Friendship
The Two Gentlemen of Verona begins with the parting of two best friends, Proteus and Valentine. This relationship serves as the backdrop against which the rest of the play is set, as the bond between Proteus and Valentine is tested throughout the play. Many critics agree that the play presents male friendship as the epitome of connection, and that the competition that arises between Proteus and Valentine (in their shared love for Silvia) represents the threat of heterosexual love to homosocial intimacy. Indeed, the end of the play suggests that friendship – specifically male friendship – should be honored above all else, as Valentine easily forgives Proteus for his betrayals and suggests that they have their weddings at the same time.
Romantic Love
Romantic love appears in The Two Gentlemen of Verona as a supremely powerful force that can catalyze transformation and competition. Silvia and Valentine are willing to doom themselves in order to preserve their love (and many scholars agree that their relationship is a precursor to the star-crossed lovers in Romeo and Juliet). Additionally, romantic love is presented as a threat or hindrance to the bonds of male companionship. When Proteus sees Silvia, he is so overtaken by his lust for her that he knowingly betrays his best friend in order to pursue her. In the various examples of romantic connection in the play, one can see Shakespeare developing what would become a well-known theme in the majority of his plays – the transformative, all-consuming, and at times dooming power of love.
Change and Transformation
The Two Gentlemen of Verona is often considered a precursor or "dress rehearsal" for some of Shakespeare's later plays, especially the comedies. In this play, one can observe Shakespeare laying the foundation of what would become a central tenet of his drama: the notion that transformation is revelatory rather than obfuscating. While the play suggests that love can literally transform a person into someone unrecognizable, it is also emphasizes how these transformations reveal more about a person's true character than their original self – or the way that other characters respond to a transformation (such as Proteus's reaction to Julia's revelation that she was Sebastian all along) reveals to that character something about themself that they never knew.
Sexual Violence
While there are no scenes of explicit sexual violence in the play, the threat of sexual assault looms in the background from the very beginning. Of course, the clearest example of these threats is when Proteus threatens to rape Silvia at the end of the play (even invoking the Greek myth of Philomena, who was raped Tereus) before Valentine intervenes. Additionally, Julia initially dresses as Sebastian in order to avoid advances from men on her journey to Milan, ensuring her safety in her travels. These threats are never brought to fruition, but the play establishes a structure in which women are constantly at risk of sexual violence and in need of upstanding men to protect and save them.
Gender
The play presents some traditional and patriarchal understandings of gender that were not uncommon in the sixteenth century. Throughout the play, male characters express their doubts and anxieties over female sexuality, suggesting over and over again that women are naturally fickle, deceptive, and unfaithful. It is important to note, however, that the two central female characters in the play – Julia and Silvia – are nothing but steadfast, loyal lovers of Proteus and Valentine, respectively. Thus, despite its patriarchal valence, the play seems to suggest that these misogynistic perceptions are extreme and unfounded. Finally, the play gestures toward the fluidity of gender altogether – as Shakespeare would become famous for in his later comedies – by allowing Julia to dress in drag in order to become closer to her beloved.
Betrayal and Deceit
As a comedy, The Two Gentlemen of Verona relies on the typical comic trope of a chaotic string of events catalyzed by misunderstanding and deception. Julia, for example, deceives everyone until the end of the play as she disguises herself as Sebastian in order to get closer to Proteus. Notably, Proteus's deceit is markedly more serious, as he betrays his best friend in order to steal the woman he loves. The play suggests that Proteus's betrayal is a grave one for which he must repent (likening the betrayal of male companionship to a religious sin), even going so far as to contrast the gravity of Proteus's betrayal of Valentine with his attempted rape of Silvia – another betrayal that is treated with far less severity.
Social Class
An important theme in virtually every early modern drama, social class takes on an interesting role in The Two Gentlemen of Verona. Of course, class distinctions are an important marker of identity for the well-to-do characters like the Duke, who chooses Thurio as his daughter's betrothed because of his wealth and status. Shakespeare also, however, uses the lower-class servant characters in the play as a means of commenting on the actions of the main, upper-class characters (a phenomenon that, at the time, was relatively novel in the theater). Launce, for example, showcases extreme loyalty and love for his dog, Crab, contrasting sharply with Proteus's fickle nature toward Julia. As such, while social class distinctions are apparent throughout, the play suggests that they are not a true indicator of a person's worth or moral character.