Plot Synopsis:
Valentine and Proteus, two young men of Verona, are the best of friends, inseparable until Valentine decides to leave for the court of the Duke of Milan. Once there, he falls passionately in love with Silvia, daughter of the Duke, who loves him in return. Proteus, meanwhile, is ordered to Milan by his father, and reluctantly bids his beloved Julia farewell before setting out. Once in Milan, however, Proteus becomes enamored with Silvia, and schemes to have her for himself… even though it requires him to betray his best friend. As he sets out to woo Silvia, Julia arrives in Milan, disguised as a boy, and is shocked to discover Proteus in love with another woman. The action culminates in a confrontation between Valentine and his deceitful friend, but in the end, forgiveness and true love emerge triumphant.
Characters:
Valentine - A young man of Verona, he chides his friend Proteus for loving Julia, until he himself falls in love with Silvia. Although not the brightest of men, he is nevertheless a steadfastly honest friend to Proteus and a devoted lover to Silvia.
Proteus - Best friend to Valentine, he is committed to loving Julia, until he lays eyes on Silvia, Valentine’s girlfriend. Desiring to possess Silvia at any cost, he betrays Valentine’s elopement plan to Silvia’s father, the Duke, who promptly banishes Valentine. With the main competition out of the way, Proteus sets out to make Silvia his.
Julia - A lady of Verona, she initially feigns non-interest in Proteus, but later admits that she loves him, and even follows him to Milan disguised as a boy. She cannot believe it when she finds Proteus in love with Silvia, but, her feelings for him unchanged, she nonetheless takes a job as a pageboy for her inconstant lover.
Silvia - Daughter to the Duke of Milan, she falls in love with the kind-hearted Valentine when he comes to her father’s court. Strong-willed and not easily manipulated, she is determined to remain with Valentine despite his banishment and Proteus’ machinations.
Speed - Servant to Valentine, he/she remains at his/her master’s side when he goes to Milan and when he is exiled from the Duke’s court. He/she is far more intelligent than his/her somewhat dense master, but is often late for meetings.
Launce - Servant to Proteus, he accompanies his master to Milan with his dog Crab, to whom he delivers several humorous and moving monologues. He often comments on his master’s questionable actions with a biting and hilarious wit.
Duke of Milan - Silvia’s father, he is generous and considerate to Valentine, but he would rather see his daughter marry the wealthy Thurio, and thus banishes Valentine when he discovers the young lovers’ elopement plan.
Lucetta - Julia’s maidservant and confidant, she fashions breeches for Julia to wear when she travels to Milan disguised as a boy.
Antonio - Father to Proteus, he sends his son to join Valentine in Milan, hoping that it will enrich the young man’s mind.
Panthino - Servant to Antonio, he advises his master to send Proteus to Milan, believing that travel will be beneficial to him.
Thurio - A wealthy but foolish suitor to Silvia, he is favoured by her father the Duke, but Silvia herself has no interest in him. Neither Proteus nor Valentine consider him a serious rival for Silvia’s hand.
Eglamour - A knight who helps Silvia escape from the Duke’s palace in Milan, but runs away at the first sign of trouble.
Host/Hostess - An innkeeper who lodges Julia when she comes to Milan disguised as "Sebastian". He/she attempts to cheer her up with a song devoted to Silvia, but it only serves to make Julia even more unhappy.
Three Outlaws - They have been banished by society and live in the wild. When they encounter the exiled Valentine, he helps to restore their lost morality, and they make him their captain.
1.
JULIA
Nay, would I were so anger'd with the same!
O hateful hands, to tear such loving words!
Injurious wasps, to feed on such sweet honey
And kill the bees that yield it with your stings!
I'll kiss each several paper for amends.
Look, here is writ 'kind Julia.' Unkind Julia!
As in revenge of thy ingratitude,
I throw thy name against the bruising stones,
Trampling contemptuously on thy disdain.
And here is writ 'love-wounded Proteus.'
