Page "The Two Gentlemen of Verona" Paragraph 42

There are other theories regarding this final scene however.

For example, in his 1990 edition of the play for the New Cambridge Shakespeare, Kurt Schlueter suggests that Valentine is indeed handing Silvia over to Proteus, but the audience is not supposed to take it literally ; the incident is farcical, and should be interpreted as such.

Schlueter argues that the play provides possible evidence it was written to be performed and viewed primarily by a young audience, and as such, to be staged at university theatres, as opposed to public playhouses.

Such an audience would be more predisposed to accepting the farcical nature of the scene, and more likely to find humorous the absurdity of Valentine's gift.

As such, in Schlueter's theory, the scene does represent what it appears to represent ; Valentine does give Silvia to her would-be rapist, but it is done purely for comic effect.