Two Gentlemen of Verona

“VALENTINE. To be in love, where scorn is bought with groans,

Coy looks with heart-sore sighs, one facing moment’s mirth

With twenty watchful, weary tedious nights.”

Shakespeare sets up Valentine’s metamorphosis from cynic to lover by establishing his disdain for romantic devotion in the opening act in which he teases Proteus for loving Julia. In this passage, he implies that love isn’t worth the effort: Women scorn heartfelt affection, and any fleeting successes are outweighed by a number of lonely nights. The idea of buying scorn and coy looks demonstrates his transactional attitude toward love.

“PROTEUS. Thou, Julia, thou has metamorphosed me,

Made me neglect my studies lose my time,

War with good counsel, set the world at naught;

Made wit with musing weak, heart sick with thought.”

Although Proteus defends lovers in his debate with Valentine, he privately suggests that his love for Julia is ruining his life. He says that Julia has transformed him: Because of her, he is neglecting his studies, ignoring the good advice of others, and generally rejecting the world. The final line suggests that thoughts of her are not only making him heartsick but also weakening his wit, or his sense of self.

“JULIA. His little speaking shows his love but small.

LUCETTA. Fire that’s closest kept burns most of all.

JULIA. They do not love, that do not show their love.

LUCETTA. O, they love least that let men know their love.”

Like Valentine and Proteus, Julia and her maid, Lucetta, also disagree about the nature of love. This passage suggests that Lucetta’s age and experience have made her cynical about elaborate proclamations of love, while Julia wants her lover to be vocal about his feelings.