《维洛那二绅士》是英国剧作家威廉·莎士比亚创作的戏剧，是一部喜剧，首次出版于1623年。
剧作主要通过意大利维洛那城二绅士的故事，反映爱情和友谊的主题，字里行间充满了乐观精神，渗透着文艺复兴时期英国现实生活的浓厚气息，闪烁着人文主义理想的光芒。
维洛那青年凡伦丁决定前往米兰，以觅求自己的财路。而他的朋友普洛丢斯为了接近恋人朱利娅，则打算留在维洛那。凡伦丁的仆人史比德为普洛丢斯送情书给朱利娅，朱利娅收到后，傲慢、蔑视，将其撕个粉碎，但之后又煞费苦心地拼凑碎片，给普洛丢斯回了一封信——但普洛丢斯刚被父亲告知，他也必须动身前往米兰。这样，普洛丢斯和朱利娅就不得不分开了。普洛丢斯与仆人史比德带着郎斯的爱犬克来勃刚一离开维洛那，朱利娅就女扮男装，匆忙前去追赶。
再说在米兰，普洛丢斯发现凡伦丁爱上了当地公爵的女儿西尔维娅。但公爵希望女儿嫁给修里奥，于是西尔维娅和瓦伦丁准备私奔。而普洛丢斯被西尔维娅的美貌所打动，也开始追求她。他向公爵泄漏了两人私奔的计划，结果公爵放逐了凡伦丁。此后，凡伦丁被一伙强盗劫持，被迫当了他们的首领。普洛丢斯安排修里奥对西尔维娅唱小夜曲《西尔维娅伊何人》，接着亲自向她求爱。此时装扮成男孩“西巴斯辛”的朱利娅做了普洛丢斯的侍童，并无意中听到了这事。面对普洛丢斯派她送戒指给西尔维娅、还要替普洛丢斯表白爱意，她悲痛欲绝。西尔维娅告诉“西巴斯辛”，她为朱利娅感到非常难过。
在年迈的爱格勒莫爵士的帮助下，西尔维娅逃进了森林。公爵、修里奥、普洛丢斯以及“西巴斯辛”穷追不舍。西尔维娅被强盗抓获，普洛丢斯冒险将她救出。他要求公爵同意他娶西尔维娅为妻，以作为回报。然而，凡伦丁（目睹了这一切）怒斥普洛丢斯，使他羞愧万分。此时，“西巴斯辛”昏厥过去，普洛丢斯一眼认出她是自己一直真正爱恋的朱利娅。修里奥拒绝为争夺西尔维娅与凡伦丁决斗，公爵也同意将女儿嫁给凡伦丁。两对恋人团圆，公爵也赦免了那帮强盗。从此，每个人都过上了幸福的生活。
该剧大约创作于1590—1594年间，主要情节来自《泰特斯和吉赛普斯》（乔万尼·薄伽丘的《十日谈》中的一个故事），而剧中人物郎斯和史比德是威廉·莎士比亚创造。
普洛丢斯：普洛丢斯是个十分幼稚的小伙子。他生性无忧无虑，不顾及别人的感受，也不知道自己的行径有多么恶劣。开始时，观众认为（或许他本人也认为），他忠实地爱着朱利娅。但是，父亲派他去米兰，他又仿佛未曾有过恋爱似的，轻率地与朱利娅分手。在米兰，普洛丢斯误把凡伦丁和西尔维娅的爱情当作打情卖俏，因而开始插足，追求西尔维娅。接着，凡伦丁在林中与他相遇，痛斥他的卑劣行径，他当即陷入了悔恨之中——然后他犹如五雷轰顶，突然意识到自己一直爱着朱利娅。
朱利娅：四名年轻恋人当中，朱利娅显得十分严肃，也是最早被爱情所改变之人（她撕碎了普洛丢斯写给自己的情书，之后又煞费苦心地拼凑碎纸片）。普洛丢斯前往米兰，她伤心透顶，于是乔装改扮，紧随恋人身后。此时，男人的装束防止她泄漏自己的身份。但事态的发展非她所控，于是，林中出现了童话般的变化，普洛丢斯的眼前屏障脱落，她能观察到，他已意识到她不是他的侍童，而是朱利娅，他自始至终爱着的朱利娅。
西尔维娅：西尔维娅是凡伦丁的情人。她沉迷于爱情，任凭自己的情感驱使，轻率、鲁莽地策划计谋，退回了凡伦丁写给“一位神秘的无名的朋友”的书信。她还当着凡伦丁的面与修里奥调情，并打算与凡伦丁私奔。当情人被放逐时，她又匆忙前去追赶。在林中，她被强盗抓住，三个求婚者为争夺她而争吵不休。最后，西尔维娅默默地依偎在真正所爱者的怀抱之中。
朗斯和史比德：他们分别是普洛丢斯和凡伦丁的仆人，但性格迥然不同。朗斯年轻、生性忧郁，他不断梦想找到自己的理想情人（一位“头发比智慧多，错处比头发多”的女孩，幸运的话，也许“财富比错处多”），在情人出现之前，朗斯经常逗弄“最狠心的狗”克来勃，聊以自慰。
主题思想
该剧也和莎士比亚的其它喜剧一样，其主题是写爱情、友谊、婚姻，歌颂人文主义理想对于封建偏见和自私行为的胜利。通过西尔维娅、朱利娅、凡伦丁等人物形象的塑造，人文主义者所孜孜追求的美好理想得到肯定。这些男女青年都有着高尚的情操，爱情忠贞纯洁，对朋友情谊深厚，勇敢刚强，刚正不阿。剧作对这些纯洁的爱情、真挚的友谊以及人们追求美好生活的精神，给予了热情的歌颂。
