Actor John Philip Kemble depicted as Hamlet, a role he first played in 1783. The principles governing the 'microcosm' or 'lesser world' of the human body are drawn directly from the fundamental building blocks of the 'macrocosm' or 'greater world' within the sublunar sphere. Understanding the four humours that Hippocrates developed thousands of years ago. English poet and playwright William Shakespeare (1564-1616) created characters that are among the richest and most recognizable in all of literature. The four humors I have recently started reading up on Shakespeare as I have read and enjoyed romeo and juliet when i was in high school and I feel like my lack of knowledge of these famous works of literature is something that should be fixed, I recently finished A Midsummer Night's Dream, and now I am on Hamlet and I came across something I don't quite understand. Oxford, England: Oxford University Press. To Polonius and the other spies he is playful and contemptuous. Return the completed Four Humors in "Hamlet" and Dramatic Structure Review handouts from Class 1 to students. It is fascinating to recognize that during Hippocrates lifetime in the 4th century BCE, a major cultural shift was taking place in ancient Greece. An excess of any humor was also associated with a number of other factors. Cambridge, England: Cambridge University Press. And there is pansies, thats for thoughts Theres fennel for you, and columbines. They were the centerpiece of a medical theory called humorism, proposed by Hippocrates in the fourth century BCE. Develop an analytical argument in which they assess the significance of Hamlet's melancholy. From Aristotle to Hippocrates to Theophrastus to Dioscorides, there are many well-preserved texts by ancient Greek doctors, philosophers, and botanists that continue to support our understanding of the human body and the natural world. FOOTNOTE 1: Humor in Tragedy, by Sir Herbert Tree. Although these concepts are no longer mainstream theories, they continue to provide an underlying foundation to modern medical and herbal practices. x-axis (vertical): Introversion - Extraversion scale. Equally important is understanding and recognizing the contributions of ancient Greek herbalism, namely the four humours. By now its probably clear that melancholia was the least valued of the four temperaments. Last Modified Date: February 20, 2023. Phlegm. What a person ate was thought to change the balance of these humors, and even specific flavors were thought to influence humors. 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. 185 BCE). Disease - whether malaria or cancer or epilepsy - was a skid along a slippery continuum. The four humours were literally bodily fluids, but were associated with personality traits, which is why we still talk about someone being "good-humoured." Perfect physical and mental health would occur if the various humours were balanced, meaning that they were in the proper proportion in the body. Create your account. Passions and tempers: A history of the humours. Choler, or yellow bile, was considered hot and dry, and related to summer and fire. 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. 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." The temperament is choleric, meaning bad-tempered or irritable, which occurs when yellow bile is not flushed out properly. Hamlet talks about his reasons for admiring and trusting Horatio here, noting specifically the . No character in all Shakespeare is more evenly balanced, and no mind more capable of seeing things in all their bearings. - 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 four humors are blood, phlegm, yellow bile, and black bile. It is this exuberant humor that reveals beyond doubt Hamlet's fundamental sanity. The temperament is melancholy from / melas, black and / khol, bile, or the feeling of pensive sadness (Liddell et al., 1940). Fringe medicine. . Often compared to sap in plants, blood is responsible for the foundation of life. There were four humours. I would definitely recommend Study.com to my colleagues. (2019). He believed that a humoral imbalance could result in illness. Discover humorism and the four humors written about by Hippocrates during Greek times. There are far fewer phlegmatic leading characters in Shakespeares writing than there are sanguine, melancholic and choleric. Badger, 1916. As a member, you'll also get unlimited access to over 84,000 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. One play really stands out when it comes to the subject of humours. 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. He first When in mourning, its not uncommon to withdraw and find somewhere to sit and cry. | Melancholy Temperament. Galen: On the properties of foodstuffs(O. Powell, Trans.). 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. Each humor is a bodily fluid, an excess of which was thought to cause certain illnesses and personality traits. Words by Nelly Ekstrmaverage reading time 6 minutes 16 December 2016 The Elizabethan melancholic What a devil hast thou to do with the time of the day? However, should one fluid overpower the others, the body becomes out of balance and causes medical and psychological illness. one that would circumvent God, might it not?" endstream endobj startxref Humoral theory meant that the effect of an imbalance of the humors would cause predictable changes in a person's behavior and health. This is an interactive personality test of the "Four Temperaments", an idea from Ancient Greek medicine. 