Pyramus and Thisbe - wikipedia Pyramus and Thisbe For other uses of both `` Pyramus '' and `` Thisbe '', see Pyramus ( disambiguation ) and Thisbe ( disambiguation ). Thisbe, by John William Waterhouse, 1909. Pyramus and Thisbē are a pair of ill - fated lovers whose story forms part of Ovid 's Metamorphoses. The story has since been retold by many authors. Contents 1 Plot 2 Origins 3 Adaptations 3.1 Allusions 4 See also 5 Notes 6 References 6.1 Primary sources 6.2 Secondary sources 7 External links Plot In Ovid 's Metamorphoses, Pyramus and Thisbe are two lovers in the city of Babylon who occupy connected houses / walls, forbidden by their parents to be wed, because of their parents ' rivalry. Through a crack in one of the walls, they whisper their love for each other. They arrange to meet near Ninus ' tomb under a mulberry tree and state their feelings for each other. Thisbe arrives first, but upon seeing a lioness with a mouth bloody from a recent kill, she flees, leaving behind her veil. When Pyramus arrives he is horrified at the sight of Thisbe 's veil, assuming that a wild beast has killed her. Pyramus kills himself, falling on his sword in proper Babylonian fashion, and in turn splashing blood on the white mulberry leaves. Pyramus ' blood stains the white mulberry fruits, turning them dark. Thisbe returns, eager to tell Pyramus what had happened to her, but she finds Pyramus ' dead body under the shade of the mulberry tree. Thisbe, after a brief period of mourning, stabs herself with the same sword. In the end, the gods listen to Thisbe 's lament, and forever change the colour of the mulberry fruits into the stained colour to honour the forbidden love. Origins Ovid 's is the oldest surviving version of the story, published in 8 AD, but he adapted an existing etiological myth. While in Ovid 's telling Pyramus and Thisbe lived in Babylon and Ctesias had placed the tomb of his imagined king Ninus near that city, the myth probably originated in Cilicia ( part of Ninus ' Babylonian empire ) as Pyramos is the historical Greek name of the local Ceyhan River. The metamorphosis in the primary story involves Pyramus changing into this river and Thisbe into a nearby spring. A 2nd - century mosaic unearthed near Nea Paphos on Cyprus depicts this older version of the myth. Adaptations Pyramus and Thisbe by Gregorio Pagani. Uffizi Gallery. The story of Pyramus and Thisbe appears in Giovanni Boccaccio 's On Famous Women as biography number twelve ( sometimes thirteen ) and in his Decameron, in the fifth story on the seventh day, where a desperate housewife falls in love with her neighbor, and communicates with him through a crack in the wall, attracting his attention by dropping pieces of stone and straw through the crack. In the 1380s, Geoffrey Chaucer, in his The Legend of Good Women, and John Gower, in his Confessio Amantis, were the first to tell the story in English. Gower altered the story somewhat into a cautionary tale. John Metham 's Amoryus and Cleopes ( 1449 ) is another early English adaptation. The tragedy of Romeo and Juliet ultimately sprang from Ovid 's story. Here the star - crossed lovers can not be together because Juliet has been engaged by her parents to another man and the two families hold an ancient grudge. As in Pyramus and Thisbe, the mistaken belief in one lover 's death leads to consecutive suicides. The earliest version of Romeo and Juliet was published in 1476 by Masuccio Salernitano, while it mostly obtained its present form when written down in 1524 by Luigi da Porto. Salernitano and Da Porto both are thought to have been inspired by Ovid and Boccaccio 's writing. Shakespeare 