Mercutio’s Queen Mab Speech
In the play Romeo and Juliet , Mercutio--Romeo’s best friend--describes Queen Mab, a fairy that drives her chariot across the faces of sleeping people and compels them to dream.
MERCUTIO: She is the fairies’ midwife, and she comes
In shape no bigger than an agate-stone
On the forefinger of an alderman,
Drawn with a team of little atomi
Over men’s noses as they lie asleep.
Her wagon-spokes made of long spinners’ legs,
The cover of the wings of grasshoppers,
Her traces, of the smallest spider’s web,
Her collars, of the moonshine’s watery beams,
Her whip of cricket’s bone; the lash of film,
Her wagoner a small grey-coated gnat,
Her chariot is an empty hazel-nut,
Made by the joiner squirrel or old grub,
Time out o’mind the fairies’ coach-makers.
And in this state she gallops night by night
Through lovers’ brains, and then they dream of love.
(Romeo and Juliet , 1.4.59-76)
Based on the description, what do you think Queen Mab’s chariot looks like? Draw a picture that illustrates the text. Send your picture to Puck’s Place and we will post a few online.
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