Romeo and Juliet

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   Romeo and his companions are on their way to attend the banquet in Capulet's house. Romeo, at present, is very unhappy and upset because Rosaline, his infatuation, has decided to be a celibate for the rest of her life. He has agreed to go to the banquet in his enemy's house because Rosaline has also been invited and he hopes to meet her there.

   But now as they near Capulet's house Romeo says it is not wise to attend the banquet because he has dreamt a bad dream: "I dream'd a dream to-night." Immediately even before Romeo tells him what his dream was, Mercutio dismisses contemptuously his fears as  the work of Queen Mab and therefore imaginary.

    The speech is important for the following reasons:

   1. ATMOSPHERE: Shakespeare's plays were staged in the afternoon. But this scene takes place in the night and the long poetical description  about Queen Mab appearing in everyone's dream in the night would have created the necessary  impression in the theatre that it was night time.

   2. MYTHOLOGICAL INTEREST: Shakespeare's contemporary audience would have readily understood and appreciated the nocturnal activities of Queen Mab the queen of fairies; and it would have created a sense of fear and awe in their minds.

   3. THE NATURE OF DREAMS: are dreams merely a figment of a person's imagination as Mercutio affirms or do they provide an insight into our subconscious and foretell our future as Romeo surmises?

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   Posted by lit24 on Tuesday July 15, 2008 at 8:05 AM
   
   

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