Mercutio In Zeffirelli's Romeo And Juliet

Mercutio’s speech about Queen Mab, who is responsible for making men dream, captures Mercutio’s brilliantly witty character. With the fantastical descriptions of the “fairies’ midwife” (1.4.52) and her entourage, the monologue is reminiscent of a fairy tale or a nursery rhyme (“Her chariot is an empty hazelnut made by the joiner squirrel,” 1.4.65). Mercutio uses this speech to dismiss Romeo’s ‘prophetic’ dream that he attempts — and fails — to tell his friend about, in hopes of not going to the Capulet’s masquerade. I interpreted the speech in which Mercutio is an older figure jokingly patronising a child’s whining (Romeo in 1.1) by providing a fable of sorts to ultimately explain and rationalise that dreams “are the children of an idle brain”

McEnery plays the jester-like comedian with all of its dramatic flair and more by ad-libbing, such as his imitation of a whip’s crack when he delivers the line “Her whip of cricket’s bone” (19:05). His jest continues, gradually building the tension until McEnery pulls it to a half at line 85 (20:10). The way the line “and being thus frightened, swears a prayer or two and sleeps again” (1.4.85-85) is delivered implies a heartfelt experience, as though Mercutio had gone through it himself. This also allows the viewer to backtrack and realise that this crescendo of emotion encircles a nightmare of a soldier still fighting in a war. Perhaps it is a far-fetched theory, but the portrayal almost suggests that Mercutio suffers from post-traumatic disorder and the anger he directs at ‘Queen Mab’ (20:16-20:50) is the result of that until Romeo comforts him (“Thou talks of nothing” 1.4.94). Perhaps Queen Man is simply Mercutio’s personification of his trauma. The last part of his speech becomes a reassurance to himself and his “being angered puffs away from thence” (1.4.100) by remembering that his haunting nightmares are not

In the film adaptation, Mercutio’s immediate response is to make light of his situation even after acknowledging his paint during the jeers (01:19:18) by joking about the wound (“a scratch” 01:19:18-01:19:57). After which he bursts into a fit of anger (“Fetch a surgeon!” 01:20:05) which parallels with his rant against Queen Mab, and then turns to Romeo for comfort. However, at the end of this speech, the rhythm is reversed into an infuriated crescendo that he curses the two families; “a plague a both your houses!”