Pyramus In A Midsummer Night's Dream Essay

Shakespeare's choice to include the play Pyramus and Thisbe for the Duke's post-wedding entertainment is quite significant. Some themes present in the play Pyramus and Thisbe almost perfectly reflect those that are present in A Midsummer Night's Dream, while others are inverted. Pyramus, the titular character of our play-within-the-play, is described as a pleasant man, one “sweet youth and tall” (Shakespeare Act 5, Scene 1, Line 153). Being the titular male of the inner play, he is the brave, handsome, and deserving suitor of Thisbe. We are told that “this beauteous lady Thisbe” (Shakespeare Act 5, Scene 1, Line 136-137) is desperately in love with the dashing Pyramus, but is forbidden to marry him. The two plan to steal away during the night to elope, far away
The father of Hermia forbids the marriage. The two decide to leave nightfall to escape their opposition and elope. The plan goes terribly awry due to an unforeseen circumstance, and the pair is left reeling and working to recover. Unfortunately, the plans of Pyramus and Thisbe are foiled by a “Lion, with bloody mouth” (Shakespeare Act 5, Scene 1, Line 151), a mistake, and a lack of communication. The audience, however, is spared of a solemn ending by the joyous unification of Lysander and Hermia. One could speculate that the Duke chose this play for entertainment not because “never anything [could] be amiss when simpleness and duty tender it” (Shakespeare Act 5, Scene 1, Line 88-89), but because he understood the irony in the ending of the two similar stories. Those who read A Midsummer Night's Dream can also notice the exceptional bravery, valiance, and perseverance of the two ladies, Hermia and Thisbe. These girls, born into affluence, who had almost all anyone could have wanted, are denied the world's greatest pleasure; true love. They both opt to leave behind all they had known to follow their hearts, taking their fate into their own