's most famous 1590s adaptation is a dramatization of Arthur Brooke 's 1562 poem The Tragical History of Romeus and Juliet, itself a translation of a French translation of Da Porto 's novella. In Shakespeare 's A Midsummer Night 's Dream ( Act V, sc 1 ), written in the 1590s, a group of `` mechanicals '' enact the story of `` Pyramus and Thisbe ''. Their production is crude and, for the most part, badly done until the final monologues of Nick Bottom, as Pyramus and Francis Flute, as Thisbe. The theme of forbidden love is also present in A Midsummer Night 's Dream ( albeit a less tragic and dark representation ) in that a girl, Hermia, is not able to marry the man she loves, Lysander, because her father Egeus despises him and wishes for her to marry Demetrius, and meanwhile Hermia and Lysander are confident that Helena is in love with Demetrius. Spanish poet Luis de Góngora wrote a Fábula de Píramo y Tisbe in 1618, while French poet Théophile de Viau wrote Les amours tragiques de Pyrame et Thisbée, a tragedy in five acts, in 1621. In 1718 Giuseppe Antonio Brescianello wrote his only opera `` La Tisbe '' for Württemberg court. François Francoeur and François Rebel composed Pirame et Thisbée, a lyric tragedy in 5 acts and a prologue, with libretto by Jean - Louis - Ignace de La Serre ; it was played at the Académie royale de musique, on October 17, 1726. The story was adapted by John Frederick Lampe as a `` Mock Opera '' in 1745, containing a singing `` Wall '' which was described as `` the most musical partition that was ever heard. '' In 1768 in Vienna, Johann Adolph Hasse composed a serious opera on the tale, titled Piramo e Tisbe. Edmond Rostand adapted the tale from Romeo and Juliet, making the fathers of the lovers conspire to bring their children together by pretending to forbid their love, in Les Romanesques, whose musical adaptation, Fantasticks, became the world 's longest - running musical. Allusions In Geoffrey Chaucer 's ' The Merchant 's Tale ' from The Canterbury Tales ( 1389 - 1400 ), the two illicit lovers Damian and May are likened to Pyramus and Thisbe for their forbidden love. In Fernando de Rojas ' book La Celestina or Tragicomedy of Calisto and Melibea ( 1499 ), Calisto talks briefly about the unfortunate Pyramus and Thisbe. In part I of Miguel de Cervantes ' novel Don Quixote ( 1605 ), when Cardenio relates the story of Luscinda and himself, he refers to `` that famous Thisbe ''. In part II of Miguel de Cervantes ' novel Don Quixote ( 1615 ), the poet Don Lorenzo recites a sonnet he has written on the story of Pyramus and Thisbe. There is a chapter entitled `` Pyramus and Thisbe '' in Alexandre Dumas ' The Count of Monte Cristo ( 1844 - 45 ), alluding to the secret romance between Maximillian Morrel and Valentine de Villefort. In Edmond Rostand 's play Cyrano de Bergerac ( 1897 ), Cyrano mocks his `` traitorous nose '' in `` parody of weeping Pyramus '' during his `` nose monologue ''. In Louisa May Alcott 's short story `` A Hole in the Wall '' a tale of two children in Victorian Boston. Part I of the story includes this last paragraph : `` Thus ended the first interview of little Pyramus and Thisbe through the hole in the wall, while Puss sat up above and played moonshine with her yellow eyes. '' A Round Dozen ( 1963 ) page 27. In Edith Wharton 's short story `` The House of the Dead Hand '', published in the Atlantic Monthly in 1904, the romance between Sybilla and Count Ottoviano is seen as `` a new Pyramus and Thisbe ''. In Willa Cather 's novel O Pioneers ! ( 1913 ), two of the story 's lovers are killed under a Mulberry Tree. In Luis Rafael Sánchez 's play `` Sol 13 Interior '' ( 1961 ), the elderly married couple is called Piramo and Tisbe, in obvious reference to the doomed couple. In this play, in the part called `` La Hiel Nuestra de Cada Día '' ( Our Daily Gall ) the couple is aging and poor when they are separated by death caused from a life of hard knocks. The Beatles made a parody of A Midsummer Night 's Dream 's version of Pyramus and Thisbe for the 400th anniversary of Shakespeare 's birth. It was transmitted on the one - hour TV special `` Around The Beatles '' on May 6, 1964. In Roy Jenkins 's 2001 biography of Winston Churchill, Jenkins referred to `` a Pyramus and Thisbe - like conversation '' that Churchill had with a fellow British prisoner of war through the fence of a South African prison camp during the Boer War. In Gail Carriger 's novel Changeless ( 2010 ), Ivy Hisselpenny says that she loves Mr. Tunstell `` as Pyramid did Thirsty '', a comically inaccurate reference. In Ernest Saves Christmas, Santa Claus 's helper elves are named Pyramid and Thisbe. In The Simpsons ( 23X13 / 2012 ) episode `` The Daughter Also Rises '', Grandpa Simpson talks to Lisa about Pyramus & Thisbe. See also Star - crossed Pyramus and Thisbe Club, a UK organisation concerned with party wall legislation Notes Jump up ^ Miller, John F. ; Newlands, Carole E. ( 2014 ). A Handbook to the Reception of Ovid. John Wiley & Sons. p. 38 - 39. ISBN 1118876121. Jump up ^ Virginia Brown 's translation of Giovanni Boccaccio 's Famous Women, pp. 27 - 30 ; Harvard University Press 2001 ; ISBN 0 - 674 - 01130 - 9 Jump up ^ Prunster, Nicole ( 2000 ). Romeo and Juliet Before Shakespeare : Four Early Stories of Star - crossed Love. Toronto : Centre for Reformation and Renaissance Studies. ISBN 0772720150. Jump up ^ Recorded on Hyperion Records, CDA66759 References Primary sources Ovid, Metamorphoses iv. 55 - 166 Secondary sources Bulfinch, Thomas, The Age of Fable ; Or, Stories of Gods and Heroes ( 2nd ed. ), Sanborn, Carter, and Bazin, 1856 External links Wikimedia Commons has media related to Pyramus and Thisbe. Pyramus and Thisbe performed by The Beatles Carlos Parada, Greek Mythology link : Pyramus and Thisbe pXt A visual novel adaptation of the story from A Midsummer Night 's Dream William Shakespeare 's Romeo and Juliet Characters Romeo Juliet Mercutio Tybalt Benvolio Friar Laurence Nurse Paris Rosaline Queen Mab Atomy Sources The Tragical History of Romeus and Juliet Pyramus and Thisbe Palace of Pleasure Troilus and Criseyde Ballets Romeo and Juliet ( 1938, Prokofiev ) Romeo and Juliet ( 1962, Cranko ) Romeo and Juliet ( 1965, MacMillan ) Romeo and Juliet ( 1977, Nureyev ) Romeo and Juliet ( 1965, Lavery ) Radio and Juliet ( 2005 ) Romeo + Juliet ( 2007, Martins ) Romeo and Juliet ( 2008, Pastor ) Operas Romeo und Julie ( 1776, Benda ) Giulietta e Romeo ( 1796, Zingarelli ) Giulietta e Romeo ( 1825, Vaccai ) I Capuleti ei Montecchi ( 1830, Bellini ) Gloria ( 1874, Cilea ) Roméo et Juliette ( 1867, Gounod ) A Village Romeo and Juliet ( 1907, Delius ) Romeo und Julia ( 1940, Sutermeister ) Musicals The Belle of Mayfair ( 1906 ) West Side Story ( 1957 ) Once on This Island ( 1990 ) Roméo et Juliette, de la Haine à l'Amour ( 2001 ) Giulietta e Romeo ( 2007 ) Classical Beethoven 's String Quartet No. 1 ( c. 1800 ) Roméo et Juliette ( 1839, Berlioz ) Romeo and Juliet ( 1870, Tchaikovsky ) On screen 1900 1908 1916 Metro Pictures 1916 Fox 1936 1953 1954 1955 1968 1978 ( TV ) 1992 ( TV ) 2006 2007 2013 Film adaptations English Beneath the 12 - Mile Reef ( 1953 ) Romanoff and Juliet ( 1961 ) West Side Story ( 1961 ) Gonks Go Beat ( 1965 ) Lonesome Cowboys ( 1968 ) The Secret Sex Lives of Romeo and