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The Queen Mab Speech

            
             Shakespeare uses Mercutios" fantastical Queen Mab speech to foreshadow future events in the play. Romeo is very affected by the speech because it is he who has strong desires.
             Mercutios speech is about Queen Mab who is the mid-wife or the creator of desires. Queen Mab comes in your dreams and gives you your desires. When you desire too much she makes you suffer and pay the consequences. Romeo has strong desires for a storybook love and for a girl named Roselyn. Romeo feels that he will have to pay the consequence of death for his desires: L115 " I fear too early for my mind misgives some consequence yet hanging in the stars shall bitterly begin his fearful date with the nights revels, and expire the term of despised life closed in my breast by vile forfeit of untimely death but he that hath the steerage of my course direct my sail. On lusty gentlemen." When Romeo said this he means that in his future he will have to pay for the desires he has and his consequence will be an early death.
             Mercutios speech had convinced Romeo that desire caused pain. And since he desired so strongly he feared that he would have to pay for the desires. .
             Romeo feels that somewhere in his future his consequence will come Romeo states this in L 114 "some consequence yet hanging in the stars shall bitterly begin his fearful date." Here Romeo foreshadows what is to become of him by the end of the play. Romeo does indeed have an untimely death in the end and suffers the consequences of those desires by the death of his true love Juliet and his own suicide.
            


Essays Related to The Queen Mab Speech

1. Mercutio and "Queen Mab"

The speech, which Mercutio gives to Romeo, in which he speaks of Queen Mab and her antics, is given on the way to the party thrown by the Capulets. ... This leads Mercutio into the speech. The complexity of the speech reflects the complexity of Mercutio's character. ... It is also apparent from the content of the speech that Mercutio must be a wealthy personage, as he must have been well-read and well-educated to know so much detail of a fictional character as Queen Mab of the fairies. The main point of the passage is that the dreams Queen Mab brings are directly related to the person ...

  • Word Count: 575
  • Approx Pages: 2
  • Grade Level: High School

2. Romeo

Think about his Queen Mab speech, in which he says: O, then I see that Queen Mab hath been with you She is a fairie's midwife, and she comes No bigger than an agate stone, On the forefinger of an alderman drawn with a little [atomi] Over men's noses as they lie asleep (1.4.58-63) This is but a taste of the yarn that Mercutio span about Queen Mab. ...

  • Word Count: 550
  • Approx Pages: 2
  • Grade Level: High School

3. Romeo and Juliet Essay

In Act I, Mercutio delivers the "Queen Mab" speech, and this monologue reflects the movement of the entire play. It begins whimsically with descriptions of Mab's coach and naughty nocturnal activities, and then becomes violent and angry and bitter. ... (1.5.95), but the point of the speech is clearly to introduce a frenzied tone to the play. The 1996 film version of the tragedy definitely links Mercutio to passion and chaos by portraying him as a cross-dressing, pill-dispensing, drama-queen. ...

  • Word Count: 770
  • Approx Pages: 3
  • Grade Level: High School

4. Romeo And Juliet Critique

Romeo and Juliet When I went to see Romeo and Juliet in San Francisco, I really had no idea what to expect. At the time, I"d never read the play, and had only seen the similar West Side Story performed. Let me tell you, for a first exposure to the world of R & J, this play did a fine job of initi...

  • Word Count: 285
  • Approx Pages: 1
  • Grade Level: High School

5. Unfavorable odds

As a consequence of his "Queen Mab" speech, Mercutio forced Romeo to attend the party being held by the Capulet's with him and the other Montagues. "O, then I see Queen Mab hath been with you this is she-" (page 45, Shakespeare). ...

  • Word Count: 735
  • Approx Pages: 3

6. The Function of Mercutio in Romeo & Juliet

The general idea of Mercutio's speech seems to be that Romeo is taking himself too seriously and he needs to lighten up before he drives himself insane. ... Mercutio's Queen Mab speech occurs after Romeo states that he doesn't wish to go the party at the Capulet's. ... At the beginning of the speech, Mercutio seems to be very self-controlled, but as the speech goes on, he seems to lapse into hysteria, darting from topic to topic as fast as his thought process goes. ... Mercutio directs the speech at Romeo because he wants Romeo to realize that love is a fanciful idea th...

  • Word Count: 1276
  • Approx Pages: 5
  • Grade Level: High School

7. Different ideas of love in Romeo and Juliet

The Queen Mab speech indicates that love is magic. Through Mercutio's speech, he shows fraternal love as he is trying to show Romeo just how unrealistic and fanciful his love for Rosaline is. Throughout this speech Shakespeare uses wit, puns and sexual language, which indicates the light hearted nature of the play. Mercutio creates an idea that Queen Mab is the "hag" who teaches "maidens" to bear children, this idea is highlighted as Juliet who was once obedient and true to her father then changes when "Mab" enters her dreams. "Queen Mab" makes people fall in love with what...

  • Word Count: 1910
  • Approx Pages: 8
  • Grade Level: High School

8. The Last Legion

Plot Overview IN THE STREETS OF VERONA another brawl breaks out between the servants of the feuding noble families of Capulet and Montague. Benvolio, a Montague, tries to stop the fighting, but is himself embroiled when the rash Capulet, Tybalt, arrives on the scene. After citizens outraged by the constant violence beat back the warring factions, Prince Escalus, the ruler of Verona, attempts to prevent any further conflicts between the families by decreeing death for any individual who disturbs the peace in the future. Romeo, the son of Montague, runs into his cousin Benvolio, who had earlie...

  • Word Count: 13391
  • Approx Pages: 54
  • Grade Level: High School

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