Two households, both alike in dignity,
In fair Verona, where we lay our scene,
From ancient grudge break to new mutiny,
Where civil blood makes civil hands unclean.
From forth the fatal loins of these two foes
A pair of star-cross'd lovers take their life;
Whose misadventured piteous overthrows
Do with their death bury their parents' strife.
The fearful passage of their death-mark'd love,
And the continuance of their parents' rage,
Which, but their children's end, nought could remove,
Is now the two hours' traffic of our stage;
The which if you with patient ears attend,
What here shall miss, our toil shall strive to mend.
In fair Verona, where we lay our scene,
From ancient grudge break to new mutiny,
Where civil blood makes civil hands unclean.
From forth the fatal loins of these two foes
A pair of star-cross'd lovers take their life;
Whose misadventured piteous overthrows
Do with their death bury their parents' strife.
The fearful passage of their death-mark'd love,
And the continuance of their parents' rage,
Which, but their children's end, nought could remove,
Is now the two hours' traffic of our stage;
The which if you with patient ears attend,
What here shall miss, our toil shall strive to mend.
(Prologue, Shakespeare)
Like Romeo and Juliet, Pyramus and Thisbe lived very close together, in similar homes, only separated by a wall. They were in love, but forbidden by their parents to be together. However, they still interacted lovingly with each other.
The deaths of these lovers is slightly different, but still has the same principle. Thisbe secretly escapes to a tomb to meet Pyramus and leaves upon the arrival of a lioness, dropping her cloak. The lioness tears the cloak apart, covering it with the blood dripping from its mouth, which then makes Pyramus believe that it's killed Thisbe. He kills himself and once Thisbe discovers this, she kills herself too. Now, in Romeo and Juliet, Romeo sees Juliet in her sleeping state, believing she is dead--killing himself. Once Juliet wakes and discovers Romeo, she commits suicide as well.
So we can all agree that both of these stories have the running theme of forbidden love, suicide and stupid, infatuated teenagers. Although they could not be together in the flesh, they will forever be together after death.
http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File%3ARomeo_at_Juliet's_balcony.jpg
"Love cannot be forbidden. Love can always find a way."
I agree with you, I see that the two stories are very similar. The stories seem to have the same theme of forbidden love.
ReplyDeleteGreat observations. Now, who can tell me WHY the stories are so similar?
ReplyDeleteThis makes me question if Shakespeare used help from Roman and Greek myths with his works. I mean the Renaissance was the rebirth of learning, art, etc that came from the rediscovery of ancient Rome and Greece.
ReplyDeleteThere is definitely a connection between Pyramus and Thisbe to Romeo and Juliet.
ReplyDeleteThe two stories are like parallels or very similar! I think they are similar because as Mrs. Whitley said in class, Shakespeare had an influence from the greek era.
ReplyDeleteGreat connection Laura. The similarity between the two stories was blatantly obvious. This makes me wonder things. Did Shakespeare get this from Greek mythology or did he create this himself?
ReplyDeleteRegardless I have to say that I like the Pyramus and Thisbe version of these star crossed lovers better than the story of Romeo and Juliet. I like it better because Romeo and Juliet seemed too radical and unreal to me. I thought that the lovers were too young and that ruined the story to me. The death of the characters in Pyramus and Thisbe was more realistic to me and I love realist literature.
Good Job Laura!
In my Shakespeare elective last year, we had a project in which we had to either defend Shakespeare writing his own work or him plagiarizing it. Clearly, Pyramus and Thisbe is the basis for Romeo and Juliet, but did Shakespeare give credit where it was due?
ReplyDeleteOne day last year I was reading Shakespeare and my brother told me that Shakespeare is the biggest plagiarizer in history. Absolutely distressed I emailed Ms. Whitley and asked her if this is true. She said Shakespeare did not plagiarize, but that that his story of Romeo and Juliet is simply inspiration from Pyramus ans Thisbe. So the myth was first. Great post Laura!
ReplyDeleteBrianne and Hilda stole my answer being that we all took Shakespeare as an elective, but I aggree with them100%. This is a great connection it is important to see the influence of other cultures in literature and that applies to even modern literature we read independantly.
ReplyDelete