Recuperating The Two Gentlemen of Verona as Conduct Literature

Conduct literature was a prolific genre in the Renaissance that had many inherent limitations. Shakespeare's The Two Gentlemen of Verona poses an interesting critique and expansion of the tradition when read as a part of conduct literature. By bringing the tradition to the early modern stage, the play eliminates the exclusivity of the more traditional conduct manuals, making the instruction available to a wider audience. Dramatizing Proteus and Valentine's character development allows the audience to see how certain behaviors are undesirable while others are more ideal. The play challenges the limitations of the conduct literature tradition, while also becoming an extension of it.