SOURCE: Morse, Ruth. “Two Gentlemen and the Cult of Friendship.” Neuphilologische Mitteilungen 84, no. 2 (1983): 214-24.

In the following essay, Morse explores the antipathy between male friendship and romantic love dramatized in The Two Gentlemen of Verona.

The Two Gentlemen of Verona is widely agreed to be the least satisfying of Shakespeare's early comedies.¹ It abounds in inconsistencies to the point where scholars have wondered (with more than usually convincing evidence) if the surviving text represents a revision of an earlier play or a play composed in two stages.² In addition to the problems with which critics have dealt, there is one which has received no attention: Shakespeare's combination of two traditional plots. Surely some explanation is necessary for the innovation whereby Proteus falls in love with his friend's mistress although he is quite satisfactorily provided for already. In the only possible parallel case, Romeo's passion for Rosaline is clearly...