Synopsis for The Two Gentlemen of Verona
-from The Pocket Companion to Shakespeare’s Plays by J.C. Trewin

Valentine, seeking to be “tutor’d in the world,” goes with his servant Speed from Verona to Milan, saying goodbye to his friend Proteus. Presently, Proteus, enamored of Julia (as she is of him), is also ordered by his father to leave for Milan. There Valentine falls in love with the Duke’s daughter, Silvia; when Proteus arrives they tell him that because the Duke prefers a wealthier suitor, Thurio, they propose to elope.

Proteus, himself infatuated with Silvia, informs the Duke, who finds a rope ladder under Valentine’s cloak and banishes him. He becomes leader of a highly selective band of outlaws. Julia, who has followed Proteus disguised as a boy, hears Thurio’s musicians serenading Silvia with “Who is Silvia? What is she,/That all our swains commend her?” Proteus is listening and after Thurio has gone, he proclaims his love, which Silvia scorns, asking Sir Eglamour to conduct her to Valentine. Proteus, taking the disguised Julia (“Sebastian”) as his page, sends a message to Silvia who again rejects him.

The Duke pursues his escaping daughter and is captured by outlaws while she is rescued by Proteus. The watching Valentine attacks his treachery, then for a moment becomes all too magnanimous by giving up Silvia to him. Julia/Sebastian, swooning, reveals herself, the outlaws bring in the Duke who pardons them, and there is a correct pairing-off.