剧作把批判、讽刺的锋芒，指向自私卑鄙、背信弃义、见异思迁、破坏友谊等社会恶习，揭露它们对人的正常生活、人与人之间应有的良好关系的严重危害。普洛丢斯积这些恶习于一身，视盟誓若儿戏，遗弃自己热恋过的情人，置友谊于不顾，用阴谋卑鄙手段夺取朋友的爱侣。他给朱利娅、凡伦丁和西尔维娅都造成了苦难，破坏了他们的幸福生活，搅得人人都不能安生。从剧本对他的言行以及围绕他而展开的人物关系的描写，使人不难看到这些恶习是败坏社会风气的酵母，具有“反人性”的本质。
剧作还对封建家长观念和新萌芽的资产阶级金钱关系进行了揭露和批判。米兰公爵擅自为女儿抉婿，要将女儿嫁给愚蠢的修里奥，将女儿的心上人驱逐出境。封建家长制所酿成的恶果，是逼得女儿离家出逃。同时，公爵要将女儿许配修里奥，还有一个原因，就是他“雄于资财”，金钱关系在此显然可见。就连仆人们谈及自己的婚姻，也表示只要财富（倍嫁）多，就“一定要娶她”，再如，普洛丢斯要仆人史比德传达情人朱利娅给他的话时，史比德竟要他先拿出钱袋，“一面交钱，一面交话。”（第一幕第一场）可见金钱因素已渗透到社会各个阶层，它已在腐蚀着人与人之间的正常关系，毒化着人们的思想，败坏着社会风气。 [1]
艺术特色
该剧最突出的特点，是充满了对青年人爱情的歌颂，充满了幽默欢乐的谐趣，闪烁着人文主义理想的光辉，洋溢着浪漫的诗情。它是“快乐的喜剧，”“最令人开心的喜剧。”它的喜剧性来自抒情和幽默的溶合，浪漫性的抒情、夸张的手法和插科打诨等等因素，使这部剧作充满了欢声笑语。例如第一幕第一场这开场戏，凡伦丁和普洛丢斯的道别，就颇有兴味。凡伦丁幽默地取笑普洛丢斯，说“爱情把你锁系在你情人的温柔的眼波里。”接着，就是仆人史比德和普洛丢斯饶有风趣的“牧羊人”（主人）和“羊”（仆人）的对话，“圈”、“钱”之斗嘴，及要普洛丢斯“打开你的钱袋来，一面交钱，一面交话”的谐趣，还有普洛丢斯对他的厌恶： “去你的吧，船上有了你，可以保证不会中途沉没，因为你是命中注定要在岸上吊死的”等等话语，真是妙趣横生。而第二场朱利娅和女仆露西塔关于收受普洛丢斯情书的情节，更显得幽默风趣。各场中诸如此类的插科打诨比比皆是，幽默夸张不胜枚举。特别是第四幕第四场普洛丢斯的仆人朗斯关于他的狗克来勃那段独白，更叫人开心；他的狗“一点不懂规矩”， “刚一踏进西尔维娅家膳厅的门，”“就跳到砧板上把阉鸡腿衔去了”，“在公爵食桌底下和三、四个绅士模样的狗在一起，一下子就撒起尿来，”当人家要打死它的时候，朗斯自己代狗受过，谎称尿是他所撒，结果被揍了一顿，赶了出来。他还曾为狗“偷了人家的香肠而给人铐住了手脚。”这等等言行，都是乐趣无穷，使观众十分开怀。至于朱利娅乔装充当普洛丢斯的僮仆的所言所行，更使戏剧增添了谐趣气氛，使整部戏剧充满了欢快色彩。
德国思想家恩格斯：“单是那个朗斯和他的狗克来勃就比全部德国喜剧加在一起更具有价值”。
中国近代文学家梁实秋：如果莎士比亚在这定型的意大利喜剧中表现了他的独创性，那独创性不在布局结构，而是在其中几个人物的个性之刻画。莎士比亚尚在年轻，手法未臻纯熟，但是他的艺术手段和心理观察之细腻入微则已见端倪。
在1762年大卫·加里克的演出之前，该剧没有任何演出记载。
1821年，英国剧作家弗雷德里克-雷诺推出了根据《维洛那二绅士》改编的音乐剧，该剧融入了与朗斯、史比德有关的场景。
1996年，伦敦演出《维洛那二绅士》，这是新环球剧院恢复上演的第一部莎士比亚原创作品。
威廉·莎士比亚（William Shakesbeare，1564—1616），英国文艺复兴时期戏剧家和诗人。莎士比亚于1564年4月23日出生在英国中部斯特拉福德城一个富裕的市民家庭，幼年在家乡的文法学校念过书，学习拉丁文、文学和修辞学。后来家道中落，曾帮助父亲经商，1578年左右只身到伦敦谋生，据说从事过马夫或仆役一类当时被看作“最下等的职业”。后来当了演员和编剧，随着剧团到各地巡回演出，与社会各阶层的生活有比较广泛的接触。他在剧团里扮演过像《哈姆莱特》中的鬼魂之类的配角，也担任过导演，但主要是编写剧本，开始时不过是给旧剧本加工，逐渐由加工而改写或自己创作。他后来成了剧团的股东，1613年左右从伦敦回到家乡，1616年4月23日逝世。
Two Gentlemen of Verona is a comedy created by the British playwright William Shakespeare. It was first published in 1623.

