Original: To leave my Julia, shall I be forsworn;
Modern: If I abandon my Julia, I’ll be breaking my promises;

Original: To love fair Silvia, shall I be forsworn;
Modern: If I love beautiful Silvia, I’ll be breaking my promises;

Original: To wrong my friend, I shall be much forsworn;
Modern: If I betray my friend, I’ll be breaking my promises even more;

Original: And even that power which gave me first my oath
Modern: And yet Love itself, which made me swear those promises in the first place,

Original: Provokes me to this threefold perjury;
Modern: Is now pushing me to break my word in three different ways;

Original: Love bade me swear and Love bids me forswear.
Modern: Love told me to make promises, and now Love tells me to break them.

Original: O sweet-suggesting Love, if thou hast sinned,
Modern: Oh Love, you make such tempting suggestions—if you’ve done wrong,

Original: Teach me, thy tempted subject, to excuse it!
Modern: Then teach me, your follower who’s being tempted, how to justify it!

Original: At first I did adore a twinkling star,
Modern: At first I worshipped a small twinkling star,

Original: But now I worship a celestial sun.
Modern: But now I worship a brilliant sun in the heavens.

Original: Unheedful vows may heedfully be broken,
Modern: Promises made carelessly can be carefully broken,

Original: And he wants wit that wants resolved will
Modern: And anyone lacks intelligence who doesn’t have the determination

Original: To learn his wit to exchange the bad for better.
Modern: To use their brain to trade something bad for something better.

Original: Fie, fie, unreverend tongue! to call her bad,
Modern: Shame on me, disrespectful mouth, for calling her “bad,”

Original: Whose sovereignty so oft thou hast preferr’d
Modern: When I’ve praised her superiority so many times

Original: With twenty thousand soul-confirming oaths.
Modern: With twenty thousand deeply sincere promises.

Original: I cannot leave to love, and yet I do;
Modern: I can’t stop loving, and yet I am;

Original: But there I leave to love where I should love.
Modern: But I’m stopping loving the person I should love.

Original: Julia I lose and Valentine I lose:
Modern: I’m losing Julia and I’m losing Valentine:

Original: If I keep them, I needs must lose myself;
Modern: If I stay loyal to them, I’ll have to lose what I want for myself;

Original: If I lose them, thus find I by their loss
Modern: If I lose them, then by losing them I gain

Original: For Valentine myself, for Julia Silvia.
Modern: Myself instead of Valentine, and Silvia instead of Julia.

Original: I to myself am dearer than a friend,
Modern: I care more about myself than about any friend,

Original: For love is still most precious in itself;
Modern: Because romantic love is always the most valuable thing;

Original: And Silvia—witness Heaven, that made her fair!—
Modern: And Silvia—Heaven can testify, since it made her so beautiful!—

Original: Shows Julia but a swarthy Ethiope.
Modern: Makes Julia look dark and ugly by comparison.

Original: I will forget that Julia is alive,
Modern: I’ll forget that Julia even exists,

Original: Remembering that my love to her is dead;
Modern: By reminding myself that my love for her has died;

Original: And Valentine I’ll hold an enemy,
Modern: And I’ll treat Valentine as an enemy,

Original: Aiming at Silvia as a sweeter friend.
Modern: While pursuing Silvia as a more desirable love.

Original: I cannot now prove constant to myself,
Modern: I can’t be true to my own desires

Original: Without some treachery used to Valentine.
Modern: Without using some betrayal against Valentine.

Original: This night he meaneth with a corded ladder
Modern: Tonight he plans to use a rope ladder

Original: To climb celestial Silvia’s chamber-window,
Modern: To climb up to heavenly Silvia’s bedroom window,

Original: Myself in counsel, his competitor.
Modern: And I know his secret, even though I’m now his rival.

Original: Now presently I’ll give her father notice
Modern: Right now I’ll go inform her father

Original: Of their disguising and pretended flight;
Modern: About their disguises and planned escape;

Original: Who, all enraged, will banish Valentine;
Modern: And he, completely furious, will exile Valentine;

Original: For Thurio, he intends, shall wed his daughter;
Modern: Because he wants Thurio to marry his daughter;

Original: But, Valentine being gone, I’ll quickly cross
Modern: But once Valentine is gone, I’ll quickly sabotage

Original: By some sly trick blunt Thurio’s dull proceeding.
Modern: With some clever trick that stupid Thurio’s clumsy plans.

Original: Love, lend me wings to make my purpose swift,
Modern: Love, give me wings to make my plan work quickly,

Original: As thou hast lent me wit to plot this drift!
Modern: Just as you’ve given me the cleverness to scheme this plot!

In Act II, Scene vi of “The Two Gentlemen of Verona,” Proteus arrives in Milan and encounters his servant Speed, who has been waiting for him. Speed informs Proteus that his friend Valentine is deeply in love with Silvia, the Duke of Milan’s daughter, and that Valentine has been completely transformed by his passion. Speed describes how Valentine has become a typical lover, exhibiting all the conventional signs of being lovestruck, including writing poetry, sighing frequently, and generally behaving in a melancholy and distracted manner.

Proteus is troubled by this news, as he realizes that his own feelings for Silvia, which developed after seeing her portrait, now put him in direct conflict with his best friend Valentine. Speed continues to mock Valentine’s lovesick behavior, describing how his master has become foolish and obsessed. Proteus listens to these reports while struggling internally with his growing attraction to Silvia and the betrayal this represents to both his friendship with Valentine and his vows to Julia back in Verona. The scene establishes the central conflict that will drive much of the play’s remaining action, as Proteus must choose between loyalty to his friend and his own desires.

The Two Gentlemen of Verona follows the friendship and romantic entanglements of Valentine and Proteus, two young gentlemen from Verona. The play opens with Valentine departing for Milan to experience court life, leaving behind his friend Proteus, who is deeply in love with Julia. Soon after, Proteus is also sent to Milan by his father, forcing him to leave Julia, though they secretly exchange rings as tokens of their love. Meanwhile, Julia decides to disguise herself as a young man named Sebastian and follow Proteus to Milan.

In Milan, Valentine has fallen in love with Silvia, the Duke’s daughter, and she returns his affection. However, when Proteus arrives and meets Silvia, he immediately forgets his love for Julia and becomes infatuated with his friend’s beloved. In an act of betrayal, Proteus reveals Valentine’s secret plan to elope with Silvia to her father, the Duke. As punishment, Valentine is banished from Milan and becomes the leader of a group of outlaws in the forest.

The climax unfolds in the forest where all the characters converge. Proteus pursues the disguised Julia (still dressed as Sebastian, who has become his page) and attempts to force his attentions on Silvia, who has fled to find Valentine. Valentine arrives just in time to stop the assault, and when Proteus expresses remorse, Valentine magnanimously offers to give up Silvia to restore their friendship. At this moment, Julia faints and reveals her true identity. The play concludes with the Duke’s arrival, his pardon of Valentine and the outlaws, and the restoration of proper romantic pairings: Valentine with Silvia and Proteus reunited with the forgiving Julia.