Juliet ( 1969 ) Romie - 0 and Julie - 8 ( TV ; 1979 ) The Tragedy of Romeo and Juliet ( 1982 ) Valley Girl ( 1983 ) Bullies ( 1986 ) China Girl ( 1987 ) Romeo. Juliet ( 1990 ) Tromeo and Juliet ( 1996 ) Love Is All There Is ( 1996 ) Rose by Any Other Name... ( 1997 ) The Lion King II : Simba 's Pride ( 1998 ) Shakespeare in Love ( 1998 ) The Magical Legend of the Leprechauns ( 1999 ) Romeo Must Die ( 2000 ) Brooklyn Babylon ( 2001 ) Pizza My Heart ( TV ; 2005 ) West Bank Story ( 2005 ) Life and Lyrics ( 2006 ) Romeo & Juliet : Sealed with a Kiss ( 2006 ) Rome & Jewel ( 2006 ) David & Fatima ( 2008 ) The Cross Road ( 2008 ) Vicious Circle ( 2008 ) Gnomeo & Juliet ( 2011 ) Private Romeo ( 2011 ) Warm Bodies ( 2013 ) Make Your Move ( 2013 ) Romeo & Juliet ( 2013 ) Gnomeo & Juliet : Sherlock Gnomes ( 2018 ) Foreign Ambikapathy ( Tamil 1937 ) Romeo and Juliet ( Spanish 1940 ) Les amants de Vérone ( French 1949 ) Romeo, Juliet and Darkness ( Czech 1960 ) Los Tarantos ( Spanish 1963 ) Fury of Johnny Kid ( Italian 1967 ) Ma che musica maestro ( Italian 1971 ) Maro Charitra ( Telugu 1978 ) Mônica e Cebolinha : No Mundo de Romeu e Julieta ( Portuguese 1979 ) Ek Duuje Ke Liye ( Hindi 1981 ) The Sea Prince and the Fire Child ( Japanese 1981 ) Qayamat Se Qayamat Tak ( Hindi 1988 ) Saudagar ( Hindi 1991 ) The Phantom Lover ( Mandarin 1995 ) 30 : e november ( Swedish / Spanish 1995 ) Akkada Ammayi Ikkada Abbayi ( Telugu 1996 ) Chicken Rice War ( Cantonese / English 2000 ) Kalisundam Raa ( Telugu 2000 ) Kuch Tum Kaho Kuch Hum Kahein ( Hindi 2002 ) Bollywood Queen ( English / Hindi 2002 ) Amar te duele ( Spanish 2002 ) Ondagona Baa ( Kannada 2003 ) Mamay ( Ukrainian 2003 ) The District ! ( Hungarian 2004 ) O Casamento de Romeu e Julieta ( Portuguese 2005 ) In Fair Palestine : A Story of Romeo and Juliet ( 2006 ) The Bubble ( Hebrew / Arabic 2006 ) Maro Charitra ( Telugu 2010 ) Goliyon Ki Raasleela Ram - Leela ( Hindi 2013 ) Issaq ( Hindi 2013 ) Priyatama ( Marathi 2014 ) Arshinagar ( Bengali 2015 ) TV series Sons and Daughters ( 1982 ) Family and Friends ( 1990 ) Villa Quintana ( 1995 ) Yo amo a Paquita Gallego ( 1998 ) Skin ( 2003 ) A Touch Away ( 2006 ) Dangerous ( 2007 ) Romeo × Juliet ( 2007 ) Romeo y Julieta ( 2007 ) Saints & Sinners ( 2007 ) Harina de otro costal ( 2010 ) Villa Quintana ( 2013 ) Westside ( 2013 pilot ) Star - Crossed ( 2014 ) Still Star - Crossed ( 2017 ) Plays Romanoff and Juliet ( 1956 ) Romeo and Juliet ( 2013 ) Songs Lan và Điệp ( 1930s ) `` Montagues and Capulets '' ( 1935 ) `` Fever '' ( 1956 ) Love Theme from Romeo and Juliet ( 1968 ) `` ( Do n't Fear ) The Reaper '' ( 1976 ) `` Angelo '' ( 1978 ) `` Romeo and Juliet '' ( 1978 ) `` Romeo and Juliet '' ( 1981 ) `` Cherish '' ( 1989 ) `` Amor Prohibido '' ( 1994 ) `` Kissing You '' ( 1996 ) `` Exit Music '' ( 1997 ) `` Romeo and Juliet '' ( 1998 ) `` Starcrossed '' ( 2004 ) `` Peut - être toi '' ( 2006 ) `` Mademoiselle Juliette '' ( 2007 ) `` Love Story '' ( 2008 ) `` Love Me Again '' ( 2013 ) Albums Romeo and Juliet ( 1968 ) Romeo + Juliet ( 1996 ) Romeo & Julia ( 2006 ) Tragic Lovers ( 2008 ) Literature Les Chouans The Wandering Jew ( 1844 ) The Stolen Dormouse ( 1941 ) The Faraway Lurs ( 1963 ) Romiette and Julio ( 2001 ) New Moon ( 2006 ) Warm Bodies ( 2010 ) Art Romeo and Juliet : the Tomb Scene ( 1790 ) Romeo and Juliet ( 1978 ) Phrases `` Star - crossed '' `` A rose by any other name would smell as sweet '' Story within a story Nicholas Nickleby 1912 film 1947 film 1980 play 2001 film 2002 film The Picture of Dorian Gray 1910 film 1913 film 1915 film 1916 film 1917 film 1918 film 1945 film 1976 TV special 2009 film Harlequinade W