1. Mercutio Act 1, Scene 4 1.1 Romeo paragraphs due
Friday, 09 November 2018
1.1 Romeo paragraphs due
Mercutio
Act 1, Scene 4
To explore Shakespeare’s presentation of love & fate
To understand and analyse Mercutio’s character and his Queen Mab speech

2. Why Do We Dream? To fulfil our wishes To remember To forget
To rehearse
To solve

3. Act 1, Scene 4 Romeo Benvolio
Mercutio = Romeo’s best friend, related to the Prince
Romeo & his friends, carrying masks and torches, prepare for their visit to Capulet’s party. Romeo tells Mercutio that he is unhappy so Mercutio tries to make him laugh.
Mercutio tells him a story about Queen Mab, the queen of the fairies who controls dreams. He tries to persuade Romeo that dreams are ‘vain fantasy.’ Romeo is eventually persuaded and agrees to go to the party.

4. Meet Mercutio
Romeo’s best friend, an ally of the Montagues, and a relative of Prince Escalus.
Mercutio's name could be derived from Mercury and is similar to the word mercurial, which means characterised by rapid and unpredictable changeableness of mood.
“He is volatile, moody, cynical, and has a sharp wit. His words are filled with puns, and his sharp tongue often stings, especially sweet Romeo. He mocks poor Romeo, and in turn, he mocks love. At times, he is the comic relief for a very tragic play.”

5. Views on Love god of desire and attraction agile padding pins me down
MERCUTIO Nay, gentle Romeo, we must have you dance.
ROMEO Not I, believe me. You have dancing shoes
With nimble soles. I have a soul of lead
So stakes me to the ground I cannot move.
MERCUTIO You are a lover. Borrow Cupid’s wings
And soar with them above a common bound.
ROMEO I am too sore enpiercèd with his shaft
To soar with his light feathers, and so bound,
I cannot bound a pitch above dull woe.
Under love’s heavy burden do I sink.
MERCUTIO And to sink in it, should you burthen love—
Too great oppression for a tender thing.
ROMEO Is love a tender thing? It is too rough,
Too rude, too boisterous, and it pricks like thorn.
MERCUTIO If love be rough with you, be rough with love.
Prick love for pricking, and you beat love down.
god of desire and attraction
agile padding
pins me down
normal person
fly
his arrow
kept down
pierced painfully
gloomy sadness
jump
weight
drag down
soft
cruelty
stabs
rowdy, over-the-top

6. Views on Love
MERCUTIO Nay, gentle Romeo, we must have you dance.
ROMEO Not I, believe me. You have dancing shoes
With nimble soles. I have a soul of lead
So stakes me to the ground I cannot move.
MERCUTIO You are a lover. Borrow Cupid’s wings
And soar with them above a common bound.
ROMEO I am too sore enpiercèd with his shaft
To soar with his light feathers, and so bound,
I cannot bound a pitch above dull woe.
Under love’s heavy burden do I sink.
MERCUTIO And to sink in it, should you burthen love—
Too great oppression for a tender thing.
ROMEO Is love a tender thing? It is too rough,
Too rude, too boisterous, and it pricks like thorn.
MERCUTIO If love be rough with you, be rough with love.
Prick love for pricking, and you beat love down.
According to Romeo, what is the difference between him and Mercutio?
According to Mercutio, how can Cupid help Romeo? What is Romeo’s problem with Cupid?
What is Mercutio’s answer to Romeo’s problem?
What does Romeo compare love to? What is Mercutio’s solution?
What language techniques do Romeo and Mercutio use to convey their views on love?

7. Order of Book ShakesPEELA handout + Mark Scheme Tragic Plays
What’s Happening in Romeo & Juliet
Notes on tragedy + prologue
Prologue extract
Notes on Act 1, Scene 1
Act 1, Scene 1: Romeo’s Views on Love extract
Homework on extract
Notes on Act 1, Scenes 2+3
Women in Elizabethan Society handout
Notes on Act 1, Scene 4
Act 1, Scene 4: Views on Love extract
Queen Mab Translation Activity
Planning sheet for Act 1, Scene 4 essay

8. Views on Love
How does Shakespeare present Romeo and Mercutio’s views on love in Act 1, Scene 4?
1 ShakesPEELAC for Romeo’s views
Shakespeare presents Romeo’s views on love as…
1 ShakesPEELAC for Mercutio’s views
Shakespeare presents Mercutio’s views on love as…

9. Keywords & Connotations
Views on Love
Point
Evidence
Keywords & Connotations
Romeo
In Act 1, Scene 4, Shakespeare presents Romeo’s views on love as ___adjective___ using ___technique___.
Furthermore, Shakespeare presents Romeo’s views on love as ___adjective___ using ___technique___.
Mercutio
However, in Act 1, Scene 4, Shakespeare presents Mercutio’s views on love as ___adjective___ using ___technique___.
Moreover, Shakespeare presents Mercutio’s views on love as ___adjective___ using ___technique___.

