What is the link between A Midsummers Night's Dream and Pyramus and Thisbe?

Answer 1

Most obviously, the play-within-a-play performed by the "rude mechanicals" in A Midsummer Night's Dream is Pyramus and Thisbe.

Secondarily, there are some similarities (the "forbidden love" theme) between the main plot and the plot of the internal play.

Answer 2

Pyramus and Thisbe is a tragic love story that is referenced and parodied in William Shakespeare's play "A Midsummer Night's Dream." In the play, a group of amateur actors attempts to perform a comical version of Pyramus and Thisbe, which adds a layer of humor and satire to the story. The play within a play highlights themes of love, misunderstanding, and the transformative power of theater.

Answer 3

Shakespeare loved putting plays inside his plays. He does it in Hamlet, and in Love's Labour's Lost, and the Tempest. The whole of the play The Taming of the Shrew is a play within a play.

Pyramus and Thisbe, as performed by Quince and Co. is very very funny. Shakespeare knew it would get lots of laughs. He also wants to contrast the ineptitude of Quince and Co. with the expertise of the real actors playing them. He wants to give Theseus the chance to say some interesting things about drama and the stage. Most of all, he uses the unreality of the mechanicals' play to underline the theme of the play as a whole: love is a dream, a fantasy.