The themes of Romeo and Juliet and Ovid’s "Pyramus and Thisbe" are similar in that they both present forbidden love. In each story, the lovers are kept apart by external circumstances – in Romeo and Juliet, their families are embroiled in a bitter feud, while in Pyramus and Thisbe, their love is thwarted by a wall that separates them and societal constraints. Both narratives explore the intensity of their love and the tragic consequences that arise from being unable to be together.
Read the excerpt from Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet.
Juliet: If they do see thee, they will murder thee.
Romeo: Alack, there lies more peril in thine eye
Than twenty of their swords: look thou but sweet,
And I am proof against their enmity.
Juliet: I would not for the world they saw thee here.
Romeo: I have night's cloak to hide me from their sight;
And but thou love me, let them find me here:
My life were better ended by their hate,
Than death prorogued, wanting of thy love
How are the themes of Romeo and Juliet and Ovid’s "Pyramus and Thisbe" similar?
Both address the cruelty of war.
Both present forbidden love.
Both discuss life after death.
Both show sibling rivalries.
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