In Book 2, Chapter 11, Elyot says that friendship makes "two persons one in having and suffering. This idea echoes a common sixteenth-century idea made famous by Thomas Elyot's The Book Named the Governor. At the same time, the phrase "I know him as myself" also suggests that Proteus and Valentine are like two halves of the same being. When Proteus says, "I know him as myself," he means to suggest that he knows Proteus as well as he knows himself. According to Valentine, the guys have known each other since they were babies and have spent their entire lives together. When the Duke of Milan asks about Proteus's character, Valentine says, "I know him as myself, for from our infancy/ We have conversed and spent our hours together" (2.4.62-63). It's pretty clear that Valentine also feels the same way about his BFF. Check out how sweet Proteus is when Valentine sets out for Milan: "Wilt thou be gone? Sweet Valentine, adieu./ Think on thy Proteus" when you're away (1.1.11-12). At the beginning of Two Gentlemen, Proteus and Valentine are best buds. Let's think about the importance of male friendship in the play.
Still, we can try to understand why Valentine and Julia forgive Proteus by thinking about the play's themes of male friendship and transformation.įirst things first. So why is his horrible behavior forgiven at the play's end? Well, we're not quite sure – the sequence of events in the final scene is pretty bizarre. OK, Proteus sounds like a pretty bad guy. He has no trouble being two-faced as he betrays his best friend and he lies to just about everyone he knows. Like the shape-shifting sea god he shares his name with, Proteus is pretty erratic and changeable, don't you think? He falls in and out of love (with women and his best friend) as often as some people change clothes, and he's also pretty crafty and deceptive. When he's confronted, he undergoes a sudden and miraculous transformation, which prompts him to make up with Valentine and fall back in love with Julia. He's supposed to be Valentine's best friend and Julia's sweetie, but after he falls for Valentine's girlfriend, he stabs his BFF in the back and tries to rape Silvia.
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