SOURCE: "Love Delights in Praises: A Reading of The Two Gentleman of Verona" in Philosophy and Literature, Vol. 13, No. 2, October, 1989, pp. 231-47.

In this essay, Girard examines the role that mimetic desire plays in the plot, which portrays Proteus losing interest in his former lover, Julia and falling in love with Silvia once he learns of his friend Valentine 's overwhelming desire for this lady. Precisely because the two young men are alike, they are predisposed to want the same things.

I

Valentine and Proteus have been friends since their earliest childhood in Verona, and their two fathers want to send them to Milan for their education. Because of his love for a girl named Julia, Proteus refuses to leave Verona; Valentine goes to Milan alone.

In spite of Julia, however, Proteus misses Valentine greatly and, after a while, he, too, goes to Milan. The two friends are...