What happens in The Two Gentlemen of Verona

Shakespeare wrote The Two Gentlemen of Verona very early in his career, possibly even before he went to London. It’s a short play full of, for him, early-career clumsiness. The ending is sudden and not very believable, and that’s saying a lot for a writer who once ended a play by having a statue come to life. There is a truly appalling scene involving a near rape followed by the intended victim’s boyfriend offering to give her to the would-be rapist. Give. Like an old coat. Critics have expla...

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Published on March 26, 2018 12:39
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message 1: by Iona (new)
Mar 27, 2018 09:08AM

Iona Whishaw It's true that we can hardly look at anything now, but with our modern eye! They say it is truly impossible to actually understand the world view of someone anywhere in the past because we cannot escape our overlays of modern sensibility. It makes writing historical fiction challenging...It is why I write nothing before the late 1800's because my mother, who was born in 1912, still embodied some of those early attitudes.
But Elizabethan England...the place of women in society and the attitudes are beyond really being able to understand...I think we have plenty of idea about how women were disrespected, but I confess, I'd be curious to know in what way they were actually respected, in what ways they could wield power. Enjoyable synopsis!


message 2: by Skye (new)
Mar 27, 2018 06:04PM

Skye Thank you for reading! Good points and ones you have done far more research on than I. I'm reading Richard 3 at the moment, which is so realistic, and was just noticing how modern the social power structures are. Almost like very little has changed…


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