BOTTOM: What is Pyramus – a lover or a tyrant?
QUINCE: A lover that kills himself most gallant for love.
– William Shakespeare
A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Act 1, Scene 2. As Quince assigns the role of Pyramus to Bottom, he explains that Pyramus is a lover who kills himself for love. It is ironic that a lover should take his life for love. Pyramus actually kills himself out of grief for his "dead" love Thisbe. But the irony is that Thisbe is not actually dead, and when she finds Pyramus dead she kills herself. There is also irony in the Mechanicals’ choice of such a tragic play for Duke Theseus’ marriage.