Queen Mab
Encyclopedia
Queen Mab is a fairy
referred to in Shakespeare's play Romeo and Juliet
. She also appears in other 17th century literature, and in various guises in later poetry, drama and cinema. In the play her activity is described in a famous speech by Mercutio
written originally in prose and often adapted into iambic pentameter
, in which she is described as a miniature creature who drives her chariot into the noses and into the brains of sleeping people to compel them to experience dreams of wish-fulfillment. She would also bring the plague in some occasions. She is also described as a midwife to help sleepers 'give birth' to their dreams.
's "The Entertainment at Althorp
" and Michael Drayton
's "Nymphidia". In Poole's work Parnassus, Mab is described as the Queen of the Fairies and consort
to Oberon, Emperor of the Fairies.
Queen Mab: A Philosophical Poem
(1813) is the title of the first large poetic work written by the famous English Romantic poet, Percy Bysshe Shelley
(1792–1822).
"Queen Mab" is also the subtitle given to the 31st chapter of Herman Melville
's novel, Moby Dick, first published in 1851. In this chapter, Stubb, the second mate
of the Pequod, describes to Flask, the third mate
, the details of a dream in which Stubb is confronted by a merman
who tells him that the kick Stubb received from Captain Ahab's whalebone leg the previous day should be considered an honour, as a great English lord would consider it an honour to be slapped by a queen.
In Jane Austen
's Sense and Sensibility
, the sexually deceptive Willoughby gives his prey, Marianne, a horse named Queen Mab, a symbol for Marianne's over-eager expectations of marriage in the travelling, womanizing Willoughby.
In J. M. Barrie
's The Little White Bird
(1902) Queen Mab lives in Kensington Gardens
and grants Peter Pan
(who has learned he is a boy, so he can no longer fly) his wish to fly again.
American philosopher George Santayana
wrote a short piece entitled "Queen Mab" which appeared in his 1922 book Soliloquies in England and Later Soliloquies. This particular soliloquy
considers English literature
as an indirect form of self-expression in which the English writer "will dream of what Queen Mab makes other people dream" rather than revealing him or herself.
"El velo de la reina Mab" ("The Veil of Queen Mab") is a short story by the Nicaraguan modernist Rubén Darío
that explores the artist's relationship with the world, as well as the beauty of artistic creation. The story climaxes with Queen Mab enveloping the four artists in her veil, "el velo de los sueños, de los dulces sueños, que hacen ver la vida del color de rosa" ("the veil of dreams, of sweet dreams, that make the world appear rose-colored"). In this way, Queen Mab alleviates the artists' sadness, giving them hope and allowing them to continue their creative endeavors.
In Jim Butcher
's urban fantasy
series of novels, the Dresden Files, Queen Mab is one of six Faerie queens and is the ruler of the Unseelie (Winter) court, second in power only to Mother Winter.
Queen Mab also appears as a pivotal character in two Elizabeth Bear
fantasy
novel
s, Ink and Steel and Hell and Earth. In these historical fantasy works, Queen Mab is ruler of Faerie in the sixteenth century, co-existing alongside Elizabeth I. Morgan Le Fay
, William Shakespeare
, Thomas Walsingham
, Christopher Marlowe
and other historical personages appear in this novel. Mab's rule is linked supernaturally to that of Elizabeth I, her sister queen.
In Martin Millar's book Dreams of Sex and Stage Diving (1994), the heroine, Elfish, wants to call her thrash metal
band "Queen Mab". To get this name, which her ex-boyfriend claims for his own band as well, she makes a bet to learn and publicly recite Mercutio's speech.
Queen Mab also appears in the Vertigo graphic novel God Save the Queen
, by Mike Carey. She is the primary antagonist; the story is based on characters seen in Vertigo's Sandman and The Books of Magic
. An ancient woman (apparently a witch) appears throughout the Dark Horse Comics
series Hellboy
. In Hellboy: The Wild Hunt, this woman is revealed to be Queen Mab.
A fairy named Mab is one of the main characters in Francesca Lia Block
's novel I Was a Teenage Fairy.
