One of the wonderful things about Shakespearean plays is their sub plots. In this play, as in many commedia plots, one of the young lovers (innamorati) is set up or wooed by someone who is totally wrong or inappropriate for them. In the case of Two Gents it is the Duke who wants Thurio, to marry his daughter, Silvia.

Above Devon Swafford as Thurio, woos Silvia Lindsey Dixon.

Thurio is what in the later English Restoration would come to be called a fop. Fops are characters who are social climbers who have neither birth nor wealth sufficient to earn them their desired position in society. They are generally mocked by people of class because in their effort to be witty, gracious, elegant, brave they overstep and make fools out of themselves. Their over-the-top efforts make them laughable.

Often the fop loves someone who is out of their league and makes efforts to advance their cause, by impressing and wooing the intended love.

This often strikes us as funny as we all recognize the situation. Most people have loved where they are not loved and the more we press our suit, the more distant we become. We sometimes end up playing the friend of someone we deeply love just to be close to them. This common situation is both humorous and at times strikes a note of pathos.