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The Two Gentlemen of Verona (Shakespeare Project Lecture III) (Patreon)

Published:
2023-02-03 17:59:54
Imported:
2026-06
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Content

Our tour through the works of William Shakespeare continues with The Two Gentlemen of Verona, which is a strong contender for the bard's weakest play.

Topics of discussion include: the emergence of Elizabethan theatre, Shakespeare's source material, transformation, inconstancy, originality, cruelty, friendship, and much more.

Timestamps:

  • 0:00 Shakespeare’s weak plays
  • 2:30 Christoper Marlowe’s influence
  • 4:40 the emerging Elizabethan theatre
  • 8:00 studying popular entertainment
  • 10:00 on the first audiences
  • 12:37 The Taming of the Shrew
  • 15:00 grading & reviewing the plays
  • 16:23 cruelty in Shakespeare
  • 17:30 Shakespeare’s source material
  • 19:00 light works in dark times
  • 21:00 The Two Gentlemen of Verona
  • 22:40 Shakespeare’s exercise book
  • 23:40 Emerson, Shakespeare & originality
  • 26:40 Shakespeare’s thematic preoccupations
  • 28:00 transformation in Shakespeare
  • 32:00 Shakespeare’s women
  • 34:10 male youth & friendship
  • 35:00 the story of this play
  • 37:00 on the inconstancy of man
  • 39:00 the ending of this play
  • 42:00 friendship in Shakespeare
  • 44:00 Launce and Crab
  • 49:30 the verdict for this play
  • 50:40 your thoughts on this play?

Recommended Resources:

  • Film Appreciation: I highly recommend you treat yourself to a viewing of the 1998 film Shakespeare In Love, co-written by Tom Stoppard, with a star-studded cast. It gives a superb sense of Shakespeare around this time period, shortly before he would begin penning his great works. The Two Gentlemen of Verona makes an amusing appearance, and we get a sense that Will wasn't too pleased with it.
  • Shakespeare & Originality: Emerson has a splendid essay on Shakespeare that is well worth reading on Gutenberg here or in beautiful Library of America hardback here.  
  • The Shape of Stories: Kurt Vonnegut has a funny and insightful lecture on the shape of stories, which is available to enjoy here. 
  • Audiobook Recommendation: The Arkangel dramatisations of Shakespeare are some of the most consistently reliable and enjoyable, and they do a fantastic job with this rather lacklustre play. 

Questions for You:

1) What line, passage, or idea from this play most resonated with you?

2) What would Shakespeare's reputation be if only the three plays we've studied so far had survived? 

3) How did you feel about the writing, characters, and story? What is your personal grading for this work?

Happy reading, Bardolators!

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Comments

Sarah Clark

OK, the plotting is solid (maybe even more so than Shrew), and I actually think it's the funniest of the three. (Lance's commentary makes up for a multitude of sins elsewhere in the play.) I also think Shakespeare does a better job of getting his deeper point across than in Shrew. The characters are well-formed as well (yes, Proteus and Valentine are a bit two-dimensional, but I think that's intentional based on the sarcastic title). So this should be my favorite of the three we've read so far, right? Wrong, for two simple reasons. Shrew was trying to say something somewhat complex about women's power and how it could most effectively be wielded in that world, even though the theme wasn't communicated very clearly aside from Kate's speech at the end. Verona communicated it's theme (Young men are immature, irrational, self-obsessed idiots) clearly and with good humor, but that moral isn't news to anyone other than young men of the type being depicted. More importantly, Shrew stuck the landing, but Verona didn't. At the end of Taming of the Shrew we can see in Kate and Petruchio a match of, if not equals in the current sense, at least two strong people who complement each other. You can believe there might be a happily ever after for them. On the other hand, Two Gentlemen of Verona should have ended with Julia decking Proteus. Honestly Sylvia could do better too considering it took like 30 seconds and a weak apology from Proteus for Valentine to forgive his "beloved's" attempted rapist. As to the other questions: If Shakespeare retired after this play, Shrew might have lived, but even that would be iffy. Best passage? Lance's monologue about Crab that opens Act 4, Scene 4. Easily the most loving relationship in the play. Grade: C-. Second place, but only because CoE was next-to-unreadable for me. Current Rankings: Taming of the Shrew: C Two Gentlemen of Verona: C- Comedy of Errors: D (bumped down from C-)

Rachel Brown

Joining this late but my grade C. I actually enjoyed it better than the first two. I found it much more readable and as others mentioned, the servants roles were the best. The play went along at a good pace and there were moments that were comedic in the sense that - what the heck is going on and why are these people so terrible - yes, the ending is disturbing. If these were the only plays we heard of from the Bard, we certainly wouldn’t be studying him at all. Looking forward to the next plays!