Queen Mab is ruler of the Unseelie Court in the 2009 novel Midwinter by Matthew Sturges
. She is enemy to the Seelie Queen, Regina Titania.
A more malevolent Queen Mab appears in Simon R. Green's Secret History series and also in his Nightside
series, having returned from exile to overthrow Oberon
and Titania and reclaim the throne of the Unseelie Court.
In Lesley Livingston's series Wondrous Strange
, Mab is the Queen of Darkness and Air.
In Magic Street
by Orson Scott Card
, the character of Puck
suggest that Queen Mab and Titania, of A Midsummer Night's Dream
, are in fact, the same individual, but Shakespeare
did not realize it.
. She is portrayed as a cruel, power-hungry, somewhat sociopath
ic goddess and the twin sister of the Lady of the Lake. She is mentioned in the movie Fairy Tale as the fairy queen.
In the 1996 film Romeo + Juliet, she takes the form of an ecstasy-like drug.
In season four of HBO's original series "True Blood
", Queen Mab is a new recurring character portrayed by Rebecca Wisocky.
Though the Disney cartoon Gargoyles
was canceled before Queen Mab could appear, creator Greg Weisman
says that she is the mother of the series' version of Oberon and would eventually have been an antagonist had the show continued.
(1803–1869), the French composer, in 1839 composed a symphony entitled Roméo et Juliette
that includes a Queen Mab Scherzo.
The 1867 opera Roméo et Juliette
by Charles Gounod
(1818–1893) includes the aria "Mab, la reine des mensonges (Mab, the queen of illusions.)"
The song "The Fairy Feller's Master-Stroke", of Queen's
second album Queen II
, written by Freddie Mercury
, mentions Mab in the part: "Oberon and Titania watched by a Harridan/Mab is the queen and there's a good apothecary man."
In the off-Broadway musical Bare, a Pop Opera
, an abridged version of Queen Mab is sung by the character Peter, who is playing Mercutio in the fictional school which is putting on Romeo & Juliet.
In the video for the song "Night Boat
" from Duran Duran
's first album, Duran Duran, singer Simon Le Bon recites the beginning of the Queen Mab speech before singing his own original lyrics.
There is a track on the album HMS Donovan
by Donovan Leitch
called "Queen Mab," it is based on a poem by Thomas Hood.
to Sir William Trumbull
: "I beg leave to assure my Lady of my most humble service, I kiss the hem of Queen Mab's garment..."
series and the various spinoffs.
Queen Mab is also the naming of the ancient alien villain in Martian Gothic: Unification
where the first part of Mercutio's speech is quoted in reference to the character.
Mab appears as evil fairy-type enemies in the Record of Agarest War
and Record of Agarest War: Reappearance videogames with an inherent dark element attribute.
Fairy
A fairy is a type of mythical being or legendary creature, a form of spirit, often described as metaphysical, supernatural or preternatural.Fairies resemble various beings of other mythologies, though even folklore that uses the term...
referred to in Shakespeare's play Romeo and Juliet
Romeo and Juliet
Romeo and Juliet is a tragedy written early in the career of playwright William Shakespeare about two young star-crossed lovers whose deaths ultimately unite their feuding families. It was among Shakespeare's most popular archetypal stories of young, teenage lovers.Romeo and Juliet belongs to a...
. She also appears in other 17th century literature, and in various guises in later poetry, drama and cinema. In the play her activity is described in a famous speech by Mercutio
Mercutio
Mercutio a fictional character in William Shakespeare's 1597 tragedy, Romeo and Juliet. He is a close friend of Romeo, and Romeo's cousin Benvolio, and also a blood relative to Prince Escalus and Count Paris. As such, being neither a Montague nor a Capulet, Mercutio is one of the few in Verona...
written originally in prose and often adapted into iambic pentameter
Iambic pentameter
Iambic pentameter is a commonly used metrical line in traditional verse and verse drama. The term describes the particular rhythm that the words establish in that line. That rhythm is measured in small groups of syllables; these small groups of syllables are called "feet"...
, in which she is described as a miniature creature who drives her chariot into the noses and into the brains of sleeping people to compel them to experience dreams of wish-fulfillment. She would also bring the plague in some occasions. She is also described as a midwife to help sleepers 'give birth' to their dreams.
