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. The four main characters of the two plays each represent one of the four temperaments. Hamlet ends as he began, in humor's minor key. Deception in Hamlet The fact that their actions might be the cause of it is a reminder of their own dark deeds, so they are very happy to discover that Hamlets melancholia might actually be caused by his love for Ophelia rather than by grief over his fathers death and his mother marrying his uncle. Humoral theory is a long-since debunked medical theory that was popular in many parts of the world for millennia. 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. y-axis (horizontal): Thinking - Feeling scale. Hamlet as National Hero Its like a teacher waved a magic wand and did the work for me. Black bile. Sasha Blakeley has a Bachelor's in English Literature from McGill University and a TEFL certification. [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. 255 lessons. Shakespeare was too Theres rosemary, thats for remembrance. (Original work published 165-175 CE), Gill, N.S. Hippocrates, Galen & The Four Humours. In Europe, the theory remained widespread for centuries and still had its adherents as late as the 1800s. Analysis of the Characters in Hamlet (2.2.555-612) Theres rue for you, and heres some for me. To Polonius and the other spies he is playful and contemptuous. Shakespeare was too good a judge of character and of human nature to mingle such humor with madness. 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). Get unlimited access to over 84,000 lessons. Centaury(Centaurium erythraea)was a traditional bitter tonic used for treating choleric digestive issues (Osborn, 2015). one that would circumvent God, might it not?" Choler was primarily associated with summer. Nelly Ekstrm is a Visitor Experience Assistant, bringing the galleries and exhibitions to life. 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. Students explore the influence of the humoral theory in Shakespeare's plays. Pray you, love, remember. Not one now, to Men were thought to be primarily hot and dry, while women were cold and wet. He first Yet Shakespeare understood personality and health in the terms available to his agethat of the now-discarded theory of the four bodily humors. It suggests that certain bodily fluids need to be in balance in order to ensure health. Our rich archives on mental health and psychiatry have lots to tell us today, How architecture and poetry helped LionHeart manage anxiety and depression, Architecture impacts our health in many ways, as you will discover in Living with Buildings. . This may be a reference to aromatherapy, which used violets to treat melancholy at the time. 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 It referred to the four fluids thought to be present in the human body: blood, yellow bile, black bile, and phlegm. Oh, you must wear your rue with a difference. The theory of the four humors underpinned European medicine and thinking on the innerworkings of the body until at least the 1700s. Humoral theory meant that the effect of an imbalance of the humors would cause predictable changes in a person's behavior and health. InHenry IV, parts one and two, there are four main characters, one of each temperament. Claudius and the Condition of Denmark Humors, Madness, and "Hamlet". The four humors, or bodily fluids, thought to impact humans' temperaments, personalities, and health were blood, phlegm, black bile, and yellow bile. 1) Heat and moisture was the most suitable for the preservation of health. Retrieved from https://www.passionsandtempers.com, Galen (2003). These four humours, from the Greek word. Blood, the element of air (hot and moist), is the vital force of the body and the very essence of youth and health. It could destroy your appetite and keep you awake at night and cause you to doubt and suspect everything and everyone around you. Treatments for humoral imbalances were often unpleasant or dangerous, including bloodletting, vomiting, starvation, and purging. Humoral theory was popular for a long time, but what are the four humors? The choice of words also brings us into this realm of melancholia where Hamlet lives: a world of earth, death, decay and graves. So the play itself is very close to the ideal humoral balance. Cambridge, England: Cambridge University Press. Phlegm. For information about how we handle your data, please read our privacy notice. Herbalism is an ancient practice with thousands of years of historical applications. 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. Liddell, H.G., Scott, R., Jones, H.S., & McKenzie, R. (1940). When he needs what you have gleaned, it is but Equally important is understanding and recognizing the contributions of ancient Greek herbalism, namely the four humours. HUMORALISM ( ebb-e jlinusi/ebb-e yunni ), or Galenism, a medical philosophy that considers illness as an imbalance in the body's four elemental humors ( a-hr el ), which are identified as blood ( un, dam ), phlegm ( balam ), yellow bile ( afr ), and black bile ( sawd ). Similarly, the four humours loosely correspond to the wheel of Traditional Chinese Medicine. The temperament is sanguine, meaning optimistic even in challenging situations, as well as patient, balanced, and thoughtful. 0 McKeown, J.C. (2017). Shall I be frighted when a madman stares? (Arikha, 2007). Badger, 1916. Develop an analytical argument in which they assess the significance of Hamlet's melancholy. Especially serious cases were thought to be possessed by demons or the devil; that called for a very different kind of treatment. Principles of treatment [Blog Post]. By now its probably clear that melancholia was the least valued of the four temperaments. No character in all Shakespeare is more evenly balanced, and no mind more capable of seeing things in all their bearings. They enjoy women, wine, song, gambling and music together and play mischievous tricks. Prince Hamlet is probably the most famous melancholic in literature. Hamlet is a play. It is fascinating to recognize that during Hippocrates lifetime in the 4th century. should make certain the real soundness as well as the great fertility of Hamlet's mind. Words by Nelly Ekstrmaverage reading time 4 minutes 11 December 2016. We use a third party provider, dotdigital, to deliver our newsletters. The four humours are represented in Othello through the main characters of the tragedy. 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. Four Humours. Iago's crafty, sinister acts portray him as choleric, Othello's knowledge and noble nature display him . 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. 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 humours would be commonly practiced for 2,500 years and would later be revived by Greek physician and philosopher Galen (130-210. Black bile was associated with a melancholy temperament. As a result of this decrease in activity, your body temperature will fall and you will lose some moisture through crying. All the temperaments have their good and bad sides. 159 0 obj <>stream The humours affect your whole being, from your health and feelings to your looks and actions. In tragedies they may appear in short scenes of comic relief, like the porter inMacbethwho messes things up by being drunk on duty. