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All Site ContentRomeo and JulietAct 1Scene 4
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"round little worm"
Cultural Reference
Act 1,
Scene 4
Lines 51-64

An explanation of the phrase “round little worm” in the Queen Mab speech of Act 1, Scene 4 of myShakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet.

Mercutio

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 forefinger of an alderman,
Drawn with a team of little atomi
Over men's noses as they lie asleep;
Her wagon spokes made of long spiders' legs;
The cover of the wings of grasshoppers;
Her traces of the smallest spider web;
Her collars of the moonshine's wat'ry beams;             
Her whip of cricket's bone, the lash of film;
Her wagoner a small grey-coated gnat,
Not half so big as a round little worm
Pricked from the lazy finger of a maid.

The round little worm is the the tiny mite that causes scabies, a skin affliction affecting people seen as having bad hygiene — in this case a lazy maid who doesn't wash her hands.