Mercutio's speech (in the adapted prose version)
"O, then, I see Queen Mab hath been with you.
She is the fairies’ midwife, and she comes
In shape no bigger than an agate-stone
On the fore-finger of an alderman,
Drawn with a team of little atomies
Athwart men's noses as they lie asleep;
Her wagon-spokes made of long spinners’ legs,
The cover of the wings of grasshoppers,
The traces of the smallest spider's web,
The collars of the moonshine's wat'ry beams,
Her whip of cricket's bone; the lash of film;
Her waggoner a small grey-coated gnat,
Not half so big as a round little worm
Pricked from the lazy finger of a maid:
Her chariot is an empty hazelnut
Made by the joiner squirrel or old grub,
Time out o’ mind the fairies’ coachmakers.
And in this state she gallops night by night
Through lovers’ brains, and then they dream of love;
O’er courtiers’ knees, that dream on court'sies straight,
O’er lawyers’ fingers, who straight dream on fees,
O’er ladies ‘ lips, who straight on kisses dream,
Which oft the angry Mab with blisters plagues,
Because their breaths with sweetmeats tainted are:
Sometime she gallops o’er a courtier's nose,
And then dreams he of smelling out a suit;
And sometime comes she with a tithe-pig's tail
Tickling a parson's nose as a’ lies asleep,
Then dreams, he of another benefice:
Sometime she driveth o’er a soldier's neck,
And then dreams he of cutting foreign throats,
Of breaches, ambuscadoes, Spanish blades,
Of healths five-fathom deep; and then anon
Drums in his ear, at which he starts and wakes,
And being thus frighted swears a prayer or two
And sleeps again. This is that very Mab
That plaits the manes of horses in the night,
And bakes the elflockPolish plaitPolish plait is a formation of hair. It can be viewed as a hairstyle similar to dreadlocks or a hair disease.-As a disease:...
s in foul sluttish hairs,
Which once untangled, much misfortune bodes:
This is the hag, when maids lie on their backs,
That presses them and learns them first to bear,
Making them women of good carriage:
This is she—"
— Mercutio in Romeo and Juliet
Romeo and JulietRomeo and Juliet is a tragedy written early in the career of playwright William Shakespeare about two young star-crossed lovers whose deaths ultimately unite their feuding families. It was among Shakespeare's most popular archetypal stories of young, teenage lovers.Romeo and Juliet belongs to a...
, Act I, scene IV
In other literature
After her literary debut in Romeo and Juliet, she appears in works of seventeenth-century poetry, notably Ben JonsonBen Jonson
Benjamin Jonson was an English Renaissance dramatist, poet and actor. A contemporary of William Shakespeare, he is best known for his satirical plays, particularly Volpone, The Alchemist, and Bartholomew Fair, which are considered his best, and his lyric poems...
's "The Entertainment at Althorp
The Entertainment at Althorp
The Entertainment at Althorp, or The Althorp Entertainment, is an early Jacobean era literary work, written by Ben Jonson. It is also known by the alternative title The Satyr. The work marked a major development in Jonson's career, as the first of many entertainments and masques that he would write...
" and Michael Drayton
Michael Drayton
Michael Drayton was an English poet who came to prominence in the Elizabethan era.-Early life:He was born at Hartshill, near Nuneaton, Warwickshire, England. Almost nothing is known about his early life, beyond the fact that in 1580 he was in the service of Thomas Goodere of Collingham,...
's "Nymphidia". In Poole's work Parnassus, Mab is described as the Queen of the Fairies and consort
Queen consort
A queen consort is the wife of a reigning king. A queen consort usually shares her husband's rank and holds the feminine equivalent of the king's monarchical titles. Historically, queens consort do not share the king regnant's political and military powers. Most queens in history were queens consort...
to Oberon, Emperor of the Fairies.
Queen Mab: A Philosophical Poem
Queen Mab (poem)
Queen Mab; A Philosophical Poem; With Notes, published in 1813 in nine cantos with seventeen notes, was the first large poetic work written by Percy Bysshe Shelley , the English Romantic poet...
