Strong Love Theme of Pyramus and Thisbe and Romeo and Juliet (Essay Sample)

Love is a strong emotion, sometimes it can lead to reckless decisions, other times it can lead to death. The Tragedy of Romeo and Juliet and “Pyramus and Thisbe” are two texts that show how strong love is. The story of “Pyramus and Thisbe” by Ovid, is thought to have influenced Shakespeare’s place, The Tragedy of Romeo and Juliet, with similar obstacles, story events, and themes within each piece. Shakespeare and Ovid tell different stories of two lovers who are forbidden to love each other and eventually lead to making impactful decisions. However, there are more relations between the two texts besides the lovers’ fates.

The Tragedy of Romeo and Juliet and “Pyramus of Thisbe” share similarities in how the families were an obstacle between the two lovers. Romeo and Juliet have dealt with the family feud since the beginning, it not only affects them but the other people as well. During the introduction of the story, the chorus told us the situation within the families,  

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. (1.Prologue.1-4)

While others are included in the feud, it mainly affects the children of the families because they’re in love with each other. It did not stop the two from loving each other, it put a halt to their love which made it grow stronger than before. In both stories, the families were against each other in some way, Romeo and Juliet had a family feud and Pyramus and Thisbe’s parents disapproved of their love. With The Tragedy of Romeo and Juliet being a prime example of how love can spark between enemies, “Pyramus and Thisbe” shows how two people can connect even with their families disapproving of each other. In addition, Ovid explained their status to each other, “Growing up thus side by side they learned to love each other. They longed to marry, but their parents forbade.” (2). Pyramus and Thisbe grew up next to each other making them fall in love slowly, they planned to marry however, their family forbade it, further forbidding them from loving each other. However, they still found ways to communicate and their love strengthened each passing day. The two pairs of lovers had their families against each other which made their love forbidden, but their family was one of the biggest obstacles they had to deal with throughout their story. But as much as their families were against their love they still found ways to communicate and fall for each other harder than before. 

Story events also played a big part in their love, making it even harder for them to peacefully love each other. Miscommunication between Romeo and Juliet was seen throughout the story, considering they were not allowed to see each other they had others deliver messages for the two. Friar Lawrence was in charge of sending a letter to Romeo to make sure that Romeo would not believe Juliet was truly dead, upon the messenger returning to Friar, he realized the message was not delivered, 

The letter was not nice, but full of charge, 

or dear import; and the neglective it: 

May do much danger. (5.2.17-20)

The letter included important information and the message not being delivered created even greater risks, making Romeo believe Juliet was dead. Pyramus and Thisbe have a similar situation to Romeo and Juliet, however, it was not a message that was needed to be delivered but rather the cloak Thisbe was wearing made her seem she was dead. With the two running away together, Thisbe ran away before Pyramus and ran into a situation with a lioness and tore her cloak apart, “Before he lay the bloodstained shred of the cloak and clear in the dust were the tracks of the lioness.” (5). While she was not dead, her torn and bloodied cloak made Pyramus believe she was, as he did not know why her cloak lay there and she did not. The two stories being similar with the events that show signify the miscommunication each lover has, one believing the other was dead, it only leads to further events into the story that unfortunately tells the tragic fate of the two.

With the previous comparison between The Tragedy of Romeo and Juliet and “Pyramus and Thisbe”, the biggest similarity between the two is the theme of how love cannot be forbidden, for it will only grow stronger. Romeo and Juliet’s love was forbidden due to the family feud, however, it did not stop the love between the two, the chorus tells 

Doth 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. (1.Prologue.8-11)

The battle between the two households did not stop the love from strengthening, as well as the deaths of Romeo and Juliet did not stop the two from loving each other either. Within each text, it is visibly shown that the lovers deal with the situation of their love being forbidden. The Tragedy of Romeo and Juliet is mainly the family feud and other things, but in “Pyramus and Thisbe” it is the parents themselves. The parents did not accept the love between the two children so they tried stopping it which further leads onto the text explaining, “Love, however, cannot be forbidden. The more that flame is covered up, the hotter it burns.” (2).  No matter how hard the parents of the two stopped them from communicating with each other, Pyramus and Thisbe still found ways and it only made the love between them grow stronger. Both of the authors have constant similarities with the theme of forbidden love, and how you cannot ignore such a strong emotion because it will only strengthen. The themes of the two texts relate, showing that the texts have a similar theme with forbidden love.

While the two stories are both known separately, the similarities within the two texts are visible, it is the reason why many believe that Shakespeare got inspiration from Ovid. Even though the two stories end with the lovers dying, the events within the story correspond with each other many times. From the events to the obstacles, and the main theme of each piece, they all relate to each other in more than one way. The families within the stories are a major aspect to the forbidden love, the miscommunication within the texts that lead to the death of the lovers, and forbidden love being one of the main themes of each story, all of these points back up the belief of Ovid being Shakespeare’s inspiration. While there are a lot more key points, these three similarities are more relevant than the rest that are shown.