Blank Verse and Diction in Shakespeare's Hamlet ", With Osric he gives way to a bantering and jeering humor very similar to that with Polonius. Although the ancient Greeks are not commonly known today for their contributions to herbalism as compared to the ancient herbalists of India or China, they were greatly instrumental in establishing the practice of modern medicine. Choler was primarily associated with summer. Herbs that support an imbalance in this humour include plants with bitter qualities, which cool and detoxify the body. Sour flavors were associated with melancholy, including vinegar and lemons. His first meeting with Horatio furnishes opportunity. . Badger, 1916. Retrieved from http://www.greekmedicine.net. Phlegm was another important component of humorism. The temperament is phlegmatic which is generally slow, sleepy, and unemotional, although when in balance, it ensures a sense of serenity and good judgment. The four humors were identified as black bile, yellow bile, phlegm, and blood. Revenge in Hamlet However, should one fluid overpower the others, the body becomes out of balance and causes medical and psychological illness. Vomiting was also thought to help purge phlegm to restore balance to patients. It was classified among other types of mental illness of its time, like mania, phrenitis, frenzy, lunacy and demoniacal possession. your gambols? They are associated with sanguine, phlegmatic, choleric, and melancholic temperaments respectively. squeezing you, and, sponge, you shall be dry again. The union of. You can unsubscribe at any time using links in the emails you receive. If blood dominates, you will have a sanguine temperament; yellow bile makes you choleric; black bile melancholic; and phlegm leads you to being phlegmatic. Curator Gail Kern Paster explains "The four humors were an early typology for human personality. Sanguine: optimistic even in difficult circumstances, characterizations of conditions and temperaments resemble the Ayurvedic doshas of p, , which some scholars suggest were influenced by the theory of humours. Blood. Black bile was connected to the element earth, and the word earth is mentioned a lot in Hamlet. Liddell, H.G., Scott, R., Jones, H.S., & McKenzie, R. (1940). So the play itself is very close to the ideal humoral balance. These humors represented different aspects of a human, connected to the four elements (wind, air, earth and fire) and the four seasons (spring, summer, fall and winter). Drawing, c.1793. This is the humour of regeneration and is supported by herbs that are either cooling and drying to help regulate blood, such as agrimony (Agrimonia spp. Shakespeare was too good a judge of character and of human nature to mingle such humor with madness. And there is pansies, thats for thoughts Theres fennel for you, and columbines. Analysis of the Characters in Hamlet Now of historic interest, the Four Humours may be evoked or listed as part of a non-mainstream therapeutic philosophy or system . Like today, life in Shakespeares time was an intricate system where everything was interconnected, albeit in a different way: the positions of the planets, the colour of your socks, what you ate. When he needs what you have gleaned, it is but These four humours, from the Greek word. Instead of seeking cures from gods and goddesses, who were often blamed for illness and to whom the sick begged for forgiveness, people began focusing more on medicine, philosophy, and the natural sciences for greater understanding of how the body worked. The four humorsblack bile, yellow bile, blood, and phlegmrepresented different qualities: while black bile was cold and dry and yellow bile was hot and dry, blood was hot and wet and phlegm . Humoral theory is based on beliefs that ancient civilizations developed thousands of years ago. , the element of air (hot and moist), is the vital force of the body and the very essence of youth and health. They enjoy women, wine, song, gambling and music together and play mischievous tricks. Crawford, Alexander W. Hamlet, an ideal prince, and other essays in Shakesperean interpretation: Hamlet; Merchant of Venice; Othello; King Lear. | Melancholy Temperament. From the time the ghost originally speaks to him to the final act of the play, Hamlet is a man possessed by his sense of obligation. It reflects the principle of digestion and transformation. Black bile, the humour that dominated this temperament, was connected to the cold and dry element earth, to old age, and all things dying and rotting. Ancient Greece | Galen & The Four Humours 60 Second Histories 3.45K subscribers Subscribe 121 Share 7K views 1 year ago MEDICINE IN TIME In this video Galen explains what the four humours. For instance, blood was associated with heat and wetness. However, everyone hasa natural excess of one of the humours, which is what makes us all