A very touching love story that is sure to move anyone who reads it is that of Pyramus and Thisbe. Theirs was a
selfless love and they made sure that even in death, they were together. The tale has its origins in the Roman
Mythology. It is best recounted by Ovid and the passion of love that blossomed between the two young lovers
enthralls readers even today.
Pyramus was the most handsome man and was a childhood friend of Thisbe, the fairest maiden in Babylonia.
Pyramus and Thisbe were neighbors. They both lived in neighboring homes and fell in love with each other as they
grew up together. However, their parents were dead against them marrying each other. Their parents were totally
against their union, leaving the young lovers with no option but burn the light of love brightly in their hearts and
meet surreptitiously if they can. Over the years, the lovers could only talk through a hole in their wall because their
parents refused them to see each other.
Finally, Pyramus got fed up with his parents and so did Thisbe. One day while whispering through a crack in the
wall, they decided to meet the next night under a mulberry tree near tomb of Ninus. They decided to elope then.
So, the next night, just before the crack of dawn, while everyone was asleep, they decided to slip out of their homes
and meet in the nearby fields near a mulberry tree. Thisbe reached there first, covered with a cloak. As she waited
under the tree, she saw a lioness coming near the spring close by to quench its thirst. Its jaws were bloody, from a
previous kill that day. When Thisbe saw this horrifying sight, she panicked and ran to hide in some hollow rocks
nearby. As she was running, she dropped her cloak.
The lion, on hearing the shriek, came near the tree where Thisbe was initially waiting. The creature picked up the
cloak in its bloody jaws. Then it tattered the cloak with its blood-stained mouth, leaves it on the ground and goes
away.
Soon after, Pyramus arrived at the appointed spot and saw Thisbe's cloak, his love gift to her, covered in blood
and torn to pieces with the footprints of the lioness left behind. He immediately thought that his only love had
been killed by a hungry lion. He is completely devastated. He thought that the lion had just hunted down Thisbe
and blamed himself to be the cause of her death. Had he not been late, could the lion have killed Thisbe?
Shattered, he prepared to kill himself. Without any haste, he unsheathed his sword (her love gift to him), letting
the cold, hard steel pierce his broken heart. He pierced his chest with his own sword.
Meanwhile, unknown to what just happened, Thisbe was still hiding in the rocks due to the fear of the lion. When
she came out from her hiding place after sometime and came under the mulberry tree once more, she saw the
body of a man writhing in pain. Thisbe, bringing courage to her heart, ran towards the man and was shocked
when he found her only love lying on the ground next to the blood-covered Mulberry bush with his own sword
impaling his chest.
She gasped in horror as she asked the still breathing Pyramus what happened. Barely able to stay awake, he told
her what happened and she cried out in sorrow. Pyramus died soon after leaving Thisbe totally shattered.
"What would I do in this world without my Pyramus?" thought the grief-stricken Thisbe. She resolves to finish herself
too.
She brought out from Pyramus' chest his blood-stained sword. Then she said to the dead Pyramus:
"Wait for me my love. I'm coming to you."
Then she brought the blade into her own soft flesh. Thus they died together, in love and peace.
It is said that this is the reason why the berries on the Mulberry bush are red, instead of their original white, in
commemoration of the two young lovers and their great sacrifice.
MARTYN
Critical Thinking Questions
Use Pyramus and Thisbe to answer the following:
1. Who has the most power in the story? Why and how do you know?
2. Now, consider the most powerful figure in the story. Based on this understanding, interpret the
message that the story is sending about love or life.
Now, use this knowledge to answer the following questions about Act I scene ii
Re-read lines 66-81 on page 13 about the lion’s roar.
3. What does Bottom want to do with his roar at first? What do the others say will happen?
4. What does he decide to do with his roar as a result of what the others say?
5. Considering this, what might Shakespeare’s message be, with regard to society? With regard to
power?
Read the following summary about a story, also written by Ovid, then answer the
question
Philomela, after being assaulted and mutilated by her sister's husband, Tereus,
obtains her revenge and is transformed into a nightingale. The nightingale is a bird
native to Europe and southwest Asia noted for its song. Because of the violence
associated with the myth, the song of the nightingale is often depicted or
interpreted as a sorrowful lament. Coincidentally, in nature, the female nightingale
is mute and only the male of the species sings.
6. Draw a conclusion about why Shakespeare would have chosen this bird, in particular, for Bottom to
reference.