Galen taught Elizabethan doctors about fire, water, earth, and air. Hamlet's Relationship with the Ghost should make certain the real soundness as well as the great fertility of Hamlet's mind. Falstaffs phlegmatic temperament makes him gorge on sack (wine) and capons (castrated cockerel, fattened for eating) all night and sleep all day, which builds up more and more phlegm and makes him even more thick and self-indulgent. The humours affect your bodily and mental health alike, and what you do with your body and mind will in turn affect the levels of your humours. 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. What is the humoral theory. However, should one fluid overpower the others, the body becomes out of balance and causes medical and psychological illness. , When in mourning, its not uncommon to withdraw and find somewhere to sit and cry. A Greek-English lexicon. 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. Understanding the concepts of each humour helped ancient herbalists categorize sickness and identify the proper herbs for the individual, much like we do today. Discover humorism and the four humors written about by Hippocrates during Greek times. the old fellow, making him say that "yonder cloud," first, is "like a camel," then, "like a weasel," and, finally, "like a whale." 2) sanguine. 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. Liddell, H.G., Scott, R., Jones, H.S., & McKenzie, R. (1940). 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. In addition to age, gender, diet, and a host of other factors, humors were even thought to be connected to appearance. x-axis (vertical): Introversion - Extraversion scale. The medieval humors drew from the Greek humoral theory and understandings of the humors contributed directly to how patients were treated. 136 0 obj <>/Filter/FlateDecode/ID[<45BA525245714C0FB00ABAFBFE87BD54><2FD0B201639DA9429A165B25360D9915>]/Index[109 51]/Info 108 0 R/Length 124/Prev 176169/Root 110 0 R/Size 160/Type/XRef/W[1 3 1]>>stream Hamlet addresses frailty as though speaking to a human being. Words by Nelly Ekstrmaverage reading time 6 minutes 16 December 2016. And there is pansies, thats for thoughts Theres fennel for you, and columbines. This unfailing humor that toys with life's comedies and tragedies alike does not come from madness, but from sanity and self-possession. Boston R.G. If the humours were in imbalance, then the person was sick. Poor Hamlet, too much humor had'st thou for this harsh world!" y-axis (horizontal): Thinking - Feeling scale. Background. Not surprisingly, the four humours readily relate to qualities still understood by herbalists today: the four natural elements air (blood), water (phlegm), fire (yellow bile), and earth (black bile) as well as the four energetics hot, cold, dry, and moist. 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. Hippocrates (1931). Article in The Shakespeare was too good a judge of character and of human nature to mingle such humor with madness. (V. Hamlet ends as he began, in humor's minor key. Deception in Hamlet Last Modified Date: February 20, 2023. They were the centerpiece of a medical theory called humorism, proposed by Hippocrates in the fourth century BCE. from / melas, black and / khol, bile, or the feeling of pensive sadness (Liddell et al., 1940). quite chop-fallen?" English Review, November, 1916. Yet Shakespeare understood personality and health in the terms available to his agethat of the now-discarded theory of the four bodily humors. Ageing was in itself seen as a process of gradual drying of the flesh and cooling of bodily humours. Elizabethans believed that the balance of the four humors would keep them healthy. Similarly, the four humours loosely correspond to the wheel of Traditional Chinese Medicine. ", With Osric he gives way to a bantering and jeering humor very similar to that with Polonius. 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 amount of blood an individual had depended on their gender, age, diet, and health, as well as the time of year and other factors. Hamlets sanity is one of the major themes in the play. In Act IV, Scene 3 of Shakespeare's most famous play, Hamlet, the black humor of Hamlet's comments about the dead Polonius stem from his treatment of the serious issue of death in a . Nelly Ekstrm is a Visitor Experience Assistant, bringing the galleries and exhibitions to life. So the play itself is very close to the ideal humoral balance. Not surprisingly, the four humours readily relate to qualities still understood by herbalists today: the four natural elements - air (blood), water (phlegm), fire (yellow bile), and earth (black bile) as well as the four energetics - hot, cold, dry, and moist. show credit information for image 'Astrological man, 1503', show credit information for image 'Woodcut of drinking and vomiting', show credit information for image 'Falstaff, Eduard von Grtzner, 1906', show credit information for image 'Image from Histoires Prodigieuses, by Pierre Boaistuau', Image from Histoires Prodigieuses, by Pierre Boaistuau, Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0), Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International Licence. Choler refers to