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All Site ContentRomeo and JulietAct 1Scene 4
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"presses," "bear," and "carriage"
Double Meaning
Act 1,
Scene 4
Lines 86-92

An explanation of Mercutio’s bawdy wordplay at the end of the Queen Mab speech in Act 1, Scene 4 of myShakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet.

Mercutio

And sleeps again. This is that very Mab
That plaits the manes of horses in the night,
And bakes the elflocks 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.

Queen Mab “presses” (forces) the young girls to have sex and teaches them, for theh first time, how \ to “bear” the weight of a man. She also “presses” (pushes) down on their bellies to teach them how to “bear” a child. Thus they become women of good “carriage” — equally capable of carrying a man’s weight and of carrying a pregnancy to term.