Summary
Eglamour and Silvia escape to Friar Patrick's cell.
Meanwhile, Proteus interrogates Sebastian/Julia about his interaction with Silvia, demanding to know whether Silvia finally loves him back.
The Duke enters and announces that Silvia has disappeared. Proteus, Sebastian, the Duke, and Thurio set out to find Silvia.
Meanwhile, Eglamour and Silvia have left Milan and are confronted by the gang of outlaws. Eglamour flees, leaving Silvia behind.
In another part of the woods, Valentine sits alone, musing over nature. He hears Silvia, Proteus, and Sebastian/Julia enter.
Proteus tells Silvia that she should return his affections as recompense for saving her from the outlaws, and Silvia retorts that she would have rather been eaten by a lion than saved by Proteus. Proteus threatens to rape Silvia, at which point Valentine intervenes and rescues her.
Proteus immediately begs forgiveness from his friend, and Valentine, moved, offers Silvia to Proteus.
Just then, Sebastian faints, claiming to have forgotten to give the ring to Silvia. Julia produces both rings (the one she gave to Proteus and the one Proteus gave to her), and Proteus realizes that Sebastian is Julia. He remembers his love for her and decides to marry her instead of Silvia.
The Duke arrives with Thurio, who claims that Silvia is his. Valentine threatens to kill him if he approaches Silvia, and Thurio backs down. The Duke is impressed by Valentine's bravery and dedication, and grants Valentine's request that the outlaws receive mercy. The play ends with the Duke's announcement that Proteus and Julia and Valentine and Silvia will be married on the same day.
Analysis
The final act makes real one latent conflict that has hovered in the background of the entire play. Proteus, frustrated with Silvia's constant rejection, resorts to threats of rape and sexual violence. It is precisely at this point that Valentine steps into save Silvia from Proteus's advances, but the play still gestures toward quite a dark path in this brief moment before Valentine appears.
This flagrant disregard for any type of morality is extreme, even for Proteus, who has spent the entire play deceiving and plotting against his best friend. It is also one of the reasons the play is so frequently criticized as a subpar drama, as Proteus attempts to commit a grave act of violence but is left unpunished.
Perhaps the best interpretation of this unsettling scene is that Proteus has reached the apex of his villainous character arc. At the exact moment he transitions from a bad friend to a perpetrator of evil, Proteus expresses a belief that the women around him are objects for the taking. This, ultimately, suggests that misogyny itself is an attribute of villainy.
Of course, there are many other elements of the final act that critics tend to point out as poorly executed, most notably the immediate forgiveness offered from Valentine to Proteus, especially Valentine's offer to let Proteus marry Silvia. This strange turn of events, combined with Proteus's inexplicable rediscovery of his love for Julia, has made The Two Gentlemen of Verona a famously unsatisfying performance for audiences.
However, the play is an important relic from Shakespeare's repertoire precisely because it is not one of his most praised, most performed, or most read. In The Two Gentlemen of Verona, readers and audiences alike can bear witness to a young Shakespeare finding his dramatic footing – calling on theatrical conventions of the time and often adding his own dramatic twist to common plots, jokes, and conflicts. Thus, though the play may not be known as one of the best, it still offers some insight into the genre or early modern comedy and the nascent career of arguably the most famous writer in English.