anger, a characteristic of yellow bile when out of balance in the body. Words by Nelly Ekstrmaverage reading time 4 minutes 11 December 2016. All the temperaments have their good and bad sides. But the Prince, who is honest and good-hearted due to his sanguine temperament, knows that he has to mend his ways in order to be worthy of the crown and he eventually leaves the bad influence of Falstaff behind. Yellow bile, supposedly produced in the liver, was also called ''choler.'' Come explore. Hamlet's Antic Disposition: Is Hamlet's Madness Real? The four humors. The Herbal Academy supports trusted organizations with the use of affiliate links. . The four humors, or bodily fluids, thought to impact humans' temperaments, personalities, and health were blood, phlegm, black bile, and yellow bile. Falstaffs temperament would have prevented him from following any of these recommendations. The greatest benefit to mankind: A medical history of humanity. Phlegm. Soliloquy Analysis: Tis now the very witching time of night (3.2.380-91) Men were thought to be primarily hot and dry, while women were cold and wet. Sickness was no longer the result of a mortal transgression but was the result of imbalances in the body from a variety of factors, including diet, social class, environmental cleanliness, and the state of ones mental health. Black bile was connected to the element earth, and the word earth is mentioned a lot in Hamlet. Poor Hamlet, too much humor had'st thou for this harsh world!" 4. Arikha, N. (2007). Prince Hamlet is probably the most famous melancholic in literature. Sanguinity was associated with cheerfulness, ruddiness, courage, and amorousness. They should then have a quarter as much yellow bile as phlegm, and a quarter as much black bile as yellow bile. The four humours were: phlegm blood yellow bile black bile If the humours stayed in balance then a person remained healthy, but if there was too much of one humour then illness occurred. Pray you, love, remember. 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. your flashes of merriment, that were wont to set the table on a roar? "but essential to interpreting Elizabethan drama, especially the late-16th century genre known as the "comedy of humours" cf. This explains the Hippocratic . copyright 2003-2023 Study.com. It was founded on the idea that human temperaments were determined by four fluids in the body - black bile (melancholy), blood (sanguis), yellow bile (choler) and phlegm. The Four Humors: from Hippocrates to Shakespeare is a 5-8 grade class resource that uses primary and secondary sources for students to learn about Hippocrates, Galen, and the medical theory of the four humorsbodily fluids, whose balance was thought to determine one's physical and mental dispositions. Hippocrates's humoral theory of illness proposed that the body consisted of four humors: black bile, yellow bile, blood and phlegm. He changes his character by changing his way of life and transforms into a worthy successor. 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. Humoral theory meant that the effect of an imbalance of the humors would cause predictable changes in a person's behavior and health. Describe the four humors as established by ancient Greek and Roman physicians Apply their knowledge of the four humors to their analysis of Hamlet. The four "humours" were bodily fluids (blood, phlegm, black bile, and yellow bile) and . This is how Laertes prepares to revenge his fathers murder in a duel with Hamlet: I will dot./And for that purpose Ill anoint my sword./I bought an unction of a mountebank,/So mortal that, but dip a knife in it,/Where it draws blood no cataplasm so rare,/Collected from all simples that have virtue/Under the moon, can save the thing from death/That is but scratched withal. Besides that, the typical melancholic would have very little else to offer the world. 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. Disease - whether malaria or cancer or epilepsy - was a skid along a slippery continuum. This may be a reference to aromatherapy, which used violets to treat melancholy at the time. Revenge in Hamlet People with too much phlegm were considered to be phlegmatic, a term dating back to Galen. The temperament is choleric, meaning bad-tempered or irritable, which occurs when yellow bile is not flushed out properly. Shakespeare was too All rights reserved. Physiognomy Overview & Examples | What is Physiognomy? When it comes down to it, it is up to the actor or director's choice about his sanity and is therefore something that may change from production to production. The Theory of the Four Humours was that these four liquids in your body could affect your physical and mental health through imbalance. Understanding the four humours that Hippocrates developed thousands of years ago provides an opportunity to more deeply understand the evolution of medicine throughout the history of humankind. What a devil hast thou to do with the time of the day? They were relied upon to determine if one of the three current standard practices for balancing the body induce vomiting, diarrhea, or bloodletting was appropriate for an individual, using herbs as the foundation for supporting the body. Those