in Other Literature
After her literary debut in Romeo and Juliet, she appears in works of seventeenth-century poetry, notably Ben Jonson'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 is alluded to in Robert Herrick's "The Argument of his Book."
Queen Mab was a successful pantomime by Henry Woodward, staged at Drury Lane, London in 1750.
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 novels, 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 (written as Mabh in the series) is the Autumn Queen of Darkness and Air.
In Magic Street by Orson Scott Card, the character of Puck suggests that Queen Mab and Titania, of A Midsummer Night's Dream, are in fact, the same individual, but Shakespeare did not realize it.
Queen Mab is the ruler of the Unseelie Court in Julie Kagawa's Iron Fey series.
Queen Mab is also the ruler of the Unseelie Court and a major character in Jim Butcher's fantasy novel series, "The Dresden Files", and is constantly trying to seduce protagonist Harry Dresden into becoming her Winter Knight.
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