(1813) is the title of the first large poetic work written by the famous English Romantic poet, Percy Bysshe Shelley
Percy Bysshe Shelley
Percy Bysshe Shelley was one of the major English Romantic poets and is critically regarded as among the finest lyric poets in the English language. Shelley was famous for his association with John Keats and Lord Byron...
(1792–1822).
"Queen Mab" is also the subtitle given to the 31st chapter of Herman Melville
Herman Melville
Herman Melville was an American novelist, short story writer, essayist, and poet. He is best known for his novel Moby-Dick and the posthumous novella Billy Budd....
's novel, Moby Dick, first published in 1851. In this chapter, Stubb, the second mate
Second Mate
A second mate or second officer is a licensed member of the deck department of a merchant ship. The second mate is the third in command and a watchkeeping officer, customarily the ship's navigator. Other duties vary, but the second mate is often the medical officer and in charge of maintaining...
of the Pequod, describes to Flask, the third mate
Third Mate
A Third Mate or Third Officer is a licensed member of the deck department of a merchant ship. The third mate is a watchstander and customarily the ship's safety officer and fourth-in-command...
, the details of a dream in which Stubb is confronted by a merman
Merman
Mermen are mythical male equivalents of mermaids – legendary creatures who have the form of a human from the waist up and are fish-like from the waist down.-Mythology:...
who tells him that the kick Stubb received from Captain Ahab's whalebone leg the previous day should be considered an honour, as a great English lord would consider it an honour to be slapped by a queen.
In Jane Austen
Jane Austen
Jane Austen was an English novelist whose works of romantic fiction, set among the landed gentry, earned her a place as one of the most widely read writers in English literature, her realism and biting social commentary cementing her historical importance among scholars and critics.Austen lived...
's Sense and Sensibility
Sense and Sensibility
Sense and Sensibility, published in 1811, is a British romance novel by Jane Austen, her first published work under the pseudonym, "A Lady." Jane Austen is considered a pioneer of the romance genre of novels, and for the realism portrayed in her novels, is one the most widely read writers in...
, the sexually deceptive Willoughby gives his prey, Marianne, a horse named Queen Mab, a symbol for Marianne's over-eager expectations of marriage in the travelling, womanizing Willoughby.
In J. M. Barrie
J. M. Barrie
Sir James Matthew Barrie, 1st Baronet, OM was a Scottish author and dramatist, best remembered today as the creator of Peter Pan. The child of a family of small-town weavers, he was educated in Scotland. He moved to London, where he developed a career as a novelist and playwright...
's The Little White Bird
The Little White Bird
The Little White Bird is a novel by J. M. Barrie, published in 1902, ranging in tone from fantasy and whimsy to social comedy with dark aggressive undertones. The book attained prominence and longevity due to several chapters written in a softer tone than the rest of the book, in which it...
(1902) Queen Mab lives in Kensington Gardens
Kensington Gardens
Kensington Gardens, once the private gardens of Kensington Palace, is one of the Royal Parks of London, lying immediately to the west of Hyde Park. It is shared between the City of Westminster and the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea. The park covers an area of 111 hectares .The open spaces...
and grants Peter Pan
Peter Pan
Peter Pan is a character created by Scottish novelist and playwright J. M. Barrie . A mischievous boy who can fly and magically refuses to grow up, Peter Pan spends his never-ending childhood adventuring on the small island of Neverland as the leader of his gang the Lost Boys, interacting with...
(who has learned he is a boy, so he can no longer fly) his wish to fly again.
American philosopher George Santayana
George Santayana
George Santayana was a philosopher, essayist, poet, and novelist. A lifelong Spanish citizen, Santayana was raised and educated in the United States and identified himself as an American. He wrote in English and is generally considered an American man of letters...
wrote a short piece entitled "Queen Mab" which appeared in his 1922 book Soliloquies in England and Later Soliloquies. This particular soliloquy
Soliloquy
A soliloquy is a device often used in drama whereby a character relates his or her thoughts and feelings to him/herself and to the audience without addressing any of the other characters, and is delivered often when they are alone or think they are alone. Soliloquy is distinct from monologue and...
considers English literature
English literature
English literature is the literature written in the English language, including literature composed in English by writers not necessarily from England; for example, Robert Burns was Scottish, James Joyce was Irish, Joseph Conrad was Polish, Dylan Thomas was Welsh, Edgar Allan Poe was American, J....
as an indirect form of self-expression in which the English writer "will dream of what Queen Mab makes other people dream" rather than revealing him or herself.
