Ovid's Metamorphoses 'Pyramus And Thisbe'

To fully understand the poems; Metamorphoses and Theogony, one needs to understand more about the writers. Hesiod was a greek poet, who lived around 700BC, and was inspired by muses to write epic poetry. Theogony is considered one of earliest works and concerns itself with the cosmogony, or the origins of the world and theogony, or the gods, and pays specific detail to genealogy (West, 1996: 521). Ovid, on the other hand, was a Roman poet, born in 43 BC – the year after the assassination of Julius Caesar and lived during Augustus’s reign. It’s said that his father took him to Rome to become educated in the ways of

Ovid's story of Pyramus and Thisbe came out a little before Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet. Many believe because of the similarities in plot, Shakespeare's sources or influences for his story could have came from 'Pyramus and Thisbe'. In the stories, there are many similarities as there are differences.

Pyramus and Thisbe and Romeo and Juliet are two tragic romance stories that are comparable in many ways. The similar concepts and elements reflected in the two works portray themes of love and tragedy, while also expressing the same types of characters and events. The works of the two writers, Ovid and Shakespeare, were written in completely different time periods, but are remarkably comparable in the senses of character purpose, elements, theme, and events.

The play of Pyramus and Thisbe is about two lovers whose families do not approve their love. “Be it so she; will not here before your grace consent to marry with Demetrius, I beg the ancient privilege of Athens, As she is mine, I may dispose of her.” Egeus, Hermia’s father, wants Hermia to marry Demetrius instead of Hermia’s lover, Lysander. Automatically we see a resemblance. “Wilt thou at Ninny's tomb meet me straightway?” Pyramus and Thisbe decide to run off to Ninnus’ tomb to be together in secret, just like Hermia and Lysander run off to the wood beyond Athens. “Steal forth thy father's house to-morrow night; and in the wood, a league without the town, where I did meet thee once with Helena to do observance to a morn of May. There will I stay for thee.”

In Rome & Juliet, there is a ancient grudge between the couple’s families, therefore it is difficult to communicate with each other. In Pyramus & Thisbe, their parents forbid them to see each other and get married, luckily there is a chink in the wall that allows them to speak to teacher other. In both stories, the two lovers find a way to communicate with each other. In Ovid’s Pyramus & Thisbe, the two lovers communicate through the small chink in the wall. Ovid writes, "In the wall both houses shared there was a little chink.” Ovid continues,

According to the article “What Really Is A Hery, Anyway”, Arhur Ashe stated, “Heroes are people who transform compassion into heroic actions.” Heroes can be an ordinary person who helps you throughout life and can lead you on the best path of life. They can also be a special person who is there for you in the time of need. Odysseus is king of Ithaca and a man of honor to the Ithaca people . Odysseus goes on an journey but on his journey he tries to get back home , but on his journey home he cheated on his wife and didn’t care about any of his crew members that came with him. In result of the things Odysseus does he is not a modern day hero.

Odysseus is a man who was willing to fight for 10 years to return to Ithaca and his family working hard man indeed. He is a man who poked the Cyclop’s eye and Poseidon pissed when he found out that Odysseus poke his son’s eyes. A devoted and determined human being. No matter how difficult his way or how grueling his trials, He will never cease in his fight to return home. This man is named Odysseus.

Even the scene where Pyramus and Thisbe are running away together. All these scenes show different couples struggling with love in different ways. In Ovid’s Metamorphoses he has many stories that someone could assume show love.

At first glance, Tales from Ovid appears just to be a compilation of disturbing narratives. It is as if Ted Hughes, finding nothing better to do, decided to try his hand at awfully vivid writing. There doesn't seem to be any clear pattern in the stories. But maybe we are searching a bit too deep for meaning. Reading Ovid is about accepting the terrible things that could happen and do happen.

In The Metamorphoses, Ovid depicts an entire range of human nature in his myths, such as love, hatred, jealousy and pride; each of which lead to reckless and illogical behavior. Many different forms of human nature are displayed, but the outcome is always consistent. The transformations that result are not unpredictable, but serve to reveal the true character of the persons involved. Ovid’s view of human nature is one where humans and gods alike succumb to their emotions, which then leads to a transformation for the worse.

We all have been in love at some point in life or will fall in love at some point in life or will fall in love eventually but not like these two stories about Romeo & Juliet , And Pyramus & Thisbe . To start off these two love birds like Romeo & Juliet both live far apart but Pyramus & Thisbe live right next to one another and they talk to each other threw a crack from their wall. Although they do have some similarities both of their families won’t let them be together and don’t support them being together as well as a distinguished relationship and another similarity is in both their stories end in death . Romeo & Juliet’s story was about “ Capulet tells Paris that he may not marry his daughter Juliet

Ovid’s Fasti is an extensive treatment on the Roman calendar in Greek and Latin didactic poetry form. The poem spans six Latin books, one for each month, and is written in elegiac couplets. Ovid lived during the reign of Augustus and the establishment of peace he brought after years of civil war, from 43BC to 17AD. He abandoned an official career as a minor magistrate to pursue his love of poetry. Ovid was called a master of interpreting the age in which he lived, with his writings reflecting the spirit and the people’s grateful subserviency to Rome’s emperor. He travelled widely, “to see for himself the places of which he had read in story.” These places included an education in Rome and Athens, and he visited Sicily and Asia Minor.

Pyramus and Thisbe were also 2 lovers who couldn’t see each other because of a wall blocking them. They were childhood friends who lived by each other forever but the wall was always blocking them from seeing each other, But as they got older they seemed to like each other even no they never could do more then hear each others voice.

I really enjoyed learning about the myth of Pygamlion and his love for sculpting. I have never heard of this myth before and I found it very interesting. I also found it interesting that you liked Ovid’s story in Metamorphoses better than Apollodorus’ version. I too chose a myth that was from Metamorphoses and Apollodorus and found that I liked Ovid’s version better for similar reasons. Ovid was much more descriptive and attentive to detail with his tale and you seem to have found the same attributes in your stories as well. Ovid might just be a more detail-oriented writer than the ancient Greeks, which make his stories more appealing than the original ancient Greek myths.

The tale of the Aeneid tells the story of Aeneas and how he founds the Roman people. The most well known version of this story is Virgil’s Aeneid. The traditional interpretation of Virgil’s depiction of the hero and the myth is that it was used as propaganda for the new imperial system that the emperor Augustus had introduced. In contrast with this is the Harvard School interpretation, which states that Virgil’s Aeneid is actually undermining the Imperial system. Despite there being some evidence for this, Virgil’s illustration best fits under the traditional interpretation. In contrast with this is Ovid’s Little Aeneid found in his Metamorphoses. This essay will analyse these illustrations