One of the most outstanding characteristics of Hamlet is his subtle and persistent humor. Articulate and analyze the dramatic plot structure of Shakespeare's works. your flashes of merriment, that were wont to set the table on a roar? Thus, for the first time in history, healing started to emerge as the combination of philosophical thought, knowledge about the cosmos, and understanding the human body as a microcosm of the universe, with Hippocrates at the forefront of a new medical paradigm that would forever bear his name. 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Choleric. Black Bile. 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 . , a major cultural shift was taking place in ancient Greece. Elizabethans believed that the balance of the four humors would keep them healthy. ", Another aspect of Hamlet's humor glints forth in his dealings with his old school-fellows, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern. Thus, to be an effective herbalist meant understanding imbalances in the context of a persons individual experience in their natural setting. Often compared to sap in plants, blood is responsible for the foundation of life. Hamlet: Problem Play and Revenge Tragedy For information about how we handle your data, please read our privacy notice. Galen: On the properties of foodstuffs(O. Powell, Trans.). Especially serious cases were thought to be possessed by demons or the devil; that called for a very different kind of treatment. Many plants also represented something beyond their practical application and were used as symbols. Hippocrates - Greek physician (c460BC - 370BC). In Shakespeares day, only very wealthy people could afford a doctor and the medicines or treatments he would recommend. Words by Nelly Ekstrmaverage reading time 6 minutes 16 December 2016. Herbs that support this imbalance include pungent, stimulating, and aromatic herbs, such fenugreek (Trigonella foenum-graecum), bay laurel(Laurus nobilis),fir(Picea abies),thyme(Thymus vulgaris),and hyssop(Hyssopus officinalis) (Osborn, 2015). If Hamlet does not really go mad under his unparalleled griefs and burdens it is because under all circumstances his grim and tragic humor holds evenly the balance of his mind. King Henry IV himself is melancholic, Prince Hal sanguine, Sir Harry Hotspur choleric and the knight Sir John Falstaff is phlegmatic. Black bile was associated with a melancholy temperament. If the humours were in balance, then the body was in health. We may call it herb of grace o Sundays. Retrieved from, (O. Powell, Trans.). Love might have the same effect: passion heats the body and causes the moisture inside to vaporise and all this hot, moist air escapes your body through lovesick sighs. Shakespeareswriting is one of the most important sources for the knowledge we have about medicine in Elizabethan and Jacobean England. Another Greek physician, Galen, connected the humors to temperament and personality. Heat stimulated action, cold depressed it. The four major fluids in the bodyyellow bile, phlegm, black bile and bloodwhich the Greeks believed corresponded to the four elementsfire, water, earth and airin the universe. Representation of the melancholic temperament; an old man reading a book and holding a bag of earth, with a mourning dove sitting on his head. The four seasons spring, summer, autumn and winter paralleled the four humors blood/sanguine, yellow bile/choleric, phlegm/phlegmatic and black bile/melancholic, which in turn paralleled the four elements air, fire, water and earth. We use a third party provider, dotdigital, to deliver our newsletters. Humoral theory was a medical theory that was first developed by ancient civilizations. After being refused by Ophelia, Polonius explains that Hamlet: Fell into a sadness, then into a fast, Mary McMahon. Ageing was in itself seen as a process of gradual drying of the flesh and cooling of bodily humours. The Significance of the Ghost in Armor . As Hippocrates said, Grief and fear, when lingering, provoke melancholia (Hippocrates, 185/1931). Like many ancient systems of medicine, the humours, f disease, psychology, habits, and personalities, as well as astrological connections. Affiliate links are shared throughout the website and the Herbal Academy may receive compensation if you make a purchase with these links. A natural excess of black bile could make you cautious and analytical. Hamlet, Prince of Denmark: the Four Humors (A) Main idea: Hamlet is not mad. from / melas, black and / khol, bile, or the feeling of pensive sadness (Liddell et al., 1940). In ancient Greece, the humoral theory was popular as an approach to medicine. Vomiting was also thought to help purge phlegm to restore