Analysis of the Queen Mab Speech from Romeo and Juliet
Analysis of the Queen Mab Speech from Romeo and Juliet
“O, then I see Queen Mab hath been with you.” This powerful statement is the beginning to one of the most historic and significant poems in Shakespearean history, Mercutio’s famous Queen Mab speech. Various reasons can be given as to why Shakespeare would place such a lengthy poem in Romeo and Juliet. This “talk of dreams” is essential to the play as it develops theme, foreshadows the story, and ultimately alters the entire pace of the play. Also, Shakespeare uses many literary devices to make this poem one the reader will remember through out the play.
At the time Mercutio delivers his Queen Mab speech, Romeo is suddenly overcome by a sense of great foreboding of attending the party due to a dream he had. This annoys Mercutio, who does not recognize Romeo’s reluctance as a genuine premonition, but feels it is simply another example of Romeo’s lovesick whims. Mercutio cleverly replies, “Dreamers often lie.” This suddenly launches Mercutio into a speech that alters the entire pace of the scene. Up to now, the conversation has been typical of a group of people walking through the streets-short phrases, a generally relaxed mood. Though the speech talks of many things and can be analyzed in many ways, the gist of the speech concerns Queen Mab, who is a fairy responsible for people’s dreams.
The Queen Mab speech is totally fanciful, describing, as if to a child, this tiny little creature who flies through the air in a small carriage, driven by a "wagoner" who is a gnat. On the surface this seems like it should be charming, but when one boils it down, it isn't charming at all. For example, Queen Mab's "cover" of her carriage is made of grasshopper wings, which imply that someone must have pulled the grasshopper's wings off to make it. Same for the spider's legs, which serve as the wagon's spokes and the riding-whip, which is made of a cricket's bone. Mercutio points out that the entire apparatus is not "half so big as a round little worm, pricked from the lazy finger of a maid,” but do living maid's fingers have worms in them? Furthermore, Mercutio suddenly veers off into a deluge of images that are at complete odds with the childlike story he was going to tell. For example, It is not enough...