scene 4

• O, then I see Queen Mab has been with you. . . . She is the fairies’ midwife. . . . 
• Who are the three friends gathered on their way to the Capulets' feast?

  Romeo, Benvolio, and Mercutio
• Why is Romeo melancholy before the feast?

  He worries about being a Montague at the feast
• What does Romeo say he will not do at the feast?

  He will not dance
• How does Mercutio mock Romeo's views on love?

  He turns Romeo's statements into sexual metaphors
• What does Romeo claim to have learned in a dream about the feast?

  Going to the feast is a bad idea
• Who is Queen Mab according to Mercutio's speech?

  She is the fairies' midwife
• What transformation occurs in Mercutio's speech about Queen Mab?

  It shifts from fanciful to bitter and fervent
• What does Mercutio admit after his long speech?

  He has been talking of nothing
• What does Benvolio suggest they focus on?

  Getting to the feast
• What feeling does Romeo express about the night's activities?

  They may lead to untimely death
• How does Romeo's attitude change by the end of the scene?

  His spirits rise as he accepts fate
• Why might the scene seem unnecessary to the audience?

  It does not directly advance the plot
• How does the scene contribute to the theme of fate?

  It emphasizes Romeo's belief in fate's control
• What role does Mercutio play in contrast to Romeo and Tybalt?

  He mocks societal ideals of love and honor
• How does Mercutio's character differ from Benvolio's?

  Mercutio has quick wit and humor
• What does Mercutio's wild speech reveal about his character?

  He is a man of excess and humor
• What ideals do Romeo and Tybalt represent in the play?

  Love and honor, respectively
• How does Mercutio view the ideals held by others?

  He sees through their societal blindness
• What does the pun in Mercutio's speech signify?

  It reveals deeper meanings and ambiguities
• What does Queen Mab symbolize in Mercutio's speech?

  Innocence contrasted with darker human desires
• How does the Queen Mab speech reflect societal views?

  It critiques the darker aspects of human nature
• What does Mercutio imply about dreams in his speech?

  They are idle fantasies of the mind
• How does Mercutio's view of dreams compare to Romeo's visions of love?

  Both are seen as idle fantasies
• What does Mercutio's comment about dreams suggest about his character?

  He is skeptical of romantic ideals
• How does the Queen Mab speech contribute to the overall tragedy of the play?

  It adds a subtext of dark reality to ideals
• O then I see Queen Mab hath been with you.She is the fairies’ midwife, and she comesIn shape no bigger than an agate stone (1.4.)
• True, I talk of dreams,Which are the children of an idle brain,Begot of nothing but vain fantasy (1.4.)
• Some consequence, yet hanging in the stars,Shall bitterly begin his fearful dateWith this night’s revels (1.4.)