Summary
In prison, Arcite and Palamon decide not to lament their state and to find joy in the fact that they are imprisoned together. They pledge loyalty and friendship to one another.
These vows are immediately dashed, however, when they see Emilia walking in the garden beneath their prison cell and immediately both fall in love with her. They quickly turn from friends to enemies, each dedicated to earning Emilia's hand.
Eventually, Theseus frees Arcite but banishes him from Athens. Arcite does not abide by Theseus's orders and remains in Athens anyway.
After overhearing from a group of countrymen about the upcoming May Day games celebration, Arcite decides to compete in the games in disguise and earn Theseus's favor as a means of getting closer to Emilia.
His plan works, and Theseus assigns Arcite to be Emilia's servant and invites him on a hunting excursion.
Meanwhile, the jailer's daughter has fallen in love with the still-imprisoned Palamon. She devises a plan to help free Palamon from prison in an effort to make him love her back.
She gets Palamon safely to the woods, where she tells him to wait for her to come back so she can remove his shackles. Palamon, however, immediately wanders off into the woods.
Analysis
Act Two of the play presents audiences with two extremes: intimate, loving friendship and sworn mortal enemies. Ironically, both of these extremes are exhibited by Palamon and Arcite within minutes of each other.
At first, their imprisonment is a chance for them to strengthen their bonds with one another and reinforce their friendship. Arcite even tells Palamon that their relationship is a refuge against the prison, and that they cannot despair while they have each other.
Upon seeing Emilia, however, these expressions of love and loyalty disappear comically fast, as the cousins decide that not only is their friendship over, but they are also now each other's enemy. The swiftness of this change – the trope of "love at first sight" imbued with negative consequences – comments on the absurdity of this literary convention. With so many poets and playwrights dramatizing "love at first sight" as an all-powerful experience, The Two Noble Kinsmen showcases how this trope has become irrational and fodder for comic plots.
Alongside this central plot of Arcite and Palamon vying for Emilia's hand is another subplot about romantic love: the jailer's daughter's endless pursuit of Palamon. This subplot can be read as both tragic and comic given the unrequited love experienced by the daughter, but it is likely that it is meant to serve as a lighthearted counterpart to the increasingly serious conflict between Palamon and Arcite.
This plot stands in stark contrast to the central love plot, most notably because it features a woman doggedly pursuing a man while the more traditional plot features not one but two men striving to attain an as-yet oblivious woman's affections. In portraying a woman's unrelenting pursuit of a man, the play comments on the over-the-top nature of the original love plot by comparing the characters' willingness to go to extreme lengths – like breaking someone out of prison or competing in May Day games in disguise – to secure the attention of somebody they have never formally met.
