Forbidden and Dangerous Love
essay Josephine Sellberg English Mrs. Giraud 1/9/10 Forbidden and Dangerous Love The story ”Pyramus and Thisbe” is about two lovers, Pyramus and Thisbe. Because their love is forbidden, they are forced to do dangerous things to satisfy it. In the story, Pyramus and Thisbe’s parents have forbidden their love for each other. The teenagers live on either side of a wall that separates them. The two lovers one day decide that they want to be together and not have a wall between them. They decide to do a dangerous thing and sneak away from home into the dark fields.
What drives the action in this story is Pyramus and Thisbe’s love that just gets stronger because it is forbidden. They take a dangerous risk when they sneak out into the wild when it’s dark and lions are around. When something is forbidden it can make it even more “attractive” and that is what happens with Pyramus and Thisbe’s love. Pyramus, “the handsomest youth” and Thisbe, “the fairest maiden” are the two lovers in the story; they want to get married, but their parents will not let them (1). One thing, however, they cannot forbid is their love for each other.
In fact, their love “burned more intensely for being covered up” (1). They converse by signs and glances. Pyramus and Thisbe find a crack in the wall that separates them, allowing them to talk to each other. Amazing “what will not love discover” (1). Every night, when it is time to say farewell, the lovers are forced to “press their lips upon the wall” (1). They can never give each other a real goodnight kiss or a hug when they need one. The wall do not only separate them it separates their love. They just have to do something about it; it is just too hard for them to restrain their affection.
This decision leads to dangerous plans. Danger moves the story forward due to Pyramus and Thisbe’s choices and plans. The two lovers decide to take the chance and sneak out. They were going to sneak out in the middle of the night beyond the “watchful eyes of their parents” (2) Pyramus has some knowledge of the danger because he brings a sword which he later uses to kill himself. They were going to meet in the fields the next night and be together. Thisbe is at the meeting place first and has to wait for Pyramus to come. She sees a lion and flees, and finds refuge under a rock.
She drops her veil, which the lioness tosses around with her bloody mouth. When Pyramus approaches the meeting place, he sees footsteps of a lion and his lover’s bloody veil. He thinks that he has been the cause of her death and then he kills himself with the sword. As soon as Thisbe recognizes her lover she knows that she was not going to live her life without Pyramus, so she also kills herself. Pyarmus and Thisbe’s plan to sneak out ends up to be dangerous and nothing like they thought it would be like. Pyramus and Thisbe’s “forbidden love” for each other make them do dangerous things.
Their love even gets stronger because of the fact that it is forbidden, and nothing can tear them apart. The story ends telling that even death cannot separate the two lovers. Pyramus and Thisbe were born to be together and that was how it was going to stay. When something is forbidden, it can be more interesting or attractive to a person. Something forbidden can make a person want to explore it even more, and take a risk just to explore it. When there is something we really want is withheld, our behavior and judgment can easily be clouded.