Part A: How do Pyramus' actions adnave the lot advance the plot in "Pyramus and Thisbe"?
A
Pyramus' actions lead to the death of Thisbe.
B
Pyramus' actions lead to Thisbe's happiness.
C
Pyramus' actions lead to Thisbe being killed by a lion.
D
Pyramus' actions lead to him being killed by a lion.
Story:
Pyramus and Thisbe by Ovid
57 Now Thisbe takes
58 great care, that none detect her as she makes
59 her way out from the house amid the dark;
60 her face is veiled, she finds the tomb; she sits
61 beneath the tree they'd chosen for their tryst.
62 Love made her bold. But now a lioness
63 just done with killing oxen--blood dripped down
64 her jaws, her mouth was frothing-- comes to slake
65 her thirst as a cool spring close to the tree.
66 By moonlight, Thisbe sees the savage beast;
67 with trembling feet; the girl is quick to seek
68 a shadowed cave; but even as she flees,
69 her shawl slips from her shoulders. Thirst appeased,
70 the lioness is heading for the woods
71 when she, by chance, spies the abandoned shawl.
72 upon the ground and, with her bloodstained jaws,
73 tears it to tatters.
74 Pyramus had left
75 a little later than his Thisbe had,
76 and he could see what surely were the tracks
77of a wild beast left clearly on deep dust.
78 His face grew ashen. And when he had found
78 the bloodstained shawl, he cried: "Now this same night
79 will see two lovers lose their lives: she was
80 the one more worth of long life. It's I
81 who bear the guilt for this. O my poor girl,
82 it's I who led you to your death; I said
83 you were to reach this fearful place by night;
84 I let you be the first who would arrive
85 O all you lions with your lairs beneath
86 this cliff, come now,and with your fierce jaws feast
87 upon my wretched guts! But cowards talk
88 as I do-- longing for their death but not
89 prepared to act." At this he gathered up
90 the bloody tatters of his Thisbe's shawl
91 and set them underneath the shady tree
92 where he and she had planned to meet. He wept
93 and cried out as he held that dear shawl fast:
94"Now drink from my blood, too!" And then he drew
95 his dagger from his belt and thrust it hard
96 into his guts. And as he dies, he wrenched
97 the dagger from his gushing wound. He fell,
98 supine, along the ground. The blood leaped high;
99 it spouted like a broken leaden pipe
100 that, through a slender hole where it is worn
101 sends out a long and hissing stream as jets
102 of water cleave the air. And that tree's fruits,
103 snow-white before, are bloodstained now, the roots
104 are also drenched with Pyramus' dark blood,
105 and from those roots the hanging berries draw
106 a darker, purple color.
Now the girl
107 again seeks out the tree: though trembling still,
108 she would not fail his tryst, with eyes and soul
109 she looks for Pyramus; she wants to tell
110 her lover how she had escaped such perils.
111 She finds the place-- the tree's familiar shape;
112 but seeing all the berries' color changed,
113 she is not sure. And as she hesitates,
114 she sights the writhing body on the ground--
115 the bloody limbs-- and, paler than boxwood,
116 retreats; she trembles-- even as the sea
117 when light wind stirs its surface. She is quick
118 to recognize her lover; with loud blows
119 she beats her arms-- though they do not deserve
120 such punishment. She tears her hair, enfolds
121 her love's dear form; she fills his wounds with tears
122 that mingle with his blood, and while she plants
123 her kisses on his cold face, she laments:
124 "What struck you, Pyramus? Why have I lost
125 my love? It is your Thisbe-- I -- who call
126 your name! Respond! Lift your fallen head!"
127 He heard her name; and lifting his eyes
128 weighed down by death, he saw her face-- and then
129 he closed his eyes again.
She recognized
130 her own shawl and his dagger's ivory sheath.
131 She cried: "dear boy, you died by your own hand:
132 your love has killed you. But I, too, command
133 the force to face at least this task: I can
134 claim love, and it will give me strength enough
135 to strike myself. I'll follow you in death;
136 and men will say that I --unfortunate--
137 was both the cause and comrade of your fate.
138 Nothing but death could sever you from me;
139 but now death has no power to prevent
140 my joining you. I call upon his parents
141 and mine; I please for him and me-- do not
142 deny to us-- united by true love,
143 who share this fatal moment-- one same tomb.
144 And may you, mulberry, who boughs now shade
145 one wretched body and will soon shade two,
146 forever bear these darkly colored fruits
147 as signs of our sad end, that men remember
148 the death we met together." With these words,
149 she placed the dagger's point beneath her breast,
150 then leaned against the blade still warm with her
151 dear lover's blood. The gods and parents heard
