I noticed something in rehearsal that amused me and struck me as significant, and I thought I'd share.
Most of the time, Valentine is ridiculously impetuously fickle. He changes his whole perspective at the lightest provocation, and his behavior in "offering" Silvia to Proteus in the last scene is a great example of this.
Despite that, however, I thought I'd observe the amusing fact that one of the only times he actually shows restraint and forethought is, ironically, also in 5.4. When Proteus and Silvia enter, he says, "How like a dream is this I see and hear; Love, lend me patience to forbear awhile."
Given the way Valentine behaves up until this point, I think it's genuinely surprising he doesn't leap up and greet them the instant he sees them - especially since he really loves them both and didn't think he'd be seeing them again any time soon. How hilarious and ironic that he prefaces his most fickle moment in the play with his only moment of real patience and forethought.
I agree. I also noticed the fickleness of Val throughout - though I have a bit of a caveat when I consider the emotions that Valentine is going through in his scenes. He's in love with a girl that he doesn't think loves him back, then is worried about a plot to run off with aforementioned girl. Then, he's banished. Then, he sees his two loves in a place there's no way they should be in a situation that he couldn't have possibly imagined. I see it as the only place in the play that necessitates any particular amount of patience and forethought.
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