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. Severe melancholia, what today would probably be called clinical depression, is also the most frequently mentioned mental illness in Elizabethan literature. Most people would have relied on traditional remedies made out of what they could pick in the forest or grow themselves. 0 A choleric man, according to humoral theory, was likely to be lean and hairy, for instance. Theres rue for you, and heres some for me. , 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. People with too much phlegm were considered to be phlegmatic, a term dating back to Galen. We use a third party provider, dotdigital, to deliver our newsletters. (V. Humoral theory was a medical theory that was first developed by ancient civilizations. Learn what the four humors of the body are along with the humoral theory. hbbd```b``{A$G9d"&"A qTI 9l!9$'``]`Jim10l0 w 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. Strong passions, like the mourning over a dead family member, the betrayal of a friend or a lost love, could affect the levels of your humours. All the temperaments have their good and bad sides. Affiliate links are shared throughout the website and the Herbal Academy may receive compensation if you make a purchase with these links. Claudius and the Condition of Denmark 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. Liddell, H.G., Scott, R., Jones, H.S., & McKenzie, R. (1940). Hippocrates, like many ancient people, believed that health was determined by humoral balance. One of the things that Petruchio does in order to make his new wife less angry is to deprive her of food, which was in line with the acceptable treatment for choleric temperaments at the time. In Shakespeares time, the understanding of medicine and the human body was based on the theory of the four bodily humours. Pray you, love, remember. 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. In the graveyard over the skulls he is sardonic and pathetic, and over Yorick's he is melancholy. Osborn, D. (2015). Retrieved from, (O. Powell, Trans.). When he needs what you have gleaned, it is but Hamlet's Silence , the element of air (hot and moist), is the vital force of the body and the very essence of youth and health. 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. An error occurred trying to load this video. The black bile would weigh on you, and make you passive, sad, dull and indecisive. However, everyone hasa natural excess of one of the humours, which is what makes us all look unique and behave differently. His first meeting with Horatio furnishes opportunity. 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. Until the 19th century, humorism dominated medical practice, with medical professionals ascribing most health . Short-tempered, red-haired, thin, ambitious (compare Hotspur). Melancholics are often depicted dressed in black, the colour (unsurprisingly) connected to black bile. To what extent is he just acting? Try refreshing the page, or contact customer support. Nervine, carminative, and antispasmodic herbs, including lemon balm (Melissa officinalis), rosemary (Rosmarinus officinalis), and lavender(Lavandula officinalis) balance these conditions. Cesare Ripa, 1610. ), In the graveyard scene with the clowns Hamlet indulges freely in a grim and melancholy humor. It was the dominant medical theory of the Medieval period. 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. . Black bile. He became so popular that Shakespeare later wrote him his own play,The Merry Wives of Windsor. In early accounts of human physiology, a person's physical and mental disposition was thought to be governed by a combination of fluids, or humours, within the body.Four humours were recognized: blood, phlegm, choler (also called yellow bile), and melancholy (also called black bile or black choler).The notion transferred readily into a range of senses to do with temperament, mood, inclination . The influence of the humors changed with the seasons and times of day and with the human life span. I knew him, Horatio; a fellow of infinite jest, of most excellent fancy." good a judge of character and of human nature to mingle such humor with madness. Humor and madness do not travel the same road. Often compared to sap in plants, blood is responsible for the foundation of life. (W.H.S. Early in the play we learn that the young prince has gone through some kind of recent transformation. Hamlet was written in the early 17th century around 1600 or 1601 and first performed in 1602. Oxford, England: Clarendon Press. Today, the well-recognized ancient traditions of Ayurveda and Traditional Chinese Medicine remain instrumental as effective herbal practices. Osborn, D. (2015). The union of. The theory of the four humours was central to the teachings of Aristotle, Hippocrates and Galen. 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. 109 0 obj <> endobj squeezing you, and, sponge, you shall be dry again. Links to external sites are for informational purposes only. What were the humours according to the Theory of the Four Humours? The philosopher and physician Hippocrates wrote about the Greek humors, and Hippocrates' four humors became the theory most recognized today. The Theory of the Four Humours was that these four liquids in your body could affect your physical and mental health through imbalance. This unfailing humor that toys with life's comedies and tragedies alike does not come from madness, but from sanity and self-possession. 