ABSTRACT
The early comedy, The Two Gentlemen of Verona, demonstrates the efficacy of using Catholic and Protestant motifs as vehicles for developing characterizations and dramatic conflicts. The final impression of an uneasy coexistence of Protestant and Catholic elements in this early comedy begs a question of tolerance resolved not in religious language but in that of romantic love and its satisfaction in Renaissance Italy. The exquisite value that Julia’s pilgrimage acquires in The Two Gentlemen of Verona extends to include its Catholic essence. Original audiences of The Two Gentlemen of Verona would have perceived and evaluated Julia’s pilgrimage in both extra-dramatic and dramatic contexts. Reformation Protestants had stereotyped pilgrimages as superstitious Papist practices.