Juliet `` Nothing Broken but My Heart '' Panic Button Bare : A Pop Opera `` '' Into the Light '' Bolji život The Sky Is Everywhere Pay as You Exit The White Mercedes She Died a Lady `` Moonshine River '' Rendez - vous Fame `` I Am Unicorn '' The Frog Prince Molly Smart Girls Get What They Want Tumbleweeds `` The Thief of Baghead '' The Songs of a Sentimental Bloke Prince Charming Km. 0 Phileine Says Sorry Hamateur Night `` Say You 'll Be Mine '' Into the Gauntlet Wandering Son K - On ! Foreign stories Adam Khan and Durkhanai Tum Teav Yusuf Khan and Sherbano Solomon & Gaenor Butterfly Lovers Hani and Sheh Mureed Lục Vân Tiên film Teav Aek Layla and Majnun Lovers of Teruel film Lord Saltoun and Auchanachie Ishaqzaade Other Such Tweet Sorrow Romeo and Juliet effect After Juliet `` Upper West Side Story '' ( 2012 ) Millennium Dome Show Inge Sylten and Heinz Drosihn Boys Do n't Cry My Wedding and Other Secrets Donkey in Lahore Upside Down Letters to Juliet Book : Romeo and Juliet William Shakespeare 's A Midsummer Night 's Dream Characters Lovers Theseus and Hippolyta Oberon and Titania Hermia and Lysander Helena and Demetrius Mechanicals Nick Bottom Peter Quince Francis Flute Robin Starveling Tom Snout Snug Other characters Puck Egeus Philostrate Film 1909 1935 1959 1968 1969 1999 Television 1980 1992 2016 Stage A Midsummer Night 's Dream ( 1970, play ) The Park ( 1983, play ) The Donkey Show ( 1999, musical ) The Dreaming ( 2001, musical ) Ballet A Midsummer Night 's Dream ( 1962 ) The Dream ( 1964 ) Opera The Fairy - Queen ( 1692 ) Pyramus and Thisbe ( 1745 ) Puck ( 1949 ) A Midsummer Night 's Dream ( 1960, opera ) The Enchanted Island ( 2011 ) Film adaptations Wood Love ( 1925 ) Dream of a Summer Night ( 1983 ) Get Over It ( 2001 ) A Midsummer Night 's Rave ( 2002 ) Midsummer Dream ( 2005 ) Were the World Mine ( 2008 ) Strange Magic ( 2015 ) Other adaptations The Triumph of Beauty ( 1646 ) St. John 's Eve ( 1852 ) `` Fascination '' ( 1994 ) Literature A Midsummer Tempest ( 1974 ) A Midsummer Night 's Gene ( 1997 ) A Midsummer 's Nightmare ( 1997 ) Lords and Ladies ( 1992 ) The Great Night ( 2011 ) Comics Auberon Faerie Titania Music A Midsummer Night 's Dream ( 1842, Mendelssohn ) Wedding March ( 1842, Mendelssohn ) Three Shakespeare Songs ( 1951 ) Symphony No. 8 ( 1992, Henze ) Il Sogno ( 2004 ) Art Hermia and Lysander The Quarrel of Oberon and Titania Scene from A Midsummer Night 's Dream Related The Sandman : Dream Country ( 1991 ) Pyramus and Thisbe Mechanical Love - in - idleness The Apartment ( 1996 ) Wicker Park ( 2004 ) `` Pyramus and Thisbe '' from Ovid 's Metamorphoses Operas Pirame et Thisbé ( 1726 Francoeur and Rebel ) Pyramus and Thisbe ( 1745 Lampe ) Piramo e Tisbe ( 1768 Hasse ) Other `` Amoryus and Cleopes '' ( poem ) Related A Midsummer Night 's Dream Romeo and Juliet GND : 121796779 BNF : cb150990257 ( data ) Retrieved from `` https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Pyramus_and_Thisbe&oldid=798240120 '' Categories : Ancient Cilicia Greek mythology Roman mythology Romeo and Juliet A Midsummer Night 's Dream Hidden categories : All articles with unsourced statements Articles with unsourced statements from January 2013 Wikipedia articles with GND identifiers Wikipedia articles with BNF identifiers Talk Contents About Wikipedia Brezhoneg Deutsch Español Esperanto Français Galego Italiano עברית Latina Nederlands 日本 語 Norsk Occitan Polski Русский Slovenščina Suomi Tiếng Việt Edit links This page was last edited on 31 August 2017, at 19 : 16. 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Question: who wrote pyramus and thisbe in midsummer night dream
Answer: Shakespeare