Ovid’s Pyramus and Thisbe Influence on Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet

In this essay, I will take a gander at the play of Romeo and Juliet. I will examine how Shakespeare has utilized dialect in the play for symbolic impact. I will also see how Shakespeare has displayed love and the path in which Romeo and Juliet converse with each other, I might choose whether their affection was genuine and discuss their parents differentiating perspectives and conclusions. I will likewise remark on the play's pertinence today and perceive how Shakespeare has utilized dramatic devices and structures to improve the discussion between the youthful lovers. All throughout the play, there is a consistent theme of love and destiny, I will be dissecting this subject and show how it influences Romeo and Juliet.

Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet – popularly considered by many to be the quintessential love story of all time – is a play that we are all familiar with in one way or another. Whether it be through the plethora of portrayals, adaptations and performances that exist or through your own reading of the play, chances are you have been acquainted with this tale of “tragic love” at some point in your life. Through this universal familiarity an odd occurrence can be noted, one of almost canonical reverence for the themes commonly believed to be central to the plot. The most widely believed theme of Romeo and Juliet is that of the ideal love unable to exist under the harsh social and political strains of this world. Out of this idea emerge two

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.

William Shakespeare is the world’s pre-eminent dramatist whose plays range from tragedies to tragic comedies, etc. His general style of writing is often comparable to several of his contemporaries, like Romeo and Juliet is based on Arthur Brooke’s narrative poem, “The tragical history of Romeo and Juliet”. But Shakespeare’s works express a different range of human experience where his characters command the sympathy of audiences and also are complex as well as human in nature. Shakespeare makes the protagonist’s character development central to the plot.

Although the root of most conflict in the play is the trouble of romance and the play involves many romantic elements, I could rightfully not tell you that is truly a love story. You see, my goal was to distance the audience from the emotional aspect of the play in order to make fun of those in love and suffering. The tone of this play is meant to be lighthearted to the point where the audience does not even doubt that all will end well and can thus freely enjoy the comedic aspect of the play without worrying about what might happen next. Once again, this is reflected in the play-within-a-play. Although the plot of Pyramus and Thisbe is meant to be one of tragedy and love, the product is quite comical and therefore the story does not seem quite as tragic to the

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.

Throughout A Midsummer Night’s Dream, while the story involving Lysander, Demetrius, Hermia, Helena, Oberon and Titania is developing, the rustic gentlemen (Bottom and his friends) are shown rehearsing for a play that they will perform in honor of the upcoming wedding of Theseus (the Duke of Athens) and Hippolyta. The play, “Pyramus and Thisby,” is based on a story that was told by the ancient Roman writer Ovid and retold by Chaucer. The “Pyramus and Thisby” play is not performed until the fifth and final act of A Midsummer Night’s Dream. By then, as Barton points out, the major problems of Lysander, Demetrius and the rest have all been neatly resolved. As such, the “Pyramus and Thisby” play-within-a-play “seems, in effect, to take place beyond the normal, plot-defined boundaries of comedy” (Barton 110).

William Shakespeare is widely known for all of his literary works; one of his most famous love tragedies being 'Romeo and Juliet'. A Shakespearean definition of tragedy exemplifies the sense that human beings are inevitably doomed through their own failures or errors, the ironic action of their virtues, or even through the nature of fate and destiny (Sayour, Susan, 2007). Romeo and Juliet is a tragic tale based on two young star-crossed lovers whose deaths ultimately unite their feuding families. Throughout the play, Shakespeare intentionally draws on text structures and language features in order to replicate the attitudes, values and beliefs of Elizabethan audiences and intertwine it into his

Is Romeo and Juliet plus Pyramus and Thisbe more Destiny or Personal choice? The answer is a personal choice. The reasons for this is, first it could have been easily avoided. Second, is that all the characters made rash decisions using little common sense.

Romeo and Juliet, one of William’s Shakespeare most famous classic works, is a heart-wrenching tale which is composed of passionate love and anger. It is a timeless piece of literature that has lasted to this century. The beautiful story is set in the remote town of Verona. This play recounts a tale of two star-crossed lovers, forbidden to pursue their inescapable love due to the long history of a violent family feud. Passion is strongly represented in Romeo and Juliet’s undying romance. As the story continues, passionate and uncontrolled anger is clearly expressed, fuelled by the noxious hatred of the family’s feud, intensifying as the plot progresses.

Ovid’s Pyramus & Thisbe, and William Shakespeare’s Romeo & Juliet are both stories about ill-fated love. With each story we can see that there is a tragic couple, the female, Thisbe represents Juliet, while the male, Pyramus represents Romeo, vise versa for each. In Pyramus & Thisbe, the two lovers communicate through the small chink in the wall. In Romeo & Juliet, the two lovers communicate through the Nurse by sending messages back and forth. In Romeo & Juliet, the meeting place is Friar Lawrence’s Cell, this represents the Tomb of Ninus in Pyramus & Thisbe, which is where they met up. Lastly, the deceiver in both stories is the main reason the tragedies happened.

Famous texts often have many similarities as it makes good discussions to find all the possible things that are very related to one another. These certain texts between Romeo and Juliet and Pyarum and Thisbe are almost so closely related, that there are infamous of resemblances that you can point out. There are the obvious general observations, but once you dig deep, you find that there are much more comparisons that meet the eye. Since they are so closely related, we are able to really truly understand the concepts that stand out through each reading. This will make our thoughts deeper and more powerful towards both texts. In Romeo and Juliet, the text is very similar to Pyramus and Thisbe through a love connection between characters even

Romeo and Juliet, a tragic love story between two-star crossed lovers, portrays themes that tend to revolve around young love. As the play introduces it’s two main characters, you soon see the challenge that the young lovers would have to face which lead them to the fate of death. The use of imagery and metaphoric language allows us to visualize the theme that is being set throughout the play. Shakespeare gave us several opportunities with his delicate word choice to understand the themes such as “love” and “duality of light and dark”. To help convey these themes to the given audience, Shakespeare carefully words the dialogue of each character to give us different views on each scene.

Some of the greatest writers of all time actually found the start of their best ideas and works from other artists. William Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet, for example, used the same archetype that the Greek writer Ovid used in his short story, “Pyramus and Thisbe.” In each story, two star-crossed lovers meet against the will of their parents, which soon leads to the pair’s demise. However, more than just the archetypical plot is shared between these two masterpieces. The tragedies of Romeo and Juliet and “Pyramus and Thisbe” both have their own representations of lack of communication, misinterpretation, and impassable obstacles for crucial information.

“The course of true love never did run smooth,” comments Lysander of love’s complications in an exchange with Hermia (Shakespeare I.i.136). Although the play A Midsummer Night’s Dream certainly deals with the difficulty of romance, it is not considered a true love story like Romeo and Juliet. Shakespeare, as he unfolds the story, intentionally distances the audience from the emotions of the characters so he can caricature the anguish and burdens endured by the lovers. Through his masterful use of figurative language, Shakespeare examines the theme of the capricious and irrational nature of love.