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All Site ContentRomeo and JulietAct 1Scene 4
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"dreams of cutting foreign throats, of breaches... of healths"
Cultural Reference
Act 1,
Scene 4
Lines 80-86

A cultural reference explained in myShakespeare's Romeo and Juliet, Act 1, Scene 4.

Mercutio

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

This soldier dreams of being the carousing, heroic soldier in adventure tales: storming castle walls by day and drinking with his comrades by night. But in reality he’s not so brave; when he thinks he hears the drums summoning him to his battle formation, he falls into a fright and starts praying.