Metamorphoses · Chapter
Story of Pyramus and Thisbe explained
Pyramus and Thisbe, two Babylonian lovers forbidden by their parents to marry, communicate through a chink in the wall and plan to meet under a mulberry tree.
What happens
Pyramus and Thisbe, two Babylonian lovers forbidden by their parents to marry, communicate through a chink in the wall and plan to meet under a mulberry tree. Thisbe arrives first but flees from a lioness, dropping her veil which the lioness bloodies. Pyramus finds the veil, assumes Thisbe is dead, and kills himself. Thisbe returns, discovers his body, and also dies by his sword. Their blood stains the mulberry fruit permanently purple, and their ashes are united in a single urn.
Themes in this chapter
Love and Desire
The lovers' passion defies parental prohibition and leads to their tragic deaths.
Transformation and Metamorphosis
The white mulberry fruit is permanently stained purple by the lovers' blood, symbolizing their eternal union.
Fate and Prophecy
The lovers' plan and the lioness's appearance set an unavoidable chain of events leading to their deaths.
Characters to notice
Key passages
“In Babylon, where first her queen, for state, Raised walls of brick magnificently great, Lived Pyramus and Thisbe, lovely pair!”
In Babylon, where the queen built grand brick walls, there lived the beautiful couple Pyramus and Thisbe.
Introduces the setting and the lovers.
“Love had been crown'd, but, impotently mad, What parents could not hinder, they forbade:”
Their love was strong, but their parents, unable to prevent it, forbade their relationship.
Highlights the parental opposition.
“When the division-wall was built, a chink Was left, the cement unobserved to shrink.”
A small crack was left in the wall between their houses, unnoticed because the cement shrank.
Describes the secret passage for their communication.
“But, oh! what thing so small, so secret lies, Which 'scapes, if form'd for love, a lover's eyes?”
No secret is too small for a lover to discover.
Emphasizes the power of love to find hidden opportunities.
“At last their parents they resolve to cheat (If to deceive in love he call'd deceit), To steal by night from home, and thence unknown To seek the fields, and quit the unfaithful town.”
They decide to deceive their parents and sneak out at night to meet in the fields outside the city.
The lovers' plan to elope.
“The tomb of Ninus was the mark they chose. There they might rest secure beneath the shade, Which boughs, with snowy fruit encumber'd, made: A wide-spread mulberry its rise had took Just on the margin of a gurgling brook.”
They agreed to meet at the tomb of Ninus, under a mulberry tree with white fruit, near a brook.
Sets the meeting place and the tree that will be transformed.