Midsummer Night's Dream

Question

by William Shakespeare

THISBE.

O wall, full often hast thou heard my moans,

For parting my fair Pyramus and me.

My cherry lips have often kiss’d thy stones,

Thy stones with lime and hair knit up in thee.

PYRAMUS.

I see a voice; now will I to the chink,

To spy an I can hear my Thisbe’s face.

Thisbe?

THISBE.

My love thou art, my love I think.

PYRAMUS.

Think what thou wilt, I am thy lover’s grace;

And like Limander am I trusty still.

THISBE.

And I like Helen, till the fates me kill.

PYRAMUS.

Not Shafalus to Procrus was so true.

THISBE.

As Shafalus to Procrus, I to you.

PYRAMUS.

O kiss me through the hole of this vile wall.

THISBE.

I kiss the wall’s hole, not your lips at all.

PYRAMUS.

Wilt thou at Ninny’s tomb meet me straightway?

THISBE.

’Tide life, ’tide death, I come without delay.

WALL.

Thus have I, Wall, my part discharged so;

And, being done, thus Wall away doth go.

[Exeunt WALL, PYRAMUS and THISBE.]The Metamorphoses
by Ovid

The party-wall, common to the two houses, was cleft by a small chink, which it had got formerly, when it was built. This defect, remarked by no one for so many ages, you lovers (what does not love perceive?) first found one, and you made it a passage for your voices, and the accents of love used to pass through it in safety, with the gentlest murmur. Oftentimes, after they had taken their stations, Thisbe on one side, and Pyramus on the other, and the breath of their mouths had been mutually caught by turns, they used to say, ‘Envious wall, why dost thou stand in the way of lovers? what great matter were it, for thee to suffer us to be joined with our entire bodies? Or if that is too much, that, at least, thou shouldst open, for the exchange of kisses. Nor are we ungrateful; we confess that we are indebted to thee, that a passage has been given for our words to our loving ears.’ Having said this much, in vain, on their respective sides, about night they said, ‘Farewell’; and gave those kisses each on their own side, which did not reach the other side.

"The Metamorphoses" by Ovid

Question
Use the passages to answer the question. Select Passage 1 and Passage 2.

How does Shakespeare transform Ovid’s source material? Select the two correct answers.

(1 point)
Responses

Shakespeare uses Ovid’s source material to make the story new for new audiences.
Shakespeare uses Ovid’s source material to make the story new for new audiences.

Ovid’s story uses source material from an older story and makes it relevant to a new audience.
Ovid’s story uses source material from an older story and makes it relevant to a new audience.

Shakespeare takes Ovid’s story and puts it into dialogue to be performed by actors.
Shakespeare takes Ovid’s story and puts it into dialogue to be performed by actors.

Shakespeare has Thisbe talk to the wall, but Ovid does not.
Shakespeare has Thisbe talk to the wall, but Ovid does not.

Ovid’s story is a comedy, but Shakespeare turns it into a tragedy.
Ovid’s story is a comedy, but Shakespeare turns it into a tragedy.
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Answer 1

Shakespeare transforms Ovid’s source material in the following ways:

1. Shakespeare uses Ovid’s source material to make the story new for new audiences. - This reflects how Shakespeare adapts the tale for his own time, making it relatable and entertaining for the audience of the Elizabethan era.

2. Shakespeare takes Ovid’s story and puts it into dialogue to be performed by actors. - Shakespeare's work is a play, which presents the story through dialogue among characters, making it suitable for theatrical performance, whereas Ovid’s version is a narrative poem.

These two answers accurately highlight how Shakespeare transformed Ovid's original material into a new format and for a different audience.