balance to patients. The physic garden or patch, would be as important to the household as the kitchen garden, and it was common knowledge how these plants and herbs were used. calls him a "water-fly," then "a chough . Water was thought to be cold and wet, so it was associated with phlegm. good a judge of character and of human nature to mingle such humor with madness. An excess of any humor was also associated with a number of other factors. balance these conditions. Jack Falstaff is fat, lazy, cowardly, dishonest and sentimental, but the audience loved him despite all his faults. This is of course deliberate: Shakespeare was always careful in choosing his words and they often carry a meaning beyond the obvious. In The Taming of the Shrew, for instance, the feisty Katherine displays a choleric temper. Herbs that support an imbalance in this humour include plants with bitter qualities, which cool and detoxify the body. Carried by the bloodstream, the four humors bred the core passions of anger, grief, hope, and fearthe emotions conveyed so powerfully in Shakespeare's comedies and tragedies. To unlock this lesson you must be a Study.com Member. 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. There are many famous melancholics - the author of Ecclesiastes was one, so was Hamlet (Shakespeare probably had read an . ii. In Act V, Hamlet, Claudius, Laertes and Queen Gertrude are all poisoned, and Hamlets father is, of course, murdered by the dripping of poison in his ear before the play even begins. - Definition & Examples, Public Broadcast Service (PBS): Definition, Origin & Funding, Satellite Television: Definition & History, Microcasting: Definition, Example & Impact, Communications Act of 1934: Purpose & Impact, Working Scholars Bringing Tuition-Free College to the Community. The Elizabethans believed in The Four Humours, A traditional theory of physiology in which health, mind and character was dependant upon the balance of four fluids in your body, and four elements. Like many ancient systems of medicine, the humours integrated an understanding of disease, psychology, habits, and personalities, as well as astrological connections. Physiognomy Overview & Examples | What is Physiognomy? Speaking of the king, Hamlet's humor Hamlet talks about his reasons for admiring and trusting Horatio here, noting specifically the . Quotations from Hamlet (with commentary) Melancholy could also be treated through purging, which generally involved the use of laxatives. 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. Plus, get practice tests, quizzes, and personalized coaching to help you Specifically, the Four Humors were: black bile, while was associated with the Melancholic person; yellow bile, which was associated with the Choleric person; blood, which was associated with the Sanguine person; and phlegm, which was associated with the phlegmatic person. Similarly, the four humours loosely correspond to the wheel of Traditional Chinese Medicine. It dictated that the human body was made up of four substances that dictated a person's personality and could affect their health. (W.H.S. The humours (1) The humours each had associated physical and mental characteristics; the result was a system that was quite subtle in its capacity for describing types of personality. 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. In the graveyard over the skulls he is sardonic and pathetic, and over Yorick's he is melancholy. Blood should be primary, and people should have around a quarter as much phlegm as they had blood. Curator Gail Kern Paster explains "The four humors were an early typology for human personality. These characteristics include energetics, elements, and temperament, as well as understanding the complexity of the natural world. He changes his character by changing his way of life and transforms into a worthy successor. For example, in a 1964 episode of Bewitched, Samantha tells her husband, "Vanity, they name is human." In the animated TV show The Simpsons, Bart exclaims, "Comedy, thy name is Krusty." Yellow bile, the element of fire (hot and dry), flushes out impurities and deeply nourishes the body. Ben Jonson. Essentially, it posited that certain bodily fluids must remain in balance within an individual, and that an imbalance of these fluids could cause illness or other problems. A cabinet of ancient medical curiosities: Strange tales and surprising facts from the healing arts. 2) sanguine. When these unconscionable spies come to him to inquire what he had done with the dead body of Polonius, he first answers: "Compounded it with dust, whereto 't is kin." No character in all Shakespeare is more evenly balanced, and no mind more capable of seeing