Romeo and Juliet Paper The “tragic romance” storyline has captivated audiences in many different forms for centuries. A work that follows the storyline particularly well can find itself catapulted to becoming one of the most popular works in its respective genre. It is not difficult to call to mind examples of famous works that are centered, at least partly, on a romance doomed to disaster. Two of the most well-known works that follow the “tragic romance” plot are William Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet and Ovid’s “Pyramus and Thisbe”. Both works center around highly emotional characters whose parents forbid their love; however, the stories teach somewhat different lessons to their audiences. One of the most striking and clear similarities
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Romeo and Juliet shows the audience time and time again throughout the play that love is stronger than hate and that impulsive decisions can be very harmful. Shakespeare encourages the audience to consider this when he writes that “for never was a story of more woe than this of Juliet and her Romeo” (Shakespeare 5.3.309). In ending the play on such a tragic note, Shakespeare drives home the point that love is stronger than hate and that emotionally driven, impulsive decisions are rarely good ones. The messages that “Pyramus and Thisbe” sends are similar to those of Romeo and Juliet, but also add in a separate lesson when Thisbe begs the mulberry tree: “Keep in remembrance always the sign of our death, the dark and mournful color”(Ovid 123). Like Romeo and Juliet, “Pyramus and Thisbe” also cautions against emotional decisions, but combines this with the purpose of a myth, which is to explain something in nature; in this case, the color of mulberries. While many things appear to be the same in both stories, the lessons that each story teaches are one of the most obvious deviations from the other
Romeo and Juliet shows the audience time and time again throughout the play that love is stronger than hate and that impulsive decisions can be very harmful. Shakespeare encourages the audience to consider this when he writes that “for never was a story of more woe than this of Juliet and her Romeo” (Shakespeare 5.3.309). In ending the play on such a tragic note, Shakespeare drives home the point that love is stronger than hate and that emotionally driven, impulsive decisions are rarely good ones. The messages that “Pyramus and Thisbe” sends are similar to those of Romeo and Juliet, but also add in a separate lesson when Thisbe begs the mulberry tree: “Keep in remembrance always the sign of our death, the dark and mournful color”(Ovid 123). Like Romeo and Juliet, “Pyramus and Thisbe” also cautions against emotional decisions, but combines this with the purpose of a myth, which is to explain something in nature; in this case, the color of mulberries. While many things appear to be the same in both stories, the lessons that each story teaches are one of the most obvious deviations from the other