Ovid`s "Pramus and Thisbe" is a story overheard by Lucius in The Metamorphosis, about two ill-fated lovers who kill themselves over the other`s death (Pyramus thinks Thisbe dead and commits suicide, Thisbe finds Pyramus dead and kills herself). The story`s main ideas were stolen by Shakespeare to make Romeo and Juliet, although the characters are in different situations (Romeo and Juliet`s families have a blood feud, while it is never stated why Pyramus and Thisbe cannot marry, only that their fathers refused to allow it, and they could only talk to each other through a hole in the wall separating their houses) which was, in turn, very closely copied by Lenard Bernstein to make West Side Story, with the biggest difference between the two plays being the time period they are set in, and that West Side Story is a musical. Its written in the same style to Ovid`s other works, in a poem with very sutle jokes, jabs and anomalies to make the reader think throughout the poem. The poem is very sad, being about two separated lovers who kill themselves out of despair.
Link: http://hompi.sogang.ac.kr/anthony/Classics/OvidPyramusThisbe.htm
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