things in all their bearings. Here is the humor of tragedy with a vengeance. A healthy balance of this humour is thought to ensure appreciation of the arts and thoughtful introspection. ), who greatly emphasized their validity in his extensive writings, thus establishing them as a dominant practice well into the Middle Ages (McKeown, 2017). Shakespeare and the four humours Blood, phlegm, black bile and yellow bile: the body's four humours were believed to control your personality in Shakespeare's day and influenced the way the Bard created some of his most famous characters. . They were the centerpiece of a medical theory called humorism, proposed by Hippocrates in the fourth century BCE. The body was a system of four fluid "humours": black bile, yellow bile, phlegm and blood. The four humors are black bile, yellow bile, phlegm, and blood. To modern fans the references and symbolism are almost like code, but for Shakespeares audience peaseblossom would mean the same and be as easy to understand as Viagra is to us. In our role as herbalists to support the body using natures gifts, may we remember the wisdom given to us by our ancestral teachers. Cambridge, England: Cambridge University Press. Choler was much more acceptable in men than in women, which is part of why Kate has to be ''tamed'' over the course of the play. . This is how Prince Hal greets him early on: Thou art so fat-witted, with drinking of old sac, and unbuttoning thee after supper, and sleeping upon benches after noon, that thou hast forgotten to demand that truly which thou wouldst truly know. He has given Hamlet nearly all varieties of humor, from the playful to the sardonic. The Herbal Academy makes neither medical claim, nor intends to diagnose or treat medical conditions. 185 BCE). These fluidsproduced by the body's organs and tissueswere black bile, yellow bile, phlegm, and blood. endstream endobj startxref However, everyone hasa natural excess of one of the humours, which is what makes us all look unique and behave differently. Having an excess of one humour could be a bit of a vicious cycle: it both causes and is caused by your behaviour. squeezing you, and, sponge, you shall be dry again. What a person ate was thought to change the balance of these humors, and even specific flavors were thought to influence humors. Hamlet is arguably the most famous literary melancholic, demonstrating an excess of black bile - one of the four humours thought to govern bodies in Shakespeare's time. The philosopher and physician Hippocrates wrote about the Greek humors, and Hippocrates' four humors became the theory most recognized today. Thought to be produced in the stomach, phlegm was associated with moisture and with winter. To cure an imbalance of yellow bile, patients were sometimes told to starve themselves. Similarly, the four humours loosely correspond to the wheel of Traditional Chinese Medicine. THE FOUR HUMOURS OF MAN: CHOLERIC Humour-Choleric Body Substance-Yellow Bile Produced By-Gall Bladder Season-Summer Element-Fire Qualities-Hot & Dry Complexion & Body Type-Red Haired, Thin Ambitious Leader-like Aggressive A lot of Energy & Passion Able to dominate others Dont choose paths between, only extremes Prone to mood swings SANGUINE Share Cite. [2] [3] Most formulations include the possibility of mixtures among the types where an individual's personality types overlap and they share two or more temperaments. The four humors. The theory of the four humours was central to the teachings of Aristotle, Hippocrates and Galen. . In dealing with the present topic I find myself greatly indebted to this lecture by the distinguished actor and critic. Loeb Classical Library. In the human body, the interaction of the four humors explained differences of age, gender, emotions, and disposition. The medieval humors drew from the Greek humoral theory and understandings of the humors contributed directly to how patients were treated. The belief that blood, yellow bile, black bile, Soliloquy Analysis: Tis now the very witching time of night (3.2.380-91) . Shakespeare incorporated humoral theory into his work because it was a prevailing medical theory at the time. that soaks up the king's countenance, his rewards, his authorities. The four seasons, the four elements and the four humors were all related. As a member, you'll also get unlimited access to over 84,000 Shall I be frighted when a madman stares? (Arikha, 2007). He first Besides Falstaff, who has the largest number of lines inHenry IV, they usually function in the subplot of the comedies, like the duos Sir Andrew Aguecheek and Sir Toby Belch inTwelfth Nightor Stephano and Trinculo inThe Tempest. 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