SOURCE: "Two Gentlemen and the Cult of Friendship," in Neuphilologische Mitteilungen, Vol. LXXXIV, No. 2, 1983, pp. 214-24.

In this essay, Morse contends that The Two Gentlemen of Verona dramatizes the tension between male friendship and love, especially between Proteus and Valentine.

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...