A Fairytale Gone Wrong

Mercutio’s character in Romeo and Juliet could quite possibly be labeled as that of a witty jester. Even as a good friend of Romeo, Mercutio is constantly mocking him and his ideals of love. Perhaps his lengthiest rant can be found in Act I of Scene III, where Mercutio tells the story of Queen Mab. What begins as a delightful fairytale soon spins wildly into disturbing violence and vivid sexual innuendos.

Mercutio’s tale begins with visions of a tiny fairy that visits men while sleeping, and grants them of their dreams. He goes into great detail when describing the fairy and her tiny carriage with “wagon spokes made of long spinners’ legs,/ The cover, of the wings of grasshoppers” (59-60). His miniscule imagery continues entrancingly as he creates a seemingly wonderful fairytale. The fairy’s journey begins by galloping “through lovers’ brains, and then they dream of love” (71), but then escalates to her driving “o’er a soldier’s neck,/ And then dreams he of cutting foreign throats” (82-83). This is certainly not an image that one might imagine to find in a harmless fairytale. What had begun as an enchanted fable now turns into that of an evil fairy granting the dreams of violent men. Queen Mab soon becomes the fairy that “bakes the elflocks in foul sluttish hairs” (90), and makes “women of good carriage” (94). Mercutio’s speech ends describing the fairy as one who teaches maids to have sex. This is clearly a stark contrast to the beginning of his tale.

However, before Mercutio becomes completely out of hand, Romeo stops him, saying “Thou talk’st of nothing” (96), and Mercutio readily agrees by referring to his own speech as “children of an idle brain” (97). Mercutio’s entire speech has been a mockery of Romeo’s dreams of love. In agreeing with Romeo, Mercutio simply confirms his own beliefs in the senselessness of Romeo’s imaginings. Mercutio can see past Romeo’s fairytale dreams. Mercutio is also commenting on the not so noble intentions of society. He can see through the imaginary fairytales, and in his opinion, view the dark and depraved world of reality that is actually full of violence and impurity. Mercutio’s mocking pessimism and witty puns add an element of biting comedy to “Romeo and Juliet” that can sometimes be overlooked, but is certainly well worth paying close attention.