Well then, well then, WELL then!
I've been sitting at my computer just about straight from 6:30 trying to write this paper on something about Ovid's "Pyramus and Thisbe" and the Catullus 64 ecphrasis on Theseus and Ariadne, and this is all I've produced:
Both stories deal with the issue of trust versus betrayal, and the struggle between the two provides an interesting underlying tension in both works. A major difference between Ovid’s tale and that of Catullus lies in which of these (trust or betrayal) ultimately prevails. Every major character in the two stories practices some form of deception or deceit. The first layer of deception within these stories is intentional: Pyramus and Thisbe have “to deceive their guardians” (fallere custodes, Ovid ll. 85), that is, their parents, in order to carry out their plan to meet. The ecphrasis of Catullus 64 opens with Theseus’s betrayal of Ariadne, leaving her “deserted in the lonely sand” (desertam in sola ... harena, Cat. ll. 57). That the night conceals their actions shows forethought and planning. But, whereas the nighttime allows Thisbe to leave through a helpful darkness (Cat. ll. 93-4), it, in aiding Theseus’s escape, betrays Ariadne with a “deceitful sleep” (fallaci ... somno, Ovid ll. 56).
If you read all that, well then. Well then, well then, well then.
It's 2:30 in the morning, and I need four more pages of this.
Both stories deal with the issue of trust versus betrayal, and the struggle between the two provides an interesting underlying tension in both works. A major difference between Ovid’s tale and that of Catullus lies in which of these (trust or betrayal) ultimately prevails. Every major character in the two stories practices some form of deception or deceit. The first layer of deception within these stories is intentional: Pyramus and Thisbe have “to deceive their guardians” (fallere custodes, Ovid ll. 85), that is, their parents, in order to carry out their plan to meet. The ecphrasis of Catullus 64 opens with Theseus’s betrayal of Ariadne, leaving her “deserted in the lonely sand” (desertam in sola ... harena, Cat. ll. 57). That the night conceals their actions shows forethought and planning. But, whereas the nighttime allows Thisbe to leave through a helpful darkness (Cat. ll. 93-4), it, in aiding Theseus’s escape, betrays Ariadne with a “deceitful sleep” (fallaci ... somno, Ovid ll. 56).
If you read all that, well then. Well then, well then, well then.
It's 2:30 in the morning, and I need four more pages of this.