Giveaways of early Shakespeare

(thanks to Two Gentlemen of Verona)

 

  1. Carried away with QUIBBLES (spiraling word play)
  2. COMIC RELIEF (isolated humorous effect; not yet integrated thematically)
  3. PLOTTING heavily dependent on coincidence to carry off the surprise ending
  4. Setting in a "GREEN WORLD" polarized from the play's world of society
  5. Numerous passages of STICHOMYTHIA or humorous banter
  6. Appropriate NAMES, though allegorically obvious here
  7. CHARACTER inconsistencies, esp. with two main male characters
  8. STOCK IMAGERY, esp. in discussions about love