“The Two Gentlemen Of Verona”

Submitted To:- Respected Sangeeta Mam

- A.J Cronin

About The WriterArchibald Joseph Cronin (19 July 1896–6 January 1981) was a Scottish physician and novelist. His best-known works are Hatter's Castle, The Stars Look Down, The Citadel, The Keys of the Kingdom and The Green Years, all of which were adapted to film. He also created the Dr. Finlay  character, the hero of a series of stories that served as the basis for the popular  BBC television and radio series entitled Dr. Finlay's Casebook.

He was a doctor by training. He practiced medicine in Wales and in London. It was while recovering from a breakdown in health that he wrote his first novel Hatter’s Castle. It was a huge success. Hence, he left practicing medicine n chose writing as a career.

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Justification of the titleIn the story “Two Gentlemen of Verona”,

the two orphan boys Jacopo and Nicola, work immensely and exhaustively, they shine shoes, sell newspapers and run errands for the sake of the treatment of their sister. They showcase an unusual devotion towards their work and family, they give an outrageous example of love, care, emotion and nobility. Cronin shows us that one may polish boots or sell newspapers, but it is the magnanimity of heart and the nobleness of purpose that actually determines whether one is a true "gentleman". Hence, sarcastically the title is quite justified.

The Story….

Verona is a place in north of Italy of immense beauty and the birthplace of Shakespeare’s play “Romeo and Juliet” is famous for it’s medieval architecture and Juliet’s tomb. The story recounts the hard life chosen by two young boys so that they could pay for the treatment of their sister afflicted with tuberculosis. “Gentlemen Of Verona” is set in a town ‘Verona’ located in the foothills of Alps mountain.

The story begins in an ironical manner, as the narrator drives through the foothills of the Alps; his interest is provoked by the appearance of two little boys in front of their car on the outskirts of a florid, pretty and eye-catching city Verona. Those two boys were selling wild strawberries.

The narrator’s driver ‘Luigi’ cautiously warned the narrator not to buy them, as they would get better fruit inside the town. Even He shrugged his shoulders to convey his disapproval of their shabby and untidy demeanour and he ostracized them.Still, their appearance seemed inevitable to the narrator.

One boy had worn a disgraceful jersey and cut-off khaki pants; the other a condense, sleeve-less army tunic gathered in loose folds about his skinny-lean frame. The narrator gazed at those two little figures. They had brown skins (tanned due to exposure to the sun), tangled hair and dark earnest eyes. The narrator and his friends felt themselves strangely attracted towards them. Maybe, it was their strange appearance or the willingness to work in their eyes which attracted them.

One of the narrator’s companions spoke to those boys, and he discovered that they were brothers. Nicola, the elder, was 13; Jacopo, who barely came up to the handle of the door of the car, was nearly 12. The boys’ politeness and frankness insisted the narrator to buy their biggest basket, and alas! They continued their errand towards Verona.

Next morning, coming out of a hotel, the narrator and his companions saw the boys bent over shoeshine boxes, beside the fountain in the public square. They were doing a brisk and hard job; so early in the morning.

The narrator and his friends noticed the boys for a while then as their interest slackened, they went over to meet them. Jacopo and Nicola greeted them with friendly and admiring faces, may be because the narrator bought their biggest basket. The narrator pleased with their smile, asked them that he thought they sold fruits for a living. Determinately, in a serious tone Nicola said “ We do many things , sir”. He glanced at the narrator in hope of getting another brisk job; “We often show visitors through the town….to Juliet’s tomb”…..and other places of interest”.

The narrator smiled with grace and said “All right.. You take us along with you”. While the boys were showcasing the swash-buckling and beautiful places around the town, the narrator’s interest was again provoked by the shine in the eyes of the boys as well as their remarkable appearance. Both the boys were quite childish, but still an immense seriousness far beyond their aged; was reflected on their guileless and innocent faces. Jacopo was as lively as a squirrel, he was a happy-go-lucky child and always spoke much in excitement. Nicola’s smile was steady and engaging, he had a proper sense of his responsibilities as being the senior and he seemed the perfect brother, supporting and pampering his younger brother to no extent.

As the week went on, the narrator met them frequently, and nevertheless the boys proved very useful to him. The narrator relied on them whenever he needed any article or suggestion; be it a pack of American cigarettes, seats for the opera or the name of any good restaurant.. Jacopo and Nicola fulfilled their every need.

The narrator was drum struck by their willingness to work. During those summer days, under the hot sun, they shined shoes, sold fruit, hawked newspapers, conducted tourists round the town, and ran errands.

One night, the narrator and his friends came upon the two boys in the windy, miserable and deserted square.Jacopo and Nicola were resting on the stone pavement beneath the light. Nicola was sitting upright, exhaustedand tired. Jacopo's head laid upon his brother's shoulder, he was asleep. It was very dark almost midnight.A bundle of unsold newspapers lay at Nicola's feet. On asking Nicola, the narrator figured out that the were waiting for the last bus from Padua, as they wanted to sell their unsold newspapers when it came. Amazed and pretty flabbergasted; the narrator asked them "Must you work so hard? You both look quite exhausted”. In a feeble, soft voice, Nicola defending himself said "We aren't complaining sir".

