Shakespeare Read A Long.
I even have a page to color in my Shakespeare coloring book.
LOVE IS BLIND
(pictured above)
For he was more than over-shoes in love.
(Proteus, Act 1 Scene 1)
I have no other, but a woman’s reason:
I think him so because I think him so.
(Lucetta, Act 1 Scene 2)
They do not love that do not show their love.
(Julia, Act 1 Scene 2)
You, minion, are too saucy.
(Julia, Act 1 Scene 2)
O hateful hands, to tear such loving words;
Injurious wasps, to feed on such sweet honey
And kill the bees that yield it, with your stings!
I’ll kiss each several paper for amends.
(Julia, Act 1 Scene 2)
O, how this spring of love resembleth
The uncertain glory of an April day,
Which now shows all the beauty of the sun,
And by and by a cloud takes all away.
(Proteus, Act 1 Scene 3)
I’ll be as patient as a gentle stream,
And make a pastime of each weary step,
Till the last step have brought me to my love,
And there I’ll rest, as after much turmoil,
A blessed soul doth in Elysium.
(Julia, Act 2 Scene 7)
That man that hath a tongue, I say is no man,
If with his tongue he cannot win a woman.
(Valentine, Act 3 Scene 1)
Love is like a child
That longs for every thing that he can come by.
(Duke, Act 3 Scene 1)
And why not death, rather than living torment?
To die is to be banished from myself;
And Silvia is myself: banished from her,
Is self from self. A deadly banishment:
What light is light, if Silvia be not seen?
What joy is joy, if Silvia be not by?
(Valentine, Act 3 Scene 1)
She dreams on him that has forgot her love,
You dote on her that cares not for your love.
‘Tis pity love should be so contrary:
And thinking on it makes me cry ‘Alas’.
(Julia, Act 4 Scene 4)
O heaven, were man
But constant, he were perfect.
(Proteus, Act 5 Scene 4)
The Two Gentlemen of Verona is one of Shakespeare’s earliest plays and also one of the most rarely performed. It’s about betrayal, love and disguise.
The Two Gentlemen of Verona tells the story of two devoted friends, Valentine and Proteus. Valentine leaves their home city of Verona for Milan, but Proteus, in love with Julia, stays behind. Then Proteus’s father sends him to Milan, too. Before leaving, Proteus pledges his love to Julia.
In Milan, Valentine and the duke’s daughter, Sylvia, are in love. Proteus, on arriving, falls in love with Sylvia at first sight. He reveals to the duke that Sylvia and Valentine plan to elope, and Valentine is banished. Meanwhile, Proteus’s earlier love, Julia, assumes a male disguise and travels to Milan.
The banished Valentine meets outlaws and becomes their leader. Sylvia, in search of Valentine, is seized by his outlaws. Proteus rescues her and then, when she spurns him, tries to rape her. Valentine stops the rape, but out of friendship offers to yield Sylvia to Proteus. Julia, however, reveals her identity, regaining Proteus’s love. Two weddings are planned: Valentine with Sylvia, and Proteus with Julia.
I very much enjoyed this. I am disheartened by the antismitism in this. I know it is there in Shakespeare, but to see in it print is always a slap. Whether it was common speech or turn of phrase, it’s vile.