"El velo de la reina Mab" ("The Veil of Queen Mab") is a short story by the Nicaraguan modernist Rubén Darío
Rubén Darío
Félix Rubén García Sarmiento , known as Rubén Darío, was a Nicaraguan poet who initiated the Spanish-American literary movement known as modernismo that flourished at the end of the 19th century...
that explores the artist's relationship with the world, as well as the beauty of artistic creation. The story climaxes with Queen Mab enveloping the four artists in her veil, "el velo de los sueños, de los dulces sueños, que hacen ver la vida del color de rosa" ("the veil of dreams, of sweet dreams, that make the world appear rose-colored"). In this way, Queen Mab alleviates the artists' sadness, giving them hope and allowing them to continue their creative endeavors.
In Jim Butcher
Jim Butcher
Jim Butcher is a New York Times Best Selling author most known for his contemporary fantasy book series The Dresden Files. He also wrote the Codex Alera series. Butcher grew up as the only son of his parents, and has two older sisters. He currently lives in Independence with his wife, Shannon K...
's urban fantasy
Urban fantasy
Urban fantasy is a sub-genre of fantasy defined by place; the fantastic narrative has an urban setting. Many urban fantasies are set in contemporary times and contain supernatural elements. However, the stories can take place in historical, modern, or futuristic periods...
series of novels, the Dresden Files, Queen Mab is one of six Faerie queens and is the ruler of the Unseelie (Winter) court, second in power only to Mother Winter.
Queen Mab also appears as a pivotal character in two Elizabeth Bear
Elizabeth Bear
Sarah Bear Elizabeth Wishnevsky is an American author. Writing under the name Elizabeth Bear, she works primarily in the genre of speculative fiction, and was a winner of the 2005 John W...
fantasy
Fantasy
Fantasy is a genre of fiction that commonly uses magic and other supernatural phenomena as a primary element of plot, theme, or setting. Many works within the genre take place in imaginary worlds where magic is common...
novel
Novel
A novel is a book of long narrative in literary prose. The genre has historical roots both in the fields of the medieval and early modern romance and in the tradition of the novella. The latter supplied the present generic term in the late 18th century....
s, Ink and Steel and Hell and Earth. In these historical fantasy works, Queen Mab is ruler of Faerie in the sixteenth century, co-existing alongside Elizabeth I. Morgan Le Fay
Morgan le Fay
Morgan le Fay , alternatively known as Morgane, Morgaine, Morgana and other variants, is a powerful sorceress in the Arthurian legend. Early works featuring Morgan do not elaborate her character beyond her role as a fay or magician...
, William Shakespeare
William Shakespeare
William Shakespeare was an English poet and playwright, widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's national poet and the "Bard of Avon"...
, Thomas Walsingham
Thomas Walsingham
- Life :He was probably educated at St Albans Abbey at St Albans, Hertfordshire, and at Oxford.He became a monk at St Albans, where he appears to have passed the whole of his monastic life, excepting a period from 1394 to 1396 during which he was prior of Wymondham Abbey, Norfolk, England, another...
, Christopher Marlowe
Christopher Marlowe
Christopher Marlowe was an English dramatist, poet and translator of the Elizabethan era. As the foremost Elizabethan tragedian, next to William Shakespeare, he is known for his blank verse, his overreaching protagonists, and his mysterious death.A warrant was issued for Marlowe's arrest on 18 May...
and other historical personages appear in this novel. Mab's rule is linked supernaturally to that of Elizabeth I, her sister queen.
