The two
gentlemen in question are
Valentine and Proteus – though (perhaps) there is an unintended irony in the title, as
Proteus is anything but. If anything, Sir Eglamour and (even) the naïve Sir Thurio come across as much more gentlemanly in their conduct.
The story revolves around the love lives of two friends,
Valentine and Proteus. Julia is beloved of Proteus, and Silvia is beloved of Valentine. Of Proteus, it is said:
His words are bonds, his oaths are oracles;
His love sincere, his thoughts immaculate;
His tears pure messengers sent from his heart;
His heart as far from fraud as heaven from earth. But one look at Silvia, and Proteus is prepared to forsake his friendship (to Valentine) and his lady love (Julia). In fact, he is prepared to go much further – he schemes to have his longtime friend banished from Milan, and he betrays Sir Thurio’s trust to further his own suit in love. He is false to his lady love, his friend, and his colleagues; but, above all, he is false to himself and to his own ideals. Ideals that he cherishes, and ideals that he has grown up with...
At times, Speed and Launce (the servants of Valentine and Proteus respectively) appear to be much wiser than their masters.
Though they do provide comic relief – in the form of (unintended) puns and double-entendre – and are thus dubbed “fools”, there is no blemish to their character.
The ending (Act V of the play) is rather brief and somewhat weak. Valentine and Proteus are reconciled – much against the entire run of the play. Surely, Proteus deserved a worse fate than mere censure for his actions; this is quite unlike vintage Shakespeare, where much worse has befallen his characters for much less. Perhaps, the playwright may have felt that The Two Gentlemen of Verona is essentially a love story, and that public censure suffices for crimes of the heart.
A short comment would not be out of place about Julia’s relationship with Proteus. Though Julia is aware that Proteus has set his eyes on Silvia, and betrayed her affections, she is willing to take him back. Perhaps, this is the era (seventeenth century England) speaking as much as Shakespeare. Though Shakespeare’s women are free to pursue their loves, they are subservient to their men-folk nonetheless. In that sense, the play serves as an interesting (social) commentary on the playright and the times he wrote in.