Ovid's Tragedies

There have been many love stories written, some, more famous than others. Two of these love stories are Pyramus and Thisbe by Ovid and The Tragedy of Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare. These two love stories have many similarities and differences within them. Shakespeare used many of the thoughts from Pyramus and Thisbe and incorporated them in his tragedy. The two plays had many similarities throughout their storylines. They both shared the same sort of tragedy. “She plunged into her heart the sword that was still wet with his life’s blood” (Ovid 489). Shakespeare utilized this double death circumstance in his tragedy. It is indistinguishable that Shakespeare used some elements of Ovid’s love story and integrated them in his own tragedy.
In both stories the two star crossed lovers are so in love they are willing to kill themselves for each other. However there is more rationale behind why the two tragedies are similar in plot. Other similarities are shown throughout these two dramas as well.
The couple of stories both had a a plan that epicly misfired and caused the two to parish. “The plan pleased them”(Ovid 488). Both regrettable plans failed, causing the couples to croak. In both cases the tragedies were the ramification of a misconception. Shakespeare utilized in his tragedy a plan analogous to the one in Ovid’s story. Overall the two plays share a significant amount of resemblances. Nevertheless the two are not completely the same and actually have an abundance of differences. On the contrary to the first two paragraphs the two works are in fact very different. Namely, the way the tragedies configure are distinct. “I could not send it..”(Shakespeare 470). In Shakespeare’s work the whole catastrophe begins with a calamity, Friar John failing to send the letter to Romeo. This is very dissimilar to what happened in Ovid’s writing. In his story it is a “lioness” that caused the miscommunication. The two plays incorporated entirely different ways that mis haps started. In conclusion the two works of literature share some similarities and some differences. Shakespeare used multiple aspects of Ovid’s work and incorporated them into his act. I feel the similarities were stronger than the differences between the two works. Shakespeare used many points that were in Ovid’s writing which made them similar and interim he distorted the thoughts and made them his own which made them a little
different.