Chapter: SCENE VI.

Milan. The DUKE's palace

Enter PROTEUS

  PROTEUS. To leave my Julia, shall I be forsworn;
    To love fair Silvia, shall I be forsworn;
    To wrong my friend, I shall be much forsworn;
    And ev'n that pow'r which gave me first my oath
    Provokes me to this threefold perjury:
    Love bade me swear, and Love bids me forswear.
    O sweet-suggesting Love, if thou hast sinn'd,
    Teach me, thy tempted subject, to excuse it!
    At first I did adore a twinkling star,
    But now I worship a celestial sun.
    Unheedful vows may heedfully be broken;
    And he wants wit that wants resolved will
    To learn his wit t' exchange the bad for better.
    Fie, fie, unreverend tongue, to call her bad
    Whose sovereignty so oft thou hast preferr'd
    With twenty thousand soul-confirming oaths!
    I cannot leave to love, and yet I do;
    But there I leave to love where I should love.
    Julia I lose, and Valentine I lose;
    If I keep them, I needs must lose myself;
    If I lose them, thus find I by their loss:
    For Valentine, myself; for Julia, Silvia.
    I to myself am dearer than a friend;
    For love is still most precious in itself;
    And Silvia- witness heaven, that made her fair!-
    Shows Julia but a swarthy Ethiope.
    I will forget that Julia is alive,
    Rememb'ring that my love to her is dead;
    And Valentine I'll hold an enemy,
    Aiming at Silvia as a sweeter friend.
    I cannot now prove constant to myself
    Without some treachery us'd to Valentine.
    This night he meaneth with a corded ladder
    To climb celestial Silvia's chamber window,
    Myself in counsel, his competitor.
    Now presently I'll give her father notice
    Of their disguising and pretended flight,
    Who, all enrag'd, will banish Valentine,
    For Thurio, he intends, shall wed his daughter;
    But, Valentine being gone, I'll quickly cross
    By some sly trick blunt Thurio's dull proceeding.
    Love, lend me wings to make my purpose swift,
    As thou hast lent me wit to plot this drift.            Exit

 Proteus appears alone on stage and delivers a big speech to the audience , which takes up the entire scene. We'll break it down in a second, but the speech boils down to Proteus deciding to do what's best for Proteus. At first, Proteus acknowledges that, if he leaves Julia and wrongs Valentine by loving "fair Silvia," then he's a jerk. But then, he suggests that "Love" is the culprit here and love is tempting him to betray his girl and his best pal. Proteus goes on to say, "At first I did adore a twinkling star,/ But now I worship a celestial sun." Translation: Julia is pretty cute, but Silvia is insanely gorgeous. Proteus then rationalizes that the only way he can be true to himself is by betraying Valentine and Julia. Proteus then decides that Valentine will be his "enemy" and Julia will be "dead" to him. Finally, Proteus resolves to get Valentine in big time trouble with the Duke of Milan. Proteus will tattle to the Duke that Valentine plans to elope with Silvia. The Duke, of course, will be enraged since he's got plans for his daughter to marry Thurio.