look unique and behave differently. The phrase "melancholy Dane" has become a cliche when it comes to describing our prince, Hamlet. The theory of the four humours was central to the teachings of Aristotle, Hippocrates and Galen. Poor Hamlet, too much humor had'st thou for this harsh world!" Regarded by many as the father of Western (and some say Islamic) medicine. If a. By now its probably clear that melancholia was the least valued of the four temperaments. i. The four seasons, the four elements and the four humors were all related. Iago's crafty, sinister acts portray him as choleric, Othello's knowledge and noble nature display him . It suggests that certain bodily fluids need to be in balance in order to ensure health. Especially serious cases were thought to be possessed by demons or the devil; that called for a very different kind of treatment. Boston R.G. The four humors are blood, phlegm, yellow bile, and black bile. Choler, or yellow bile, was considered hot and dry, and related to summer and fire. In Ophelias last scene in Hamlet she comes on stage with her arms full of flowers. ), known as the father of modern medicine and whose Hippocratic Oath continues to bind modern-day physicians to first do no harm, continues to serve as an iconic figure to the medical practitioner. ), "Even in dying," as Sir Herbert Tree says, "he breaks into a sweet irony of humor, in meeting the 'fell serjeant death.' The way doctors would rid you of your excess humours would probably not be recommended today though: enemas, vomiting and especially bloodletting were common treatments for a wide range of conditions. The four humors. Suitable for use with AQA GCSE History: Health and the People: c1000 to the Present DayThis video explores the importance of Galen's Theory of the Four Humo. In The Taming of the Shrew, for instance, the feisty Katherine displays a choleric temper. Hysteria Symptoms & Historical Origin | What is Hysteria in Personality? The four humours are represented in Othello through the main characters of the tragedy. King Henry IV is melancholic and despondent. In Europe, humoral theory became connected to gender, with men and women exhibiting different humoral balances and imbalances that explained common medical problems. Theres rue for you, and heres some for me. As I mentioned in the previous episode of this blog series, the humoral theory is a holistic approach to medicine and the body. Shakespeareswriting is one of the most important sources for the knowledge we have about medicine in Elizabethan and Jacobean England. William Shakespeare: profile. Passions and tempers: A history of the humours. Hamlet, Prince of Denmark: the Four Humors (A) Main idea: Hamlet is not mad. humour, also spelled Humor, (from Latin "liquid," or "fluid"), in early Western physiological theory, one of the four fluids of the body that were thought to determine a person's temperament and features. Retrieved from, Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window), Click to share on Pinterest (Opens in new window), Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window), Click to share on LinkedIn (Opens in new window), Click to share on Tumblr (Opens in new window), Click to share on Reddit (Opens in new window), Click to email a link to a friend (Opens in new window), Pantry Herbalism for Cold and Flu Support: Free eBook, Making Herbal Preparations 101 Mini Course, Emulsifiers and Preservatives in Botanical Skin Care Products, A cabinet of ancient medical curiosities: Strange tales and surprising facts from the healing arts, The greatest benefit to mankind: A medical history of humanity. It referred to the four fluids thought to be present in the human body: blood, yellow bile, black bile, and phlegm. In all alike he is sane and thoughtful. Principles of treatment [Blog Post]. This idea dates back to ancient Greece, where the body was seen more or less as a shell containing four different humours, or fluids: blood, phlegm, black bile and yellow bile. Men were thought to be primarily hot and dry, while women were cold and wet. 2 With reference to this element of humor in the play of The Four Humours are Blood, Black Bile, Yellow Bile, and Phlegm. Belief in humoral theory was not limited to ancient Greece. In the graveyard over the skulls he is sardonic and pathetic, and over Yorick's he is melancholy. . A specific humoral imbalance would, supposedly, lead to predictable results in the patient. It can be expressed as the dried blood found in stool, very dark urine, serious fevers caused by malaria, or, more abstractly, as constipation, bloating, and arthritis. Research the structure and function of thehuman body through our anatomy archive, Immerse yourself in the medieval past and explore what we have in common with the Middle Ages, Architecture affects our health in profound ways. . The four