In Martin Millar's book Dreams of Sex and Stage Diving (1994), the heroine, Elfish, wants to call her thrash metal
Thrash metal
Thrash metal is a subgenre of heavy metal that is characterized usually by its fast tempo and aggression. Songs of the genre typically use fast percussive and low-register guitar riffs, overlaid with shredding-style lead work...
band "Queen Mab". To get this name, which her ex-boyfriend claims for his own band as well, she makes a bet to learn and publicly recite Mercutio's speech.
Queen Mab also appears in the Vertigo graphic novel God Save the Queen
God Save the Queen (graphic novel)
God save the Queen is a 96-page graphic novella published in 2007 by Vertigo DC Comics. It was written by Mike Carey and painted by John Bolton....
, by Mike Carey. She is the primary antagonist; the story is based on characters seen in Vertigo's Sandman and The Books of Magic
The Books of Magic
The Books of Magic is a four-issue English-language comic book mini-series written by Neil Gaiman, published by DC Comics, and later an ongoing series under the imprint Vertigo. Since its original publication, the mini-series has also been published in a single-volume collection under the Vertigo...
. An ancient woman (apparently a witch) appears throughout the Dark Horse Comics
Dark Horse Comics
Dark Horse Comics is the largest independent American comic book and manga publisher.Dark Horse Comics was founded in 1986 by Mike Richardson in Milwaukie, Oregon, with the concept of establishing an ideal atmosphere for creative professionals. Richardson started out by opening his first comic book...
series Hellboy
Hellboy
Hellboy is a comic book superhero created by writer-artist Mike Mignola. The character first appeared in San Diego Comic-Con Comics #2 , and has since appeared in various eponymous miniseries, one-shots and intercompany crossovers...
. In Hellboy: The Wild Hunt, this woman is revealed to be Queen Mab.
A fairy named Mab is one of the main characters in Francesca Lia Block
Francesca Lia Block
Francesca Lia Block is the author of adult and young adult fiction, short stories, screenplays and poetry, most famously the Weetzie Bat series. Block wrote her first book, Weetzie Bat, while a student at UC Berkeley; it was published in 1989 by Harper Collins. She is known for her use of imagery,...
's novel I Was a Teenage Fairy.
Queen Mab is ruler of the Unseelie Court in the 2009 novel Midwinter by Matthew Sturges
Matthew Sturges
Matthew Sturges is an American writer of comics and fantasy novels.-Biography:Sturges is best known for the Eisner-award nominated Jack of Fables from DC/Vertigo...
. She is enemy to the Seelie Queen, Regina Titania.
A more malevolent Queen Mab appears in Simon R. Green's Secret History series and also in his Nightside
Nightside (book series)
Nightside is a series of fantasy novels by author Simon R. Green.After Just Another Judgement Day, Green has only three more books planned, which will bring an end to the series.-Setting:...
series, having returned from exile to overthrow Oberon
Oberon
Oberon is a legendary king of the fairies.Oberon may also refer to:-People:* Merle Oberon , British actress* Oberon Zell-Ravenheart , Neopagan activist-Media and entertainment:* Oberon...
and Titania and reclaim the throne of the Unseelie Court.
In Lesley Livingston's series Wondrous Strange
Wondrous Strange
Wondrous Strange a teen fantasy novel and the first book by author Lesley Livingston. It was published in trade paperback on January 13, 2009 by HarperCollins Canada, Ltd.-Plot:This novel follows teenage aspiring actress Kelley Winslow to New York City...
, Mab is the Queen of Darkness and Air.
In Magic Street
Magic Street
Magic Street is an urban fantasy novel by Orson Scott Card. This book follows the magical events in the Baldwin Hills section of contemporary Los Angeles, including the life of protagonist Mack Street, his foster brother Cecil Tucker, a trickster identified variously as Bag Man, Puck, Mr...
by Orson Scott Card
Orson Scott Card
Orson Scott Card is an American author, critic, public speaker, essayist, columnist, and political activist. He writes in several genres, but is primarily known for his science fiction. His novel Ender's Game and its sequel Speaker for the Dead both won Hugo and Nebula Awards, making Card the...
