Ovid and Shakespeare: Allusion to Roman Myth in A Midsummer Night's Dream and Romeo and Juliet

William Shakespeare is perhaps the most influential English playwright in history, his works still being commonly read and adapted in a variety of genres, whether for the stage, literature, film and more. Yet, what is less known is who William Shakespeare himself was influenced by: in the case of his works Romeo and Juliet and A Midsummer Night’s Dream, the answer was Roman poet, Ovid. Best known for his epic poem, the Metamorphoses, Ovid provides the basis for many of the myths we know today, but also provides the basis for two of Shakespeare’s best known plays, as his myth of Pyramus and Thisbe provided the basis for both  Romeo and Juliet and A Midsummer Night’s Dream. In this paper, I aim to explore the extent of the influence Ovid had on Shakespeare, utilizing textual analysis of both Ovid’s myth of Pyramus and Thisbe as well as the two plays by Shakespeare. From this analysis, it became clear that Ovid’s influence on Shakespeare was multifaceted: while it was clear that the myth of Pyramus and Thisbe was a direct source used by Shakespeare in his plays, he was also influenced by Ovid thematically. Taking the most common themes from Ovid’s Metamorphoses and utilizing them heavily in his works, Shakespeare engaged with themes of love and transformation in Romeo and Juliet and A Midsummer Night’s Dream in a manner akin to Ovid in his most famous work.