humors were thought to be sanguine (blood), choleric (yellow bile), melancholic (black bile), and phlegmatic (phlegm) and their composition within the body was considered to determine. The four temperament theory is a proto-psychological theory which suggests that there are four fundamental personality types: sanguine, choleric, melancholic, and phlegmatic. The four humors are black bile, yellow bile, phlegm, and blood. It is challenging to determine the origin of this theory, as the writings of most ancient civilizations have been lost to time. Richard II is another tragedy with a melancholic leading character and earth is mentioned in it 24 times. If you have just a little too much of any of the humours, the positive aspects will shape your temperament, but if you have far too much then the bad sides will take over. The four "humours" were bodily fluids (blood, phlegm, black bile, and yellow bile) and . Jones, Trans.). ii. Boston R.G. Mary McMahon. This explains the Hippocratic . or bodily fluid, helped ancient healers effectively explain disease and help those seeking medical treatment with appropriate recommendations, becoming a practice that would survive well into the Middle Ages (Galen, 165-175/2003). Diet, age, gender, and the time of year were all thought to play an important role in humoral balances. Humorism, the humoral theory, or humoralism, was a system of medicine detailing a supposed makeup and workings of the human body, adopted by Ancient Greek and Roman physicians and philosophers . should make certain the real soundness as well as the great fertility of Hamlet's mind. His works contains a lot of information on the contemporary medical practices of the time, but they also show the social history of medicine: how medicine formed a part of peoples lives and thoughts. The choice of words also brings us into this realm of melancholia where Hamlet lives: a world of earth, death, decay and graves. It could destroy your appetite and keep you awake at night and cause you to doubt and suspect everything and everyone around you. Ageing was in itself seen as a process of gradual drying of the flesh and cooling of bodily humours. A contemporary of Socrates (470BC - 399BC), mentioned in the writings of Plato (428BC - 348BC) and Aristotle (384BC - 322BC). Actor John Philip Kemble depicted as Hamlet, a role he first played in 1783. Principles of treatment [Blog Post]. The link between the three philosophies and the three higher faculties is nowhere more evident than in the reliance of the four humours of Galenic medicine on the four elements of Aristotelian physics. Retrieved from, (O. Powell, Trans.). Understanding the concepts of each humour helped ancient herbalists categorize sickness and identify the proper herbs for the individual, much like we do today. balance of his humors: blood and phlegm noted as "judgment." He goes on to talk about how a . If the humours were in imbalance, then the person was sick. Soliloquy Analysis: How all occasions do inform against me (4.4.35-69) These 'humours' were thought to be created in the liver and transported through the body through the blood stream. Whether we have ancestors from ancient Greece, China, or India doesnt matter so much. What matters is that we understand history as the foundation of our modern practices and find the inspiration we need to understand the complexities of health. Ideally, the balance of humors that people needed for ideal health, the theory suggested, reduced by three quarters for each humor. Biological and Medical History of Abnormality in Psychology, Introduction to Ben Jonson: Poems, Plays and Shakespeare, Singlehood & Cohabitation: Definition, Challenges & Advantages, OCD Symptoms, Causes, & Characteristics | Obsessive Compulsive Disorder Symptoms, Education and Competencies of a Professional Counselor, What is Melancholy? Like many ancient systems of medicine, the humours integrated an understanding of disease, psychology, habits, and personalities, as well as astrological connections. Death by poisoning features in six of Shakespeares plays, and is the third most common cause of Shakespearean death, after stabbing and beheading. (Original work published ca. To what extent is he just acting? Something is rotten in the state of Denmark.. Prince Hamlet is probably the most famous melancholic in literature. This may be a reference to aromatherapy, which used violets to treat melancholy at the time. Black bile was associated with a melancholy temperament. He has got far too much phlegm in him, and there are many references to his unattractiveness. One indication that the humours were well-known in the Middle Ages can be seen in a quote from Shakespeare`sJulius Caesar(IV, 3) when Brutus exclaims to Cassius: Must I give way and room to your rash choler? The humours would be commonly practiced for 2,500 years and