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. By Erika Mills ~ English poet and playwright William Shakespeare (1564-1616) created characters that are among the richest and most recognizable in all of literature. It reflects the principle of digestion and transformation. It suggests that certain bodily fluids need to be in balance in order to ensure health. Theres a daisy. It crops out at every turn, and indicates the essential soundness of his mind. Get unlimited access to over 84,000 lessons. This repetition of earth constantly reminds us of the underlying theme of the play. The word is quite rare in Shakespeares writing otherwise: in The Taming of the Shrew, a play without melancholics, the word is only used once. . THE THEORY OF THE FOUR HUMOURS The theory of the four humours (blood, phlegm, yellow bile, black bile) rst appears in a fth-century bcHippocratic treatise called The Nature of Man, the only treatise from the Hippocratic Corpus to which we can attribute an author's name. If a. 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. 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.. Then he suggests that Rosencrantz is only "a sponge . Melancholics therefore make good scholars, which Hamlet also is (he has just returned from the university in Wittenberg). Analysis of the Characters in Hamlet Hamlet's Antic Disposition: Is Hamlet's Madness Real? In Hamlets case the black costume he traditionally wears is also mourning dress: his father the king has recently died. Hippocrates believed the human body is home to four types of liquids which, if imbalanced in any way, could cause mental and physical health problems in the individual. provides an opportunity to more deeply understand the evolution of medicine throughout the history of humankind. Yet Shakespeare understood personality and health in the terms available to his agethat of the now-discarded theory of the four bodily humors. Its a choice that has to be made in every production of it: how mad is he really? Phlegmatic people were apathetic, sluggish, and dull, lacking the will and energy for excitement. The Roman philosopher and physician Claudius Galen formulated a concept of personality types based on the ancient Greek theory of humorism, which attempted to explain the workings of the human body. Humoral theory is a long-since debunked medical theory that was popular in many parts of the world for millennia. Ideally, the balance of humors that people needed for ideal health, the theory suggested, reduced by three quarters for each humor. 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 . In an ideal situation, each of the humors was properly balanced. . 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. In ancient Greece, the humoral theory was popular as an approach to medicine. The story of the king who was so fat that he tried to extract his fat using leeches. Arikha, N. (2007). Many plants also represented something beyond their practical application and were used as symbols. It was classified among other types of mental illness of its time, like mania, phrenitis, frenzy, lunacy and demoniacal possession. Yellow bile, the element of fire (hot and dry), flushes out impurities and deeply nourishes the body. i. Retrieved from https://www.passionsandtempers.com, Galen (2003). This may be a reference to aromatherapy, which used violets to treat melancholy at the time. Soliloquy Analysis: How all occasions do inform against me (4.4.35-69) 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 . We use a third party provider, dotdigital, to deliver our newsletters. Madness does not lie this way. Centaury. The phlegmatic and sanguine temperaments have a lot in common. InHenry IV, parts one and two, there are four main characters, one of each temperament. Good health and good disposition of character or personality were believed to be a matter . Choleric people were quick to anger and highly irritable. ), "Even in dying," as Sir Herbert Tree says, "he breaks into a sweet irony of humor, in meeting the 'fell serjeant death.' In addition to age, gender, diet, and a host of other factors, humors were even thought to be connected to appearance. Hamlet is a play. Similarly, the four humours loosely correspond to the wheel of Traditional Chinese Medicine. Shakespeare Online. , 2 With reference to this element of humor in the play of Cambridge, England: Cambridge University Press. Ben Jonson. Four Humours. So the play itself is very close to the ideal humoral balance. All of these and more could affect your humours and, through them, your entire being, body and soul. . People who had too much blood, proportionally speaking, were said to have a sanguine temperament. For information about how we handle your data, please read our privacy notice. We may call it herb of grace o Sundays. Choler was primarily associated with summer. Hamlet: Q & A, The Elder Hamlet: The Kingship of Hamlet's Father, The Death of Polonius and its Impact on Hamlet's Character, Hamlet's Melancholy: The Transformation of the Prince. Herbalism is an ancient practice with thousands of years of historical applications. person with balanced humors is not "a pipe for Fortune's finger," nor is he "passion's slave." This Death by poisoning features in six of Shakespeares plays, and is the third most common cause of Shakespearean death, after stabbing and beheading. Would circumvent God, might it not? called clinical depression, is also the most mentioned! 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