Poor wounded name! my bosom as a bed
Shall lodge thee till thy wound be thoroughly heal'd;
And thus I search it with a sovereign kiss.
But twice or thrice was 'Proteus' written down.
Be calm, good wind, blow not a word away
Till I have found each letter in the letter,
Except mine own name: that some whirlwind bear
Unto a ragged fearful-hanging rock
And throw it thence into the raging sea!
Lo, here in one line is his name twice writ,
'Poor forlorn Proteus, passionate Proteus,
To the sweet Julia:' that I'll tear away.
And yet I will not, sith so prettily
He couples it to his complaining names.
Thus will I fold them one on another:
Now kiss, embrace, contend, do what you will.
2.
PROTEUS
To leave my Julia, shall I be forsworn;
To love fair Silvia, shall I be forsworn;
To wrong my friend, I shall be much forsworn;
And even that power which gave me first my oath
Provokes me to this threefold perjury;
Love bade me swear and Love bids me forswear.
O sweet-suggesting Love, if thou hast sinned,
Teach me, thy tempted subject, to excuse it!
At first I did adore a twinkling star,
But now I worship a celestial sun.
Unheedful vows may heedfully be broken,
And he wants wit that wants resolved will
To learn his wit to exchange the bad for better.
Fie, fie, unreverend tongue! to call her bad,
Whose sovereignty so oft thou hast preferr'd
With twenty thousand soul-confirming oaths.
I cannot leave to love, and yet I do;
But there I leave to love where I should love.
Julia I lose and Valentine I lose:
If I keep them, I needs must lose myself;
If I lose them, thus find I by their loss
For Valentine myself, for Julia Silvia.
I to myself am dearer than a friend,
For love is still most precious in itself;
And Silvia--witness Heaven, that made her fair!--
Shows Julia but a swarthy Ethiope.
I will forget that Julia is alive,
Remembering that my love to her is dead;
And Valentine I'll hold an enemy,
Aiming at Silvia as a sweeter friend.
I cannot now prove constant to myself,
Without some treachery used to Valentine.
This night he meaneth with a corded ladder
To climb celestial Silvia's chamber-window,
Myself in counsel, his competitor.
Now presently I'll give her father notice
Of their disguising and pretended flight;
Who, all enraged, will banish Valentine;
For Thurio, he intends, shall wed his daughter;
But, Valentine being gone, I'll quickly cross
By some sly trick blunt Thurio's dull proceeding.
Love, lend me wings to make my purpose swift,
As thou hast lent me wit to plot this drift!
3.
LAUNCE
I am but a fool, look you; and yet I have the wit to
think my master is a kind of a knave: but that's
all one, if he be but one knave. He lives not now
that knows me to be in love; yet I am in love; but a
team of horse shall not pluck that from me; nor who
'tis I love; and yet 'tis a woman; but what woman, I
will not tell myself; and yet 'tis a milkmaid; yet
'tis not a maid, for she hath had gossips; yet 'tis
a maid, for she is her master's maid, and serves for
wages. She hath more qualities than a water-spaniel;
which is much in a bare Christian.
Pulling out a paper
Here is the cate-log of her condition.
'Imprimis: She can fetch and carry.' Why, a horse
can do no more: nay, a horse cannot fetch, but only
carry; therefore is she better than a jade. 'Item:
She can milk;' look you, a sweet virtue in a maid
with clean hands.
4.
PROTEUS
Sebastian, I have entertained thee,
Partly that I have need of such a youth
That can with some discretion do my business,
For 'tis no trusting to yond foolish lout,
But chiefly for thy face and thy behavior,
Which, if my augury deceive me not,
Witness good bringing up, fortune and truth:
Therefore know thou, for this I entertain thee.
Go presently and take this ring with thee,
Deliver it to Madam Silvia:
She loved me well deliver'd it to me.
JULIA
It seems you loved not her, to leave her token.
She is dead, belike?
PROTEUS
Not so; I think she lives.
JULIA
Alas!
PROTEUS
Why dost thou cry 'alas'?
