Question

Read the excerpts from Ovid’s Pyramus and Thisbe and Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet.

"Pyramus and Thisbe"

They had no confidant—and so used signs:
with these each lover read the other's mind:
when covered, fire acquires still more force.

Romeo and Juliet

Romeo: [. . .] It is enough I may but call her mine.

Friar Lawrence: These violent delights have violent ends
And in their triumph die, like fire and powder,
Which, as they kiss, consume. The sweetest honey
Is loathsome in his own deliciousness
And in the taste confounds the appetite.
Therefore love moderately. Long love doth so.
Too swift arrives as tardy as too slow.

Which statement best describes the difference between these excerpts?

Only Ovid shows his male character searching for a more suitable companion.
Only Shakespeare reveals a character’s doubts about his beloved.
Only Shakespeare shows a character warning against a doomed relationship.

Answer 1

Only Shakespeare shows a character warning against a doomed relationship.

Ovid’s lines describe hidden passion growing stronger, while Friar Lawrence explicitly warns that "violent delights have violent ends" and urges moderation, i.e., a warning about the dangers of an overly rapid/passionate relationship.