Proteus Richard III in the play "Henry VI, Part Three", in which the future usurper boasts: Shakespeare also names one of the main characters of his play "The Two Gentlemen of Verona" Proteus. Inconsistent with his affections, his deceptions have unraveled at the finale of the play as he is brought face-to-face with his friend Valentine and original love Julia: In 1807, William Wordsworth finished his sonnet on the theme of a modernity deadened to Nature, which opens "The world is too much with us", with a sense of nostalgia for the lost richness of a world numinous with deities: In
The Two Gentlemen of Verona alongside "The Taming of the Shrew" and "The Comedy of Errors", it starred Kenneth Wigley as Valentine, Jonathan Horne as Proteus, Amee Vyas as Julia and Kati Grace Morton as Silvia. In 2012, P.J. Paparelli directed a Shakespeare Theatre Company production at the Lansburgh Theatre, starring Andrew Veenstra as Valentine, Nick Dillenburg as Proteus, Natalie Mitchell as Silvia and Miriam Silverman as Julia. Set in the 1990s, and featuring a contemporary soundtrack, mobile phones and guns, the production downplayed the comedy, and instead presented the play as a semi-tragic coming-of-age story. Reviews were mixed, with most critics impressed with the