How we cite our quotes: Citations follow this format: (Act.Scene.Line). Line numbers correspond to the Norton edition.
Quote #4
DUKE
What's here?
(Reads.) Silvia, this night I will enfranchise thee.
'Tis so. And here's the ladder for the purpose. (3.1.154-156)
Uh-oh. Valentine is totally busted when the Duke finds a love letter to Silvia in Valentine's coat. When a rope ladder falls out of Valentine's jacket, it's also pretty clear that Valentine is planning on pulling a "Romeo and Juliet" maneuver by climbing up to Silvia's window and then eloping with the Duke's daughter. Like Romeo, Valentine is banished from the city limits and the love of his life when the Duke catches him. Good thing Two Gentlemen of Verona is a comedy and not a tragedy – comedies always end in marriage, so it's a pretty safe bet that things will work out for Silvia and Valentine.
Quote #5
LANCE
She
hath more qualities than a water-spaniel, which is
much in a bare Christian. He takes out a piece of
paper. Here is the catalog of her condition.
(Reads.) Imprimis, She can fetch and carry. Why, a
horse can do no more: nay, a horse cannot fetch but
only carry; therefore is she better than a jade.
(Reads.) Item, She can milk. Look you, a sweet
virtue in a maid with clean hands. (3.1.276-284)
When Lance announces that he's fallen in love with an unnamed woman, he proceeds to make a list of all her best features. It's pretty clear that Lance is interested in qualities that would make for a good wife, which, in Lance's mind, seems to be nothing more than a servant. It also seems like Shakespeare is using Lance to parody and make fun of the way the men (especially Thurio) in the play view love and marriage.
Quote #6
SILVIA
Thou art not ignorant what dear good will
I bear unto the banish'd Valentine,
Nor how my father would enforce me marry
Vain Thurio, whom my very soul abhorred.
Thyself hast loved, and I have heard thee say
No grief did ever come so near thy heart
As when thy lady and thy true love died,
Upon whose grave thou vow'dst pure chastity. (4.3.16-23)
Here, Silvia asks her good friend Eglamour to help her run away and find Valentine. When Silvia explains why she's chosen to ask Eglamour for help, she reveals something interesting about his past. Eglamour, it seems, was married once and is now a widower. Not only that, but he loved his late wife so much that, since her death, he's sworn off all other women. It seems like Eglamour is one of the most loyal men in the play, which makes him a foil to the unfaithful Proteus.