This early experimental play illuminates the comic vision that informs all Shakespeare's later successes including his last great plays. Two pairs of lovers are forcibly parted and human fickleness is contrasted with constancy, reality with illusion, and the bonds of friendship with those of sexual attraction. The serious elements of Romance are fused with satire and burlesque as The Two Gentlemen of Verona examines the importance of identity with lucid charm and hilarious comedy.