PYRAMUS AND THISBE Jabs

CHARACTERS  Pyramus  Thisbe  The lioness

SETTING  Ancient Babylon

SUMMARY  Pyramus and Thisbe live next to each in houses with connected walls  Their parents forbid them to see one another  They talk through a crack in the wall but one night, they decide to meet at the tomb of Nimus just outside the city walls

IMAGES

AT THE TOMB…  Thisbe, wearing a veil over her head, arrives first and waits under a tree as planned  A lioness, who had just made a kill, startles Thisbe and she flees  She loses her veil and the lioness sniffs it, leaving blood on the veil

PYRAMUS ARRIVES…  When Pyramus arrives, he sees the blood-soaked veil  He thinks that Thisbe has been killed and kills himself, not wanting to live without her  He falls on his sword and his blood stains the white mulberry fruits

THISBE’S REACTION…  Thisbe comes out to tell Pyramus what happened and sees his dead body  Devastated by the loss of her lover, she kills herself with the same sword

WHAT THE MYTH EXPLAINS  The gods feel bad for Thisbe and turn the mulberry tree the color of the lovers’ blood

EFFECTS  Shakespeare wrote A Midsummer Night’s Dream and Romeo and Juliet based on this myth  Poems and operas

MORAL…  Don’t ASSUME or jump to conclusions!

CREDITS  mus_and_Thisbe.html mus_and_Thisbe.html  Google Images