who were thought to be excessively sanguine were sometimes treated with bloodletting, which was a common medical practice that unfortunately did much more harm than good. , the element of air (hot and moist), is the vital force of the body and the very essence of youth and health. On So Hamlet wasnt always so miserable; something happened to change his temperament. Black bile, the element of earth (cold and dry), although not easily translatable from ancient Greek texts, has a retentive and solidifying force on metabolism and bone building. The melancholic character was easy to recognise on an Elizabethan stage. Hamlet talks about his reasons for admiring and trusting Horatio here, noting specifically the . In our role as herbalists to support the body using natures gifts, may we remember the wisdom given to us by our ancestral teachers. Four Humours. . 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. For instance, blood was associated with heat and wetness. Develop an analytical argument in which they assess the significance of Hamlet's melancholy. Unless hours were cups of sack, and minutes capons, and clocks the tongues of bawds, and dials the signs of leaping houses, and the blessed sun himself a fair hot wench in flame-coloured taffeta, I see no reason why thou shouldst be so superfluous to demand the time of day.. Posts. Hamlet was written in the early 17th century around 1600 or 1601 and first performed in 1602. that soaks up the king's countenance, his rewards, his authorities. There were four humours. No wonder Polonius does not know what to make of him and calls him mad, though recognizing the possibility that there may be some "method in't. (Original work published 165-175 CE), Gill, N.S. Belief in humoral theory was not limited to ancient Greece. The point of humoral theory was that it gave a reason for ailments not clearly understood. 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. (W.H.S. Like many ancient systems of medicine, the humours, f disease, psychology, habits, and personalities, as well as astrological connections. He first What were the humours according to the Theory of the Four Humours? From Hamlet, an ideal prince, and other essays in Shakesperean interpretation: Hamlet; Merchant of Venice; Othello; King Lear by Alexander W. Crawford. Words by Nelly EkstrmAverage reading time 4 minutes 11 December 2016 Article 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. spacious in the possession of dirt." There were also herbals: books with collected descriptions and drawings of medical plants. And they all have roughlythe same number of lines. 'The rest is silence.' Galen: On the properties of foodstuffs(O. Powell, Trans.). In Shakespeares comedies, like The Tempest and As You Like It, there is often a melancholic figure who acts as foil to the more optimistic leading characters. Hysteria Symptoms & Historical Origin | What is Hysteria in Personality? The Significance of the Ghost in Armor was a traditional bitter tonic used for treating choleric digestive issues (Osborn, 2015). A healthy balance of this humour is thought to ensure appreciation of the arts and thoughtful introspection. Please simply create an account before buying/booking any courses. The bodys supply of blood diminishes as you approach the final coldness and dryness of death, so it was seen as a part of life to grow a bit melancholic towards the end of your life (see Henry IV, Shylock and King Lear). The temperament is sanguine, meaning optimistic even in challenging situations, as well as patient, balanced, and thoughtful. Hamlet: Problem Play and Revenge Tragedy Here is the humor of tragedy with a vengeance. , a major cultural shift was taking place in ancient Greece. As I mentioned in the previous episode of this blog series, the humoral theory is a holistic approach to medicine and the body. Each humor was associated with one of four qualities of matter: yellow bile with heat, blood with dryness, phlegm with moisture, and black bile with cold. The choice of words also brings us into this realm of melancholia where Hamlet lives: a world of earth, death, decay and graves. Sanity is humor." Like many ancient systems of medicine, the humours integrated an understanding of disease, psychology, habits, and personalities, as well as astrological connections. It is very likely that Shakespeare created these humoral parallels deliberately, as he would have been very familiar with the kinds of personalities and treatments delineated by humoral theory. Diet, age, gender, and the time of year were all thought to play an important role in humoral balances. In Hamlet, the advisor Polonius, misreading the causes of the Prince's apparent lunacy as romantic rejection, offers a neat analysis of his illness that makes the relationship between love and madness very clear. Humors, Madness, and "Hamlet". ), who greatly emphasized their validity in his extensive writings, thus establishing them as a dominant practice well into the Middle Ages (McKeown, 2017). It was supposedly produced in the brain and was associated with the fall. Hamlet's Melancholy: The Transformation of the Prince IT . , the element of water (cold and moist), includes all clear fluids of