Beginning of Essay
At the time Mercutio makes his famous "Queen Mab" speech in Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet, he and Romeo, together with a group of their friends and kinsmen, are on the way to a party given by their family's arch-enemy, Lord Capulet. Their plan is to crash the par ....

Middle of Essay
.... Romeo himself is a liar, but that people should put no faith in dreams. But Romeo is insistent; dreamers lie "in bed asleep, they do dream things true" (I, iv, 52). 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. With Mercutio's words, "O, then I see Queen Mab hath been with you!" he plunges into a forty-two line speech which is actually composed of only two sentences, giving him barely enough breath to pause between phrases. The gist of the speech concerns Mab, whom Celtic myt ....