TWO GENTLEMEN OF VERONA, THE - 2 CASSETTES

The eponymous "two gentlemen" in question--Valentine and Proteus--are in love with, respectively, Silvia and Julia. Despite the promise of constancy made to Julia by Proteus, while he is away assisting his friend Valentine he also falls for Silvia. Thwarting their elopement plans, Proteus attempts to manipulate the circumstances to win the girl, losing the friendship of Valentine in the process. True to the conventions of comedy, though, all is set right between the friends and the lovers before the curtain falls. One of Shakespeare's first forays into comedy, 'Two Gentlemen of Verona' is not among his most accomplished works, although his later skill in drawing comic portraits is foreshadowed here. Shakespeare found precedent in the friendship between Valentine and Proteus in Boccaccio's Decameron, in the popular verse circulating in England at the time. 'Two gentlemen of Verona' has been held up as Shakespeare's first composition, but there is no proof, other than the immaturity of his voice, to confirm this assertion. In any case, it was certainly written prior to 1598, when it was mentioned in a list of works.