of his later plays (think Othello, The Merchant of Venice, Macbeth).
Yes, The Two Gentlemen of Verona was experimental, but it is Shakespeare running a zone 2 to build up his speed for race day later on in his career.
Oh yeah, forgot about the plot summary. Here you go.
I won’t spend too much time on this, and as I won’t go too much into the themes and context of the play, I’d keep it short. Also so I can start writing my next review and get on with my life (I do feel like my reading life is a bit on hold if it’s stopped by a book(s) left unreviewed).
The two gentlemen are Valentine and Proteus, the first about to embark on an adventure to Milan and about to start his career, the second is the so-called faithful friend who unbeknowst to him, will also follow his friend’s footsteps to Milan mainly due to fomo. Valentine is betrothed to Silvia, Proteus to Julia. The trouble starts when Proteus followed Valentine, but fell in love with Silvia and completely forgot that he was in love with Julia.
Silvia’s dad, the duke of Milan, isn’t too happy with all these shenanigans where Valentine can chase any tail in town but decides on his daughter’s tail instead. The duke tries to set Silvia up with old man Thurio, who’s not that great of a looker but he’s got pretty important estates in town. Proteus, now bewitched by Silvia’s beauty after having met her for thirty seconds, decided to dob his mate to the Duke, set up a courting session on behalf of Thurio for Silvia, and in the said courting session, professes his own love to Silvia.
In the meantime, Valentine got booted out of Milan by the Duke, and in a sheer luck of the draw became the king of bandits just outside of town. Silvia obviously disgusted by Proteus’ sneaky way decided to leave town. And in the woods of Milan we come to an awkward resolution where Valentine gets the girl anyway. Julia, still a bit sore of Proteus’s being a dodgy cunt, forgives him but will put him on a short leash later, metaphorically and in all likelihood, physically also.
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Are they teaching this play in high school? If they are, then I feel sorry for any of the students who’d need to dig deep through this inconsistent muck of a play and are supposed to write about it for their university entrance exam. They should just stick with Macbeth. That play’s pretty alright hey.
I don’t believe that The Two Gentlement of Verona is widely read and for good reason. Yet, it does not tarnish Shakespeare’s good name as David Fincher did when he directed Alien 3, and yes we quickly forgot about that anomaly. Instead, we get to see a glimpse of Shakespeare’s processes and growth before he became an absolute fucking beast. So by this argument alone, yes it is worth reading, like any work in the Shakespearean repertoire.
