Proteus (Shakespeare)

"If I can cheque my erring love, I will; if not, to compass her I'll use my skill."

- Proteus revealing his true colors. "Nay, if the gentle spirit of moving words can no way change you to a milder form, I'll woo you like a soldier, at arms' end, and love you 'gainst the nature of love,--force ye. I'll force thee yield to my desire!"

- Proteus attempting to force himself on Sylvia.

Proteus is Valentine's fickle friend and a supporting protagonist in the first half, later the main antagonist in the second half of the 1590s Shakespeare play The Two Gentlemen of Verona. While initially in love with a woman named Julia, he later begins to obsess over Valentine's love interest, Sylvia, provoking him to betray his best friend and even attempt to force himself upon Sylvia in the end.