Many books have assembled facts, reasonable suppositions, traditions, and speculations concerning the life and career of William Shakespeare. Taken as a whole, these materials give a rather comprehensive picture of England’s foremost dramatic poet. Tradition and sober supposition are not necessarily false because they lack proved bases for their existence. […]
Read more William Shakespeare BiographySummary and Analysis Act V: Scene 4
Summary A solitary Valentine muses on his present condition: Here can I sit alone, unseen of any, And to the nightingale’s complaining notes Tune my distresses and record my woes. (4–6) Abruptly interrupted by the spectacle of his friend Proteus in hot pursuit of Silvia, Valentine doubts his very senses: […]
Read more Summary and Analysis Act V: Scene 4Summary and Analysis Act V: Scenes 1-3
Summary Eglamour and Silvia flee to the forest, where she is captured by the outlaws. As they take her away to their captain (Valentine), she exclaims: ‘O Valentine, this I endure for thee.” Meantime, a session in which Proteus advises Thurio on his progress with Silvia is interrupted by the […]
Read more Summary and Analysis Act V: Scenes 1-3Summary and Analysis Act IV: Scenes 3-4
Summary Silvia entreats Eglamour to accompany her to Mantua, where Valentine is currently living. Eglamour has suffered a loss in love himself (his “true love died”), so he is touched when Silvia bids him “think upon my grief, a lady’s grief.” They are to meet in the evening at Friar […]
Read more Summary and Analysis Act IV: Scenes 3-4Summary and Analysis Act IV: Scenes 1-2
Summary Valentine and Speed are accosted by an honorable band of thieves who are so impressed by the travelers’ noble demeanor that they not only spare their lives, but offer Valentine the generalship of their gang. By the bare scalp of Robin Hood’s fat friar, This fellow were a king […]
Read more Summary and Analysis Act IV: Scenes 1-2Summary and Analysis Act III: Scene 2
Summary Thurio has had a very difficult time of wooing Silvia since Valentine’s banishment, so the Duke solicits Proteus’s aid. Duke: What might we do to make the girl forget The love of Valentine, and love Sir Thurio? Proteus: The best way is to slander Valentine With falsehood, cowardice, and […]
Read more Summary and Analysis Act III: Scene 2Summary and Analysis Act III: Scene 1
Summary After Proteus betrays Valentine to the Duke (“Thus, for my duty’s sake, I rather chose/To cross my friend in his intended drift”), the Duke fully satisfies himself that his daughter is indeed planning to elope with the Veronese gentleman instead of marrying the wealthy merchant, Thurio. He perpetrates a […]
Read more Summary and Analysis Act III: Scene 1Summary and Analysis Act II: Scene 7
Summary Julia asks Lucetta’s advice once again: How, with my honor, I may undertake A journey to my loving Proteus? (6–7) Lucetta’s counsel is conventional, and in such comedies conventionally ignored by her mistress: I do not seek to quench your love’s hot fire, But qualify the fire’s extreme rage, […]
Read more Summary and Analysis Act II: Scene 7Summary and Analysis Act II: Scenes 5-6
Summary Speed welcomes Launce to Padua. (Since they are in Milan he may be teasing the other servant, taking him for a fool.) Speed inquires “how did thy master part with Madam Julia?” The two then bandy the topic about in the customary lewd fashion for “low” characters: Launce: Marry, […]
Read more Summary and Analysis Act II: Scenes 5-6Summary and Analysis Act II: Scene 4
Summary At Silvia’s instigation, two of her suitors, Thurio and Valentine, engage in verbal fisticuffs to cull her favor. The level of debate is not particularly high: Silvia: What, angry, Sir Thurio! Do you change color! Valentine: Give him leave, Madam; he is a kind of chameleon. Thurio: That hath […]
Read more Summary and Analysis Act II: Scene 4