JULIA
I cannot choose
But pity her.
PROTEUS
Wherefore shouldst thou pity her?
JULIA
Because methinks that she loved you as well
As you do love your lady Silvia:
She dreams of him that has forgot her love;
You dote on her that cares not for your love.
'Tis pity love should be so contrary;
And thinking of it makes me cry 'alas!'
PROTEUS
Well, give her that ring and therewithal
This letter. That's her chamber. Tell my lady
I claim the promise for her heavenly picture.
Your message done, hie home unto my chamber,
Where thou shalt find me, sad and solitary.
5.
Enter SILVIA, attended
JULIA
Gentlewoman, good day! I pray you, be my mean
To bring me where to speak with Madam Silvia.
SILVIA
What would you with her, if that I be she?
JULIA
If you be she, I do entreat your patience
To hear me speak the message I am sent on.
SILVIA
From whom?
JULIA
From my master, Sir Proteus, madam.
SILVIA
O, he sends you for a picture.
JULIA
Ay, madam.
SILVIA
Ursula, bring my picture here.
Go give your master this: tell him from me,
One Julia, that his changing thoughts forget,
Would better fit his chamber than this shadow.
JULIA
Madam, please you peruse this letter.--
Pardon me, madam; I have unadvised
Deliver'd you a paper that I should not:
This is the letter to your ladyship.
SILVIA
I pray thee, let me look on that again.
JULIA
It may not be; good madam, pardon me.
SILVIA
There, hold!
I will not look upon your master's lines:
I know they are stuff'd with protestations
And full of new-found oaths; which he will break
As easily as I do tear his paper.
JULIA
Madam, he sends your ladyship this ring.
SILVIA
The more shame for him that he sends it me;
For I have heard him say a thousand times
His Julia gave it him at his departure.
Though his false finger have profaned the ring,
Mine shall not do his Julia so much wrong.
JULIA
She thanks you.
SILVIA
What say'st thou?
JULIA
I thank you, madam, that you tender her.
Poor gentlewoman! my master wrongs her much.
SILVIA
Dost thou know her?
JULIA
Almost as well as I do know myself:
To think upon her woes I do protest
That I have wept a hundred several times.
SILVIA
Belike she thinks that Proteus hath forsook her.
JULIA
I think she doth; and that's her cause of sorrow.
SILVIA
Is she not passing fair?
JULIA
She hath been fairer, madam, than she is:
When she did think my master loved her well,
She, in my judgment, was as fair as you:
But since she did neglect her looking-glass
And threw her sun-expelling mask away,
The air hath starved the roses in her cheeks
And pinch'd the lily-tincture of her face,
That now she is become as black as I.
SILVIA
How tall was she?
JULIA
About my stature; for at Pentecost,
When all our pageants of delight were play'd,
Our youth got me to play the woman's part,
And I was trimm'd in Madam Julia's gown,
Which served me as fit, by all men's judgments,
As if the garment had been made for me:
Therefore I know she is about my height.
And at that time I made her weep agood,
For I did play a lamentable part:
Madam, 'twas Ariadne passioning
For Theseus' perjury and unjust flight;
Which I so lively acted with my tears
That my poor mistress, moved therewithal,
Wept bitterly; and would I might be dead
If I in thought felt not her very sorrow!
SILVIA
She is beholding to thee, gentle youth.
Alas, poor lady, desolate and left!
I weep myself to think upon thy words.
Here, youth, there is my purse; I give thee this
For thy sweet mistress' sake, because thou lovest her.
Farewell.
Exit SILVIA, with attendants
JULIA
And she shall thank you for't, if e'er you know her.
6.
SPEED
O jest unseen, inscrutable, invisible,
As a nose on a man's face, or a weathercock on a steeple!
My master sues to her, and she hath
taught her suitor,
He being her pupil, to become her tutor.
O excellent device! was there ever heard a better,
That my master, being scribe, to himself should write
the letter?
VALENTINE
How now, sir? what are you reasoning with yourself?
