Throughout the Project, we’ve discussed the use of prose and how it differs from the use of verse. We’ve discussed the use of verse for heightened language and prose for the more mundane (the more, well, prosaic), and of course there’s always that nobility = verse//commoners = prose thing.
But how does it work within The Two Gentlemen of Verona?
Scene | Prose/Verse | Notes |
---|---|---|
I.i | opens in verse | Valentine and Proteus upper/middle class |
shift to prose on Speed’s entrance | lower class/clowns | |
I.ii | all verse | Julia and Lucetta even though Lucetta is Julia’s waitingwoman, Lucetta is NOT a clown and so the verse seems logical |
I.iii | all verse | Antonio, Panthino, and Proteus though Panthino is Antonio’s servant, Panthino is not a clown |
II.i | opens in prose | Valentine and Speed Speed clowning in prose |
shift to verse on Silvia’s entrance | Silvia is the daughter of the Duke of Milan (thus aristocratic) | |
shift to prose on Silvia’s exit | a return to Speed’s clowning
Speed recites a poem in verse, but the words are Silvia’s (written in fourteeners, no less) |
|
II.ii | all verse | Julia and Proteus upper/middle class |
II.iii | all prose | Panthino and Launce two servants, one a clown (no prosaic surprise here) |
II.iv | opens in prose | Silvia, Thurio, and Valentine (plus, for about seven lines, Speed) There’s really no reason this should be prose, given the social status… or is there a hierarchical thing working here, since… |
shift to verse on Duke’s entrance | verse = nobility | |
II.v | all prose | Speed and Launce both servants, both clowns, both clowning |
II.vi | all verse | Proteus soliloquy upper/middle class |
II.vii | all verse | Julia and Lucetta even though Lucetta is Julia’s waiting woman, Lucetta is NOT a clown and so the verse seems logical |
III.i | opens in verse | Duke, Thurio, Proteus, and Valentine nobility and upper/middle class |
shift to prose on Proteus/Launce’s entrance | Prosaic interaction between servant and two “upper”-classmen | |
return to verse on Proteus/Valentine focus | upper/middle class | |
shift to prose on Proteus/Valentine’s exit | Launce is joined by Speed both servants, both clowns |
|
III.ii | all verse | Duke, Thurio, and Proteus nobility and upper/middle class |
IV.i | all verse | Valentine, Speed and outlaws there are a few prosaic non-comic asides by Speed to Valentine |
IV.ii | all verse | Proteus, Thurio, and Silvia: upper/middle class a few prose asides between Julia (disguised as Sebastian–now lower class) and the “Host” (non-noble) |
IV.iii | all verse | Eglamour and Silvia a few prosaic lines at the end of the scene |
IV.iv | opens in prose | Launce soliloquy servant/clown (and dog… woof) |
shift to verse on Proteus’ entrance | upper/middle class some prose in the interaction between Proteus and Launce (master and lower class servant) |
|
V.i | all verse | Eglamour and Silvia upper/middle class |
V.ii | all verse | Duke, Proteus, Thurio upper/middle class with a few prosaic lines between Thurio and Proteus |
V.iii | all verse | Outlaws and Silvia here, too, like in IV.i, the outlaws speak in verse… could this be proof of Valentine’s description of them as being “endued with worthy qualities” (V.iv.154)? |
V.iv | all verse | all verse save for a few prosaic lines between Proteus and Julia/Sebastian BEFORE her revelation as Julia |
It all seems fairly routine, with no interesting anomalies… and without the interesting anomalies, there’s little interest…
sorry for wasting a day