A Midsummer Night's Dream Comparative Essay

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Have you ever experienced déjà vu? This is what the characters in A Midsummer Night’s Dream by William Shakespeare probably experienced during the performance of Pyramus and Thisbe. Pyramus and Thisbe is a play performed during the wedding of the lovers in A Midsummer Night’s Dream. Pyramus and Thisbe showcases many similarities with A Midsummer Night’s Dream. Some of these similarities are that they both have two lovers whose relationship is disapproved of by their parents, the two lovers run away together to a place of chaos, and that the lovers in both stories face many obstacles for love.
In both A Midsummer Night’s Dream and Pyramus and Thisbe, the parents of the lovers do not approve of their love. In A Midsummer Night’s Dream, …show more content…

In A Midsummer Night’s Dream, the lovers have fairies interfering with their relationships. While speaking to Robin, his assistant, Oberon, king of the fairies, says: “ A sweet Athenian lady is in love/ With a disdainful youth. Anoint his eyes,/But do it when the next thing he espies/ May be the lady” (2.2.268-271) When mentioning the Athenian lady, he is referring to Helena, who is in love with Demetrius. However, Demetrius despises Helena and is hopelessly in love with Hermia. The fairies are trying to mess with their feelings and make Demetrius fall in love with Helena. However, Robin does not succeed in this task and accidentally anoints Lysander’s eyes, making him say: “Content with Hermia? No, I do repent/ The tedious minutes I with her have spent. / Not Hermia, but Helena I love.” (2.2.118-120). After having his eyes anointed, Lysander claims the time he spent with Hermia was a mistake, and that he truly loves Helena. Despite the many obstacles, the four lovers in A Midsummer Night’s Dream end up happily together. However, Pyramus and Thisbe has a tragic ending. In Pyramus and Thisbe, the main obstacle is the lion, which scares Thisbe away. When Pyramus arrives at the scene, he sees Thisbe’s sleeping body and assumes she is dead. Upon seeing his “dead” love, he kills himself. When Thisbe wakes up and sees that Pyramus is dead, she kills herself. In

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