Is Juliet too young to get married? Who is Rosaline? Why does Mercutio fight Tybalt? How does Romeo convince the reluctant Apothecary to sell him poison? Who seems less impulsive and more realistic—Romeo or Juliet? Why does Friar Lawrence decide to marry Romeo and Juliet? Why does Romeo fight Tybalt? Is there a villain in the play, and, if so, who is it? Why does the Prince exile Romeo? Summary Act 1, scene 4. Summary O, then I see Queen Mab has been with you. Previous section Act 1, scene 3 Next section Act 1, scene 5.
Test your knowledge Take the Act 1, scene 4 Quick Quiz. Read a translation Read a translation of Act 1, scene 4. Popular pages: Romeo and Juliet. Take a Study Break. Mercutio treats the subject of dreams, like the subject of love, with witty skepticism, as he describes them both as "fantasy. Instead, painting vivid pictures of the dreamscape people inhabit as they sleep, Mercutio suggests that the fairy Queen Mab brings dreams to humans as a result of men's worldly desires and anxieties.
To him, lawyers dream of collecting fees and lovers dream of lusty encounters; the fairies merely grant carnal wishes as they gallop by. In juxtaposing lawyers and lovers, soldiers and the fairy entourage, his eloquent speech touches on a number of the play's opposing themes such as love and hate, fantasy and reality, idealism and cynicism.
It also gives insight into Mercutio's antagonistic and cynical nature: His description of the lovers is brief compared with the bloodthirsty image of the soldier who dreams of "cutting foreign throats. Mercutio is down-to-earth, whereas Romeo continues to indulge in idealistic, lovelorn daydreaming. Indeed, his dream speech contains all the elements that will conspire to bring down Romeo and Juliet's starry-eyed dream of love to the depths of the tomb.
Romeo's final speech anticipates his meeting with Juliet and creates an atmosphere of impending doom, which undercuts the festivities.
Instead of a date with a pretty girl on a starlit night, he intuits that he goes to a date with destiny. The account of Queen Mab is supposed to prove Mercutio's imagination and that under his pugnacity there is a poet.
In William Shakespeare's play Romeo and Juliet , Mercutio plays the part of Romeo's rebel friend who uses his imagination to cheer Romeo up and describe to him what he thinks of dreams. When talking about Queen Mab, the dream fairy, tells what she discovers in people's dreams, and how she can make someone dream of something.
In Act I, scene iv, page Mercutio says, " Through lovers' brains, and then they dream of love; On courtiers' knees, that they dream of curtsies straight; O'er lawyers' fingers, who straight dream of fees ; O'er ladies' lips, who straight on kisses dream," this is saying that when she goes through a lovers brain they dream of love, lawyers dream of money, and ladies dream of kisses.
Queen Mab can also cause one to dream of something and this is demonstrated in Mercutio's speech in Act I, scene iv, page , "Sometime she gallops o'er on courtiers nose, and then dreams he of smelling out a suit;" this says that just by flying over someone she can make them dream their wildest dreams therefore because Mercutio can paint such a picture like that, he is demonstrating his poetic ability.
Mercutio uses his imagination to make Romeo realize that life is not a spectator sport. He talks of Queen Mab and paints a picture to Romeo that dreams are a waste of time and if you want something you have to get it yourself. In Act I, scene iv, page , Romeo says, "I'll be a candleholder and look on; the game was ne'er so fair, and I am done. I dreamt a dream tonight. Now also in Act I, scene iv, page , Mercutio says,"I talk of dreams; which are the children of an idle brain, begot of nothing but vain fantasy.
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