The Two Gentlemen of Verona Society and Class Quotes

How we cite our quotes: Citations follow this format: (Act.Scene.Line). Line numbers correspond to the Norton edition.

Quote #7

LANCE
I am but a fool, look you, and yet I have the wit
to think my master is a kind of a knave, but that's all
one if he be but one knave. He lives not now that
knows me to be in love, (3.1.268-271)

Lance takes a lot of pleasure in the fact that he keeps secrets from his master. Here, he calls Proteus a "knave" (an idiot) and reveals that he's fallen in love with an unnamed woman.

Quote #8

THIRD OUTLAW
By the bare scalp of Robin Hood's fat friar,
This fellow were a king for our wild faction.
FIRST OUTLAW
We'll have him.—Sirs, a word.
                  The Outlaws step aside to talk. 
SPEED
Master, be one of them. It's an honorable kind
of thievery. (4.1.36-40)

This reference to Robin Hood hints that the outlaws might be spending their time stealing from the rich and giving to the poor, especially when Speed says their crimes are an "honourable kind of thievery."

Quote #9

SECOND OUTLAW, advancing
Tell us this: have you any thing to take to?
VALENTINE
Nothing but my fortune.
THIRD OUTLAW
Know then that some of us are gentlemen,
Such as the fury of ungoverned youth
Thrust from the company of awful men.
Myself was from Verona banishèd
For practicing to steal away a lady,
An heir and near allied unto the Duke. (4.1.42-49)

The Third Outlaw goes out of his way to point out that the forest dwelling gang is made up of noblemen. What's up with that?