The next morning, the narrator went over the fountain to get his shoes shined, he asked the boys with a sense of curiousness "Nicola, the way you and Jacopo work, you must earn quite a bit;(taking a glance over their clothes) he said, you don't spend anything on your apparels and you eat little enough--usually black bread and figs...then tell me what do you do with your money?"Nicola embarrassingly coloured under his sunburn, then grew pale. Trying to be secretive, he started looking at the ground. In a comical manner the narrator asked "You must be saving the money to emigrate to America?".Nicola finally spoke up with efforts, that he would like to go to America, but at present he and Jacopo,had other plans. Determinately, the narrator asked "what plans?"

In a low voice, smiling miserably, Nicola said "Just plans sir". The narrator, not wanting to intrude in their personal lives , decided to leave that topic and told the boys that he and his friends were leaving on the forthcoming Monday, and asked whether he could do anything for them before going. Nicola meaningfully shook his head, but suddenly, lost in his excitement, Jacopo popped out. "Sir, every Sunday we make a visit to our country (our village) Poleta, 30 kilometres from Verona. Usually we hire bicycles. But tomorrow since you are so kind, you mind send us in your car.”

The narrator said "I have already given Luige a day off, so I'll drive you out myself“ Nicola glared at his brother in vexation and anger, then shamefacedly said "Sir, we couldn't think of troubling you". The narrator said, "It wont be any trouble". Nicola bit his lip, in a put-out tone he insisted. The following afternoon they drove to the tiny village set high upon the scenic hillside. The narrator had expected their destinations to be some humble and tiny dwellings.

But as directed by Jacopo, they drew up at a large red-roofed villa, surrounded by a high stone wall, The narrator quite flabbergasted, scarcely believed his eyes. While he recover his breath, he noticed that the two boys had already eloped from the car.

"We shall not be long, sir. Perhaps only an hour. May be you'd like to go to the cafe in the village for a drink?“ said the two boys and they went inside the villa. After a few minutes, the narrator desperately followed them. He found a grilled side-entrance and, determinedly, rang the bell. Seconds after, A pleasant-looking woman with steel-rimmed spectacles, wearing a white dress appeared. The narrator blinked his eyes as he discovered that she was a trained nurse. He asked her “I brought two little boys here”. “Ah! Yes..her face lift up and she pleasantly opened the door to admit the narrator and told him that Jacopo and Nicola were upstairs.

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The two boys were seated at the bedside of a lean, young girl of about twenty who , propped up on pillows, wearing a pretty lace jacket, was listening to their chatter, her eyes soft and tender. One could see and recognize at a glance that she was the elder sister of Jacopo and Nicola . A vase of adorable wild flowers stood on her table, beside a dish of fruit and several books . The boys seemed so happy n blissful spending time with their sister. Later, the nurse told that their sister’s name was Lucia, Lucia was the noble cause of the boy’s eminent hard work. The nurse asked the narrator to pay a visit to Lucia, but the narrator neither wanted to intrude upon this happy family; nor he wanted to let the boys know that their secret was now known to him so he shook his head and went back downstairs .

The nurse led the narrator through a cold, tiled and long vestibule into a hospital, as the villa was now turned to a hospital. At the door of a little cubicle, she gestured to the narrator by putting her finger on her lips, asking him to stay quiet and told the narrator to peek inside through the window.

At the foot of the staircase, the narrator begged the nurse to tell him everything that she knew about those boys and she was eager to do so. She said with a sigh, Jacopo and Nicola are very alone in this world, they have no one except their sister Lucia. Their father, a widower, a well-known singer, was killed cruelly in the early part of the war. Soon afterwards a bomb destroyed their homes, leaving the three children with a miserable life, forcing them to live on hard stone pavements, ruining their comfortable and cultural life. Lucia had to stop her training to become a singer, without proper food and shelter, they suffered nearly from starvation and cold winters.

For months the children kept themselves alive in a short of shelter that they had built with their own hands amidst the rubbles. After winning the war, the Germans ruled the city for three years. The boys started hating the Germans as they were the ones responsible for their ruined lives. When the resistant movement started, they were among the first persons to join. When the war ended, and their was peace at last, they came back to their beloved sister and found that starvation and extremely cold weather conditions led her to suffer from tuberculosis of the spine.

The nursed paused for some seconds and took a deep breath, then she resumed with some efforts, “Did they gave up?”..no, I guess I don’t need to answer this question. She told that Jacopo and Nicola brought their sister here, and persuaded the nurse to admit her into the hospital. Lucia had been in this hospital since a year, and she made good progress as a patient. The nurse believed that if her recovering goes well, she may stand and sing again. That day would be the happiest and best day in Jacopo and Nicola's lives. Happiness seemed so little and shattered in their lives, they lost their parents, home and their present family’s head was ailing with tuberculosis.

The nurse exclaimed, “Food is so expensive and scarce these days”, Hence, she could not let Lucia’s treatment go on without charging a fee. But, Jacopo and Nicola were able to pay the fee every week. She didn’t know what work they did, as it was hard to get some work in Verona, but she was sure that whatever work they did, they did with keen interest and did it well.

The narrator having seen them work hard, agreed with her and said that they couldn’t do it any better.

The narrator waited outside until the boys came back and rejoined him, they then went back to Verona. The boys sat silently behind him, with a cheer that they succeeded in securing the secret. Whereas, the narrator didn’t say a word because he didn’t want the children’s smile to fade away. Still, the boys’ devotion and love for their sister touched the narrator deeply. The war which broke their home, still couldn’t break their spirits. They never looked back at what they lost, they looked forward to save what they still had with them. Their selfless action brought a new nobility to human life, it gave a promise of a greater hope for a better and worth-living human society.

Happy Ending

Submitted by:-Shreesh Dutta VajpaiX-A