the body, such as mucus, plasma, and lymph. Readers must do their own research concerning the safety and usage of any herbs or supplements. The belief that blood, yellow bile, black bile, For black bile was a medical concept, one of the four bodily humours or fluids that coursed through the organism and determined its constitution, and . We may call it herb of grace o Sundays. William Shakespeare: profile. The Herbal Academy makes neither medical claim, nor intends to diagnose or treat medical conditions. . For information about how we handle your data, please read our privacy notice. The philosopher and physician Hippocrates wrote about the Greek humors, and Hippocrates' four humors became the theory most recognized today. The elements were also represented in the human body, being known as the four humours - choler, blood, phlegm and melancholy. 159 0 obj <>stream If the humours were in balance, then the body was in health. Woodcut of two men drinking, over-consuming and vomiting. 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 Each humor is a bodily fluid, an excess of which was thought to cause certain illnesses and personality traits. The Herbal Academy neither endorses them nor is in any way responsible for their content. Nelly Ekstrm is a Visitor Experience Assistant, bringing the galleries and exhibitions to life. She has been teaching English in Canada and Taiwan for seven years. Oxford, England: Oxford University Press. Jack Falstaff is fat, lazy, cowardly, dishonest and sentimental, but the audience loved him despite all his faults. Hippocrates: Volume IV (W.H.S. Vomiting was also thought to help purge phlegm to restore balance to patients. 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. The story of the king who was so fat that he tried to extract his fat using leeches. In Shakespeares time, the understanding of medicine and the human body was based on the theory of the four bodily humours. Badger, 1916. All diseases and disabilities resulted from an excess or deficit of one of these four humors. The Norway (Fortinbras) Subplot Nervine, carminative, and antispasmodic herbs, including lemon balm (Melissa officinalis), rosemary (Rosmarinus officinalis), and lavender(Lavandula officinalis) balance these conditions. 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." balance these conditions. 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. Something is rotten in the state of Denmark.. These fluidsproduced by the body's organs and tissueswere black bile, yellow bile, phlegm, and blood. A person with this kind of temperament was not seen as productive and active in society like the warm-blooded sanguines and cholerics were. and will not tell him of his action of battery?" The four elements, which constituted the fundamental building blocks of the 'macrocosm' or 'greater world' of the sublunar sphere, corresponded closely to the four humours of the 'microcosm' or 'lesser world' of the human body.. Each of the humours originated in a different bodily organ.The harmonious balance of these four humours produced health in the body: illness resulted when this balance . Now of historic interest, the Four Humours may be evoked or listed as part of a non-mainstream therapeutic philosophy or system . Black bile was associated with a melancholy temperament. Boston R.G. Lived on the island of Kos (Cos) and his . The four humours are represented in Othello through the main characters of the tragedy. Hamlet, Prince of Denmark: the Four Humors (A) Main idea: Hamlet is not mad. Soliloquy Analysis: Now might I do it pat (3.3.77-100) mock your grinning? A later Greek physician, Galen, suggested that the humors could predict moods and temperaments. Osborn, D. (2015). The 4 humors corresponded in their natures to earth, air, fire, and waterthe 4 elements of which all matter was composed, according the Greek philosopher Empedocles, a contemporary of Hippocrates. Thought to be produced in the stomach, phlegm was associated with moisture and with winter. Porter, R.(1997). Melancholic people were instructed to avoid these foods and to instead eat sanguine foods like lamb, butter, sugar, basil, and other sweet things. squeezing you, and, sponge, you shall be dry again. 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. Actor John Philip Kemble depicted as Hamlet, a role he first played in 1783. King Henry IV himself is melancholic, Prince Hal sanguine, Sir Harry Hotspur choleric and the knight Sir John Falstaff is phlegmatic. As a class review the two handouts and tell students that they are to examine closely Hamlet's temperament during the exposition and rising action part of the play's dramatic structure. It crops out at every turn, and indicates the essential soundness of his mind. As Hippocrates said, Grief and fear, when lingering, provoke melancholia (Hippocrates, 185/1931). Cesare Ripa, 1610. your gambols? Melancholy could also be treated through purging, which generally involved the use of laxatives. Theres rue for you, and heres some for me. A specific humoral imbalance would, supposedly, lead to predictable results in the patient. An excess of any of these humors was thought to produce temperaments that were sanguine, phlegmatic, choleric, and melancholy respectively. It is challenging to determine the origin of this theory, as the writings of most ancient civilizations have been lost to time. Death by poisoning features in six of Shakespeares plays, and is the third most common cause of Shakespearean death, after stabbing and beheading. After being refused by Ophelia, Polonius explains that Hamlet: Fell into a sadness, then into a fast, Principles of treatment [Blog Post]. hb``f``: AXw@bA73ptt0tt4EbH"?