Queen Mab and Mercutio

Unrealistic Love

The Queen Mab speech is filled with meaning and understanding. In the beginning of the speech, Mercutio says that Queen Mab has been with Romeo; in his dreams. In this speech, Mercutio imagines a tiny world where Queen Mab lives and roams free. Queen Mab visits people every night and depending on how much she likes them, depends on whether she gives them a good dream or a nightmare. Mercutio uses this imaginative world of his as a way of explaining how people get their dreams. He explicates how people have nightmares and wake up in the middle of the night, frightened, but then go back to sleep knowing that they are safe, and that nothing has happened to them. Queen Mab sometimes gives people dreams of what they wish their world were like. In this speech, Mercutio is trying to show Romeo just how much his love for Rosaline is unrealistic, because Romeo knows that Rosaline will never love him.

Mercutio’s Personality

Act I Scene IV and the Queen Mab speech tell a lot about Mercutio and his personality. Mercutio cannot see Romeo’s love for Juliet. Mercutio is a bright, witty guy with a good deal of intelligence. In this scene, because Mercutio is such good friends with Romeo, he is able to softly mock Romeo without seriously offending him. No other character can do that because they lack the ability to see through the shallowness that individuals sometimes contain. Mercutio integrates multiple puns throughout his speech that make the piece ever so better. Mercutio is extremely brave, poetic, and humorous.