, the character of Puck
Puck (Shakespeare)
Puck, also known as Robin Goodfellow, is a character in William Shakespeare's play A Midsummer Night's Dream that was based on the ancient figure in English mythology, also called Puck. Puck is a clever and mischievous elf and personifies the trickster or the wise knave...
suggest that Queen Mab and Titania, of A Midsummer Night's Dream
A Midsummer Night's Dream
A Midsummer Night's Dream is a play that was written by William Shakespeare. It is believed to have been written between 1590 and 1596. It portrays the events surrounding the marriage of the Duke of Athens, Theseus, and the Queen of the Amazons, Hippolyta...
, are in fact, the same individual, but Shakespeare
William Shakespeare
William Shakespeare was an English poet and playwright, widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's national poet and the "Bard of Avon"...
did not realize it.
Film
Mab appeared as the main antagonist in the 1998 fantasy mini-series, MerlinMerlin (film)
Merlin is a television miniseries which originally aired in 1998 that retells the legend of King Arthur from the perspective of the wizard Merlin...
. She is portrayed as a cruel, power-hungry, somewhat sociopath
Psychopathy
Psychopathy is a mental disorder characterized primarily by a lack of empathy and remorse, shallow emotions, egocentricity, and deceptiveness. Psychopaths are highly prone to antisocial behavior and abusive treatment of others, and are very disproportionately responsible for violent crime...
ic goddess and the twin sister of the Lady of the Lake. She is mentioned in the movie Fairy Tale as the fairy queen.
In the 1996 film Romeo + Juliet, she takes the form of an ecstasy-like drug.
In season four of HBO's original series "True Blood
True Blood
True Blood is an American television series created and produced by Alan Ball. It is based on The Southern Vampire Mysteries series of novels by Charlaine Harris, detailing the co-existence of vampires and humans in Bon Temps, a fictional, small town in the state of Louisiana...
", Queen Mab is a new recurring character portrayed by Rebecca Wisocky.
Though the Disney cartoon Gargoyles
Gargoyles (TV series)
Gargoyles is an American animated series created by Greg Weisman. It was produced by Greg Weisman and Frank Paur and aired from October 24, 1994 to February 15, 1997. Gargoyles is known for its dark tone, complex story arcs and melodrama...
was canceled before Queen Mab could appear, creator Greg Weisman
Greg Weisman
Greg Weisman is an American comic book and animation writer and producer, best known as the creator of Gargoyles and as the Supervising Producer of The Spectacular Spider-Man. Weisman is currently a producer on the Young Justice animated series...
says that she is the mother of the series' version of Oberon and would eventually have been an antagonist had the show continued.
Music
Hector BerliozHector Berlioz
Hector Berlioz was a French Romantic composer, best known for his compositions Symphonie fantastique and Grande messe des morts . Berlioz made significant contributions to the modern orchestra with his Treatise on Instrumentation. He specified huge orchestral forces for some of his works; as a...
(1803–1869), the French composer, in 1839 composed a symphony entitled Roméo et Juliette
Roméo et Juliette (symphony)
Roméo et Juliette is a "symphonie dramatique", a large-scale choral symphony by French composer Hector Berlioz, which was first performed on 24 November 1839. The libretto was written by Émile Deschamps and the completed work was assigned the catalogue numbers Op. 17 and H.79...
that includes a Queen Mab Scherzo.
The 1867 opera Roméo et Juliette
Roméo et Juliette
Roméo et Juliette is an opéra in five acts by Charles Gounod to a French libretto by Jules Barbier and Michel Carré, based on The Tragedy of Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare. It was first performed at the Théâtre Lyrique , Paris on 27 April 1867...
by Charles Gounod
Charles Gounod
Charles-François Gounod was a French composer, known for his Ave Maria as well as his operas Faust and Roméo et Juliette.-Biography:...
(1818–1893) includes the aria "Mab, la reine des mensonges (Mab, the queen of illusions.)"
The song "The Fairy Feller's Master-Stroke", of Queen's
Queen (band)
Queen are a British rock band formed in London in 1971, originally consisting of Freddie Mercury , Brian May , John Deacon , and Roger Taylor...
second album Queen II
Queen II
Queen II is the second album by British rock group Queen, released in March 1974. It was recorded at Trident Studios, London in August 1973 with co-producers Roy Thomas Baker and Robin Cable, and engineered by Mike Stone....