10. Introducing Queen Mab ROMEO And we mean well in going to this mask,
But ’tis no wit to go.
MERCUTIO Why, may one ask?
ROMEO I dreamt a dream tonight.
MERCUTIO And so did I.
ROMEO Well, what was yours?
MERCUTIO That dreamers often lie.
ROMEO In bed asleep while they do dream things true.
MERCUTIO Oh, then, I see Queen Mab hath been with you.
BENVOLIO Queen Mab, what’s she?
“Quean” is slang for whore, and Mab is a stereotypical prostitute’s name.
This moment serves as foreshadowing, or a warning about what is to come. Romeo shares with his friends that he had a prophetic dream the night before, which warned him of going to this.

11. Who tangles the hair in horses' manes at night
And makes the tangles hard in the dirty hairs,
Sometimes she rides over a royal advidor’s nose,
And he dreams of making money off of someone.
She’s no bigger than the stone
On a city councilman’s ring.
Who teaches them how to bear a child.
And how to hold a lover:
Queen Mab often puts blisters on their lips
Because their breath smells like candy, which makes her mad.
Sometimes with a tithe-pigs tail
She tickles a priest’s nose,
Her whip is a thread attached to a cricket’s bone.
Her wagon driver is a tiny bug in a gray coat;
He’s frightened, so he says a couple of prayers
And goes back to sleep. She is the same Mab
And he dreams of a large donation.
Sometimes she rides over a soldier’s neck,
Oh, I see Queen Mab visited you.
She’s the fairies midwife.
She rides around in a wagon drawn by the little atoms,
And she rides over men’s noses as they lie sleeping.
They’ve made wagons for the fairies as long as anyone can remember.
In this royal wagon, she rides every night
The harnesses are made of the smallest spiderwebs.
The collars are made out of moonbeams.
Her chariot is a hazelnut shell.
It was made by a carpenter squirrel or an old grubworm;
Which bring bad luck if they’re untangled.
Mab is the old hag, when virgins sleep on their backs,
The spokes of her wagon are made of spiders’ legs.
The cover of her wagon is made of grasshoppers' wings.
And he dreams of cutting the throats of foreign enemies,
Of breaking down walls, of ambushes, of Spanish swords,
She rides over lawyers' fingers, and they dream about their fees.
She rides over ladies' lips, and they immediately dream of kisses.
He’s not half the size of a little round worm
That comes from the finger of a lazy young girl.
Through the brains of lovers and makes them dream about love.
She rides over royal advisors' knees, and they dream about advising.
And of enormous cups of liquor. And then,
Drums beat in his ear and he wakes up.
She’s the one –
Match the modern translation of Mercutio’s speech to its corresponding lines

12. Queen Mab Dreamers Dream of… What is Mercutio’s point about dreams?
Lovers
Royal Advisors
Lawyers
Ladies
Priests
Soldiers
Virgins
What is Mercutio’s point about dreams?
Why does he grow angry as his story goes on?
What might it reveal about his relationship with Romeo?
How could he be giving a warning to Romeo about that night’s future events?

13. Romeo claims that dreams can be real or true because they reflect reality, while Mercutio argues that they lie and claims that they reflect the individual's desires and passions; dreams do not imitate reality but the fantasies of human beings. He later claims that dreams 'are the children of an idle brain, begot of nothing but vain fantasy’ – he is trying to prove his point that dreams are nothing but the fantasies of fools, made of nothing.
A sweet, imaginative fairy tale quickly turns to murder, war, and sex. Mercutio even becomes upset during the monologue because Romeo must interrupt him. 'Peace, peace, Mercutio, peace.’
Perhaps Mercutio can see into the future. Perhaps his monologue is a bit of a warning. Maybe that is why Romeo interrupts his best friend. Maybe he cannot bear to face the truth about dreams, men's fantasies, and even love.
Like Mercutio's fanciful fairy tale, the tale of Romeo and Juliet also begins as an innocent love story - not to mention that Romeo and Juliet are practically children themselves.
But, like the Mab speech, the play also turns dark, and after several murders, feuds, and betrayal, we are left with the suicide of two young lovers. Mercutio's words remind the audience that love, like other desires, can be delusional and foolish, and like dreams, it can lie and eventually drag humanity down into the depths of despair.

14. Adaptations of Mercutio
In the 1996 film version, Mercutio is presented as a flamboyant cross-dresser
How does the scene present Mercutio differently? What does the adaptation suggest about his relationship with Romeo?
What is Queen Mab, according to the scene?

15. What images/symbols does Romeo use to describe fate?
Direct My Sail
BENVOLIO This wind you talk of, blows us from ourselves. Supper is done, and we shall come too late. ROMEO I fear too early, for my mind misgives Some consequence yet hanging in the stars Shall bitterly begin his fearful date With this night’s revels, and expire the term Of a despisèd life closed in my breast By some vile forfeit of untimely death. But he that hath the steerage of my course, Direct my sail. On, lusty gentlemen.
Misgives = fills with doubt/fear
Consequence = reaction, punishment
Bitterly = terribly, angrily
Fearful date = event filled with fear
Revels = events
Expire the term = end the length
Despisèd = hated, loathed
My breast = my chest/heart
Vile forfeit = dreadful/evil punishment
Untimely = before its time
Steerage of my course = direction of my path
What images/symbols does Romeo use to describe fate?