TWO GENTLEMEN OF VERONA Exercises by Fran Teague  HOME  To open an excellent search engine, press here.

In this play the word "change" is important, as is "metamorphosis." You can also look up all the words that begin with "friend." With most search engines you can look up a phrase like "true love," as well. Explain why these words and phrases are especially important in the play.

Look up the meaning of Proteus's name. How does that name fit in? What about other character names?

By entering the appropriate speech prefix (e.g., Jul for Julia), you can look at all of a character's speeches. (Some search engines will allow you to do a second search, or you can simply read carefully through the examples your first search produces.) Look for the pronouns "thou" and "you" to find out if there's any consistency in the way a particular character uses the familiar pronoun (thou) and the formal (you). Remember that an employer would use the familar form to a servant, who would respond with the formal pronoun; but lovers, friends, and family members also use the familiar. The formal may be used to express respect; you would use it in addressing a superior, for example, as well as a person of equal rank to whom you do not feel close. So when you look at the terms that Julia uses, what sorts of patterns do you find? Where do her relationships to other characters alter?

To look at a play's important imagery, you might search for key terms. In Two Gentlemen of Verona such terms might include song, tune, and music, for example. Why would such terms be useful for a reader of this play to notice?

Another interesting image pattern is that relating to letters (and punning on "letter"). Try devising a way to get at that information: use such words as letter, ink, writ*, nam*, and so on. For a full critical analysis of the play's use of letters, see chapter four of Jonathan Goldberg's Voice Terminal Echo.

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