, written by Freddie Mercury
Freddie Mercury
Freddie Mercury was a British musician, singer and songwriter, best known as the lead vocalist of the rock band Queen. As a performer, he was known for his flamboyant stage persona and powerful vocals over a four-octave range...
, mentions Mab in the part: "Oberon and Titania watched by a Harridan/Mab is the queen and there's a good apothecary man."
In the off-Broadway musical Bare, a Pop Opera
Bare, a Pop Opera
bare, also known as bare: A Pop Opera, is a rock musical with a book by Jon Hartmere, Jr. and Damon Intrabartolo, lyrics by Hartmere and music by Intrabartolo...
, an abridged version of Queen Mab is sung by the character Peter, who is playing Mercutio in the fictional school which is putting on Romeo & Juliet.
In the video for the song "Night Boat
Night Boat
"Night Boat" or " Nightboat " is a song by Duran Duran appearing as track six on their debut album.-About the song:The song was originally written by Simon Le Bon when he was waiting for a ride from the nightbus home. It is spooky and atmospheric, unlike most of the other songs on the album. It is...
" from Duran Duran
Duran Duran
Duran Duran are an English band, formed in Birmingham in 1978. They were one of the most successful bands of the 1980s and a leading band in the MTV-driven "Second British Invasion" of the United States...
's first album, Duran Duran, singer Simon Le Bon recites the beginning of the Queen Mab speech before singing his own original lyrics.
There is a track on the album HMS Donovan
HMS Donovan (album)
HMS Donovan is the ninth studio album, and tenth album overall, from Scottish singer-songwriter Donovan. It marks the second album of Donovan's children's music, after the For Little Ones portion of A Gift from a Flower to a Garden...
by Donovan Leitch
Donovan
Donovan Donovan Donovan (born Donovan Philips Leitch (born 10 May 1946) is a Scottish singer-songwriter and guitarist. Emerging from the British folk scene, he developed an eclectic and distinctive style that blended folk, jazz, pop, psychedelia, and world music...
called "Queen Mab," it is based on a poem by Thomas Hood.
Personal correspondence
Queen Mab makes an appearance in a letter from Henry St JohnHenry St John, 1st Viscount Bolingbroke
Henry St John, 1st Viscount Bolingbroke was an English politician, government official and political philosopher. He was a leader of the Tories, and supported the Church of England politically despite his atheism. In 1715 he supported the Jacobite rebellion of 1715 which sought to overthrow the...
to Sir William Trumbull
William Trumbull
Sir William Trumbull was an English statesman who held high office as a member of the First Whig Junto.-Biography:...
: "I beg leave to assure my Lady of my most humble service, I kiss the hem of Queen Mab's garment..."
Places
Queen Mab's was a popular coffee house and open mic venue located in the basement of the Presbyterian church in Rye, New York, USA, in the 1960s.Video games
Queen Mab is a recurring demon in the Shin Megami TenseiShin Megami Tensei
is a console role-playing video game from Atlus that was originally released on October 30, 1992 and later on several platforms, although no installment was released outside of Japan. It was originally released on the Super Famicom and was later ported to the PC Engine Super CD-Rom and Mega-CD...
series and the various spinoffs.
Queen Mab is also the naming of the ancient alien villain in Martian Gothic: Unification
Martian Gothic: Unification
Martian Gothic: Unification is a survival horror game for the PlayStation and PC. It was developed by Creative Reality and published by Take-Two Interactive. Programmers Neil Dodwell and Martin Wong, designer Stephen Marley, animator David Dew, modelers Julian Holtom and Paul Oglesby, and music &...
where the first part of Mercutio's speech is quoted in reference to the character.
Mab appears as evil fairy-type enemies in the Record of Agarest War
Record of Agarest War
, known in Europe as Agarest: Generations of War, is a strategy role-playing game for the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 video game consoles. The game is a collaboration between Idea Factory, Red Entertainment and Compile Heart. An updated port of the game was released in Japan for the Xbox 360 on...
and Record of Agarest War: Reappearance videogames with an inherent dark element attribute.