SPEED
Nay, I was rhyming: 'tis you that have the reason.
VALENTINE
To do what?
SPEED
To be a spokesman for Madam Silvia.
VALENTINE
To whom?
SPEED
To yourself: why, she wooes you by a figure.
VALENTINE
What figure?
SPEED
By a letter, I should say.
VALENTINE
Why, she hath not writ to me?
SPEED
What need she, when she hath made you write to
yourself? Why, do you not perceive the jest?
VALENTINE
No, believe me.
SPEED
No believing you, indeed, sir. But did you perceive
her earnest?
VALENTINE
She gave me none, except an angry word.
SPEED
Why, she hath given you a letter.
VALENTINE
That's the letter I writ to her friend.
SPEED
And that letter hath she delivered, and there an end.
VALENTINE
I would it were no worse.
SPEED
I'll warrant you, 'tis as well:
For often have you writ to her, and she, in modesty,
Or else for want of idle time, could not again reply;
Or fearing else some messenger that might her mind discover,
Herself hath taught her love himself to write unto her lover.
All this I speak in print, for in print I found it.
Why muse you, sir? 'tis dinner-time.
VALENTINE
I have dined.
SPEED
Ay, but hearken, sir; though the chameleon Love can
feed on the air, I am one that am nourished by my
victuals, and would fain have meat. O, be not like
your mistress; be moved, be moved.
7.
PROTEUS
Sirrah, I say, forbear. Friend Valentine, a word.
VALENTINE
My ears are stopt and cannot hear good news,
So much of bad already hath possess'd them.
PROTEUS
Then in dumb silence will I bury mine,
For they are harsh, untuneable and bad.
VALENTINE
Is Silvia dead?
PROTEUS
No, Valentine.
VALENTINE
No Valentine, indeed, for sacred Silvia.
Hath she forsworn me?
PROTEUS
No, Valentine.
VALENTINE
No Valentine, if Silvia have forsworn me.
What is your news?
LAUNCE
Sir, there is a proclamation that you are vanished.
PROTEUS
That thou art banished--O, that's the news!--
From hence, from Silvia and from me thy friend.
VALENTINE
O, I have fed upon this woe already,
And now excess of it will make me surfeit.
Doth Silvia know that I am banished?
PROTEUS
Ay, ay; and she hath offer'd to the doom--
Which, unreversed, stands in effectual force--
A sea of melting pearl, which some call tears:
Those at her father's churlish feet she tender'd;
With them, upon her knees, her humble self;
Wringing her hands, whose whiteness so became them
As if but now they waxed pale for woe:
But neither bended knees, pure hands held up,
Sad sighs, deep groans, nor silver-shedding tears,
Could penetrate her uncompassionate sire;
But Valentine, if he be ta'en, must die.
Besides, her intercession chafed him so,
When she for thy repeal was suppliant,
That to close prison he commanded her,
With many bitter threats of biding there.
VALENTINE
No more; unless the next word that thou speak'st
Have some malignant power upon my life:
If so, I pray thee, breathe it in mine ear,
As ending anthem of my endless dolour.
PROTEUS
Cease to lament for that thou canst not help,
And study help for that which thou lament'st.
Time is the nurse and breeder of all good.
Here if thou stay, thou canst not see thy love;
Besides, thy staying will abridge thy life.
Hope is a lover's staff; walk hence with that
And manage it against despairing thoughts.
Thy letters may be here, though thou art hence;
Which, being writ to me, shall be deliver'd
Even in the milk-white bosom of thy love.
The time now serves not to expostulate:
Come, I'll convey thee through the city-gate;
And, ere I part with thee, confer at large
Of all that may concern thy love-affairs.
As thou lovest Silvia, though not for thyself,
Regard thy danger, and along with me!
VALENTINE
I pray thee, Launce, an if thou seest my boy,
Bid him make haste and meet me at the North-gate.
PROTEUS
Go, sirrah, find him out. Come, Valentine.
VALENTINE
O my dear Silvia! Hapless Valentine!