would later be revived by Greek physician and philosopher Galen (130-210 AD), who greatly emphasized their validity in his extensive writings, thus establishing them as a dominant practice well into the Middle Ages (McKeown, 2017). that soaks up the king's countenance, his rewards, his authorities. Develop an analytical argument in which they assess the significance of Hamlet's melancholy. These fluidsproduced by the body's organs and tissueswere black bile, yellow bile, phlegm, and blood. , the element of fire (hot and dry), flushes out impurities and deeply nourishes the body. Words by Nelly EkstrmAverage reading time 4 minutes 11 December 2016 Article Choleric. By this time, the Renaissance had spread to other European countries, and ideas about our ability to fully understand the human experience became more skeptical. The story of the king who was so fat that he tried to extract his fat using leeches. What he should be doing is trying to restore the balance by switching to a warming and drying diet and engaging in warming and drying activities. . Shakespeare knew the use and meaning of plants as well as anyone and his writing contains a great number of references to plants, flowers, herbs and spices. The immortal gods were gradually replaced with scientific medical theories, including the four humours, all of which heavily relied on the power of plants (Porter, 1997). Hamlet's Relationship with the Ghost Today, this Shakespeare quote is often adapted for humorous effect. 13 chapters | These four humours, from the Greek word chymos or bodily fluid, helped ancient healers effectively explain disease and help those seeking medical treatment with appropriate recommendations, becoming a practice that would survive well into the Middle Ages (Galen, 165-175/2003). Find out more in the Living with Buildings exhibition. Directly after the warm greetings between the friends the following conversation takes place: Again, on the occasion when Polonius comes to summon him to the queen's presence, Hamlet pokes fun at The theory of the four humours informed many of Shakespeare's best-known characters, including the phlegmatic Falstaff. All other trademarks and copyrights are the property of their respective owners. Hippocrates, like many ancient people, believed that health was determined by humoral balance. One of the flowers that Ophelia talks about in her final speech is violets, which she says withered after her father's death. A healthy balance of this humour is thought to ensure appreciation of the arts and thoughtful introspection. . The phlegmatic and sanguine temperaments have a lot in common. Hippocratic method and the four humors [Blog Post]. But in the tragedies they are more often the leading characters, generally elderly men. Hamlet was written in the early 17th century around 1600 or 1601 and first performed in 1602. 109 0 obj <> endobj Hamlet's Antic Disposition: Is Hamlet's Madness Real? According to humoralism, four bodily fluidsblood, yellow bile, black bile, and phlegmdetermined a person's temperament and an imbalance led to certain sicknesses dependent upon which humors were in excess or deficit. Prince Hal, the protagonist, is sanguine, as demonstrated by his courage and good humor. Now through November 8, HSLS is hosting the traveling exhibit, "And There's the Humor of It": Shakespeare and the Four Humors, produced by the National Library of Medicine (NLM) and coordinated by the American Library Association. Falstaff imagined by artist Eduard von Grtzner, 1906. Hamlet's Silence Arikha, N. (2007). Loeb Classical Library. Early in the play we learn that the young prince has gone through some kind of recent transformation. Please simply create an account before buying/booking any courses. In some cases, humors were even associated with different zodiac signs. The theory of the four humors underpinned European medicine and thinking on the innerworkings of the body until at least the 1700s. 0 Yet Shakespeare understood personality and health in the terms available to his agethat of the now-discarded theory of the four bodily humors. Passions and tempers: A history of the humours. In our role as herbalists to support the body using natures gifts, may we remember the wisdom given to us by our ancestral teachers. In tragedies, the characters usually start out with a normal excess of their temperamental humour, but thru their actions and reactions their excess is built up, leading to more and more extreme behaviour until all hope of restoring balance is lost. Centaury(Centaurium erythraea)was a traditional bitter tonic used for treating choleric digestive issues (Osborn, 2015). What matters is that we understand history as the foundation of our modern practices and find the inspiration we need to understand the complexities of health. 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