~%G?2bfa10%rsH_x4:1V2cBqbi4x D1` O]b |H^aHs10g`Z & Humor and madness do not travel the same road. Ben Jonson. The key to good health (and being a good person) is to keep your humours in balance. %PDF-1.7 % For information about how we handle your data, please read our privacy notice. The Four Humours are Blood, Black Bile, Yellow Bile, and Phlegm. Retrieved from https://www.thoughtco.com/four-humors-112072. Similarly, Ophelia in Hamlet displays a melancholic temperament. Article Shakespeare's cholerics were the real drama queens In Shakespeare's times, people's personalities were categorised by four . 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. Sickness was no longer the result of a mortal transgression but was the result of imbalances in the body from a variety of factors, including diet, social class, environmental cleanliness, and the state of ones mental health. His first meeting with Horatio furnishes opportunity. 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. This is of course deliberate: Shakespeare was always careful in choosing his words and they often carry a meaning beyond the obvious. Folger Shakespeare Library is the world's largest Shakespeare collection, the ultimate resource for exploring Shakespeare and his world. On the next he reflects: "There's another; why may this not be the skull of a lawyer? The theory of the four humours was central to the teachings of Aristotle, Hippocrates and Galen. When he needs what you have gleaned, it is but As Sir Herbert Tree has recently said: "But for humor he should go mad. Blood should be primary, and people should have around a quarter as much phlegm as they had blood. Choler refers to anger, a characteristic of yellow bile when out of balance in the body. 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. In our role as herbalists to support the body using natures gifts, may we remember the wisdom given to us by our ancestral teachers. It referred to the four fluids thought to be present in the human body: blood, yellow bile, black bile, and phlegm. Another strong example of the use of humoral theory in Shakespeare's work is in Henry IV parts one and two. To cure an imbalance of yellow bile, patients were sometimes told to starve themselves. Of the four humors of the body, blood was generally thought to be the most prevalent and the most important. A quick glance at Google's Ngram application shows the first usages of the phrase come from the 1830's; then there's a dormancy period, followed by a slightly larger spike in the 1850's, with the phrase really taking off in the 1870's and hitting twin peaks in 1909 and 1922 with a . Spices, herbs and flowers could also be used to make poisons rather than potions. +44 (0)20 7611 2222info@wellcomecollection.org, Except where otherwise noted, content on this site is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International Licence, show credit information for image 'William Shakespeare: profile. Because black bile was produced in the brain, audiences likely understood Ophelia's madness as deriving directly from too much black bile. Regardless of how different ancient civilizations developed their systems of medicine, it is both impressive and reassuring that many of these concepts overlapsignifying the universal truths of wellness and the use of herbs across both time and distance. As he describes it himself: I have of late but wherefore I know not lost all my mirth, forgone all custom of exercises, and indeed it goes so heavily with my disposition that this goodly frame, the earth, seems to me a sterile promontory; this most excellent canopy, the air look you, this brave oerhanging firmament, this majestical roof fretted with golden fire why, it appears no other thing to me than a foul and pestilent congregation of vapours.. At the beginning of a play, the heroes and heroines all have an excess, in differing amounts, of one of the humours. Try refreshing the page, or contact customer support. 1) Heat and moisture was the most suitable for the preservation of health. Blank Verse and Diction in Shakespeare's Hamlet Black Bile. 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. Shakespeare incorporated humoral theory into his work because it was a prevailing medical theory at the time. Jones, Trans.). These four humours, from the Greek word. Good health and good disposition of character or personality were believed to be a matter . 185 BCE). A natural excess of black bile could make you cautious and analytical. (Original work published ca. As a member, you'll also get unlimited access to over 84,000 A choleric man, according to humoral theory, was likely to be lean and hairy, for instance.
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