The play mainly reflects the theme of love and friendship through the story of two gentlemen in Verona, Italy. It is full of optimism between the lines, permeates the strong flavor of British real life in the Renaissance, and shines with the light of humanism ideal.

Verona youth Valentine decided to go to Milan to seek his own financial path. And his friend Prodeus planned to stay in Verona in order to get close to his lover Julia. Valentine’s servant, Spyder, sent a love letter to Julia for Prodicus. Upon receiving it, Julia was arrogant and contemptuous, tearing it apart, but then painstakingly pieced it together to reply to Prodicus with a letter – but Prodicus had just been informed by his father that he also had to leave for Milan. In this way, Prodeus and Julia had to separate. As soon as Prodicus and his servant Spider left Verona with Lang’s beloved dog, Klab, Julia disguised herself as a man and hurried to chase after them.

Moreover, in Milan, Prodeus discovered that Valentine had fallen in love with Sylvia, the daughter of the local duke. But the Duke wanted his daughter to marry Thurio, so Sylvia and Valentine were going to elope. And Prodicus was moved by Sylvia’s beauty and began to pursue her. He leaked the plan of their elopement to the Duke, and as a result, the Duke exiled Valentine. Afterwards, Valentine was kidnapped by a group of bandits and forced to become their leader. Prodicus arranged for Sergio to serenade Sylvia with the serenade ‘Sylvia I’ho’ and then personally wooed her. At this moment, Julia, dressed up as a boy named “Sebastian,” became the servant of Prodeus and overheard it unintentionally. Faced with Prodicus sending her a ring to Sylvia and expressing her love for Prodicus, she was heartbroken. Sylvia told “Sebastian” that she felt very sorry for Julia.

With the help of the elderly Sir Eglemo, Sylvia escaped into the forest. Duke, Thurion, Prodeus, and ‘Sebastian’ pursued him relentlessly. Sylvia was captured by bandits, and Prodicus risked rescuing her. He requested the Duke’s consent to marry Sylvia in return. However, Valentine (who witnessed all of this) angrily rebuked Prodeus, causing him great shame. At this moment, “Sebastian” fainted, and Protius recognized her at a glance as Julia, whom he had always truly loved. Xiu Rio refused to duel with Valentine for Silvia, and the Duke also agreed to marry his daughter to Valentine. The two lovers reunited, and the Duke also pardoned the gang of robbers. From then on, everyone lived a happy life.

The play was created between 1590 and 1594, with the main plot coming from Titus and Giselps (a story in Giovanni Boccaccio’s Decameron), and the characters Lance and Speed in the play were created by William Shakespeare.

Prodicus: Prodicus is a very naive young man. He has a carefree nature, disregarding others’ feelings, and does not know how bad his actions are. At the beginning, the audience believed (perhaps he himself also believed) that he faithfully loved Julia. However, his father sent him to Milan, and he hastily broke up with Julia as if he had never been in love before. In Milan, Prodicus mistakenly regarded the love between Valentine and Silvia as a flirtatious act, so he began to intervene and pursue Silvia. Then, Valentine met him in the forest, denouncing his despicable behavior, and he immediately fell into regret – and then, like thunder, he suddenly realized that he had always loved Julia.

Julia: Among the four young lovers, Julia appears very serious and is also the first one to be changed by love (she tore up the love letter written by Prodicus to herself, and then painstakingly pieced together pieces of paper). Prodicus went to Milan, feeling extremely sad, so she disguised herself and followed her lover closely. At this point, the man’s attire prevents her from revealing her identity. But the development of the situation was beyond her control, so a fairytale like change occurred in the forest. Prodicus’ front barrier fell off, and she could observe that he had realized that she was not his attendant, but Julia, whom he had loved from beginning to end.

Sylvia: Sylvia is Valentine’s lover. She was addicted to love and allowed her emotions to drive her, recklessly plotting and returning the letter written by Valentine to “a mysterious and unnamed friend”. She also flirted with Shurio in front of Valentine and planned to elope with him. When her lover was exiled, she hurried forward to pursue her. In the forest, she was caught by bandits and three suitors argued endlessly over her. Finally, Sylvia silently nestled in the embrace of her true lover.

Lance and Spider: They were servants of Prodeus and Valentine respectively, but their personalities were vastly different. Lance is young and melancholic by nature. He constantly dreams of finding his ideal lover (a girl with “more hair than wisdom, and more faults than hair”, if lucky, perhaps “more wealth than faults”). Before his lover appeared, Lance often teased “the cruelest dog” Kleb to comfort himself.

subject

Like other comedies of Shakespeare, the theme of the play is to write about love, friendship and marriage, and to praise the victory of humanism ideal against feudal prejudice and selfish behavior. Through the portrayal of Sylvia, Julia, Valentine and other characters, the beautiful ideal that humanism diligently pursue has been affirmed. These young men and women all have noble sentiments, loyal and pure love, deep friendship with friends, brave and strong, and upright. The play warmly praises these pure love, sincere friendship, and people’s pursuit of a better life.

The play points the sharp edges of criticism and satire towards social vices such as selfishness and despicability, treachery, change of mind, and the destruction of friendship, exposing their serious harm to people’s normal lives and the good relationships they should have with each other. Prodicus has accumulated these bad habits all over him, treating his vows as a joke, abandoning his beloved lover, disregarding friendship, and using conspiratorial and despicable means to seize his friend’s lover. He caused suffering to Julia, Valentine, and Sylvia, disrupting their happy lives and disturbing everyone’s well-being. From the description of his words and actions in the script, as well as the character relationships surrounding him, it is not difficult to see that these bad habits are the yeast that corrupts social atmosphere and have the essence of “anti humanity”.

The play also exposes and criticizes the feudal patriarchal concept and the newly emerging bourgeois monetary relationship. The Duke of Milan chose a son-in-law for his daughter without authorization, intending to marry her to the foolish Shurio and expel her beloved from the country. The evil result of feudal patriarchal system is forcing her daughter to run away from home. At the same time, there is another reason why the duke wants to betroth his daughter to be Xiu Rio, It is he who is “superior to wealth”, and the financial relationship is clearly visible here. Even when servants talk about their marriage, they also say that as long as the wealth (double marriage) is large, they “must marry her”. For example, when Prodicus asked his servant Spider to convey the words given to him by his lover Julia, Spider actually asked him to take out his money bag first and “pay the money, pay the words” (Act 1, Scene 1) It can be seen that the factor of money has penetrated into various social classes, and it has been corrupting normal relationships between people, poisoning people’s thoughts, and corrupting social atmosphere. [1]

artistic characteristics

The most prominent feature of the play is that it is full of praise for young people’s love, humor and fun, shining with the glory of humanism ideals, and full of romantic poetry. It is a “happy comedy,” “the most enjoyable comedy.” Its comedic nature comes from the fusion of lyricism and humor, romantic lyricism, exaggerated techniques, and gags, and other factors, making this play full of laughter and laughter. For example, the opening scene of the first act, the farewell between Valentine and Prodicus, is quite interesting. Valentine humorously made fun of Prodicus and said, “Love locks you in the gentle eyes of your lover, It is the witty conversation between the servants of “Shepherd” (master) and “Sheep” (servant), the bickering between “Circle” and “Money”, and the humor of asking Prodicus to “open your wallet, pay money, and talk”, as well as Prodicus’ disgust towards him: “Fuck you, with you on board, you can guarantee that you will not sink midway, because you are destined to be hanged on the shore Wait for the words, they are full of wit. The plot of Julia and the maid Lucita in the second scene about accepting the love letter from Prodicus appears even more humorous and witty. Such jokes and exaggerations are ubiquitous in various scenes. Especially in the fourth act, fourth scene, and fourth scene, the monologue about his dog, Kleb, by Prosus’ servant Lance, is even more enjoyable; His dog “didn’t understand the rules at all”, “as soon as he stepped into Sylvia’s dining room door,” “he jumped onto the chopping board and picked up the castrated chicken leg. He once handcuffed people’s hands and feet when a dog stole someone else’s sausages. These words and actions are endless fun, making the audience very happy. As for Julia’s disguise as Proditus’ servant, her words and actions added a humorous atmosphere to the drama, filling it with a joyful atmosphere.

German philosopher Engels said, “Just Narence and his dog Kleb are more valuable than all German comedies put together.

Chinese modern writer Liang Shiqiu: If Shakespeare demonstrated his originality in this stereotypical Italian comedy, then originality lies not in the layout structure, but in the portrayal of several characters’ personalities. Shakespeare is still young and not yet proficient in his techniques, but his artistic techniques and subtle psychological observation are already evident.

Before the performance of David Garrick in 1762, there were no performances recorded in the play.

In 1821, British playwright Frederick Renault released a musical adaptation based on “The Two Gentlemen of Verona”, which incorporated scenes related to Lance and Spider.

In 1996, London performed “Two Gentlemen of Verona”, which was the first Shakespeare original work to be revived at the New Globe Theatre.

William Shakespeare (1564-1616) was a British dramatist and poet in the Renaissance. Shakespeare was born on April 23, 1564 in Stratford, central England, into a wealthy citizen family. As a child, he studied in his hometown’s grammar school, learning Latin, literature and rhetoric. Later on, his family declined and he helped his father in business. Around 1578, he went to London alone to make a living. It is said that he had worked as a groom or servant, which was considered the “lowest profession” at that time. Later on, he became an actor and screenwriter, and traveled with the theater troupe to various places to perform, gaining extensive exposure to the lives of various social classes. He played supporting role in the troupe, such as the ghost in Hamlet, and also served as a director, but he mainly wrote scripts. At the beginning, he was just processing old scripts, gradually rewriting them or creating his own. He later became a shareholder of the theater company and returned to his hometown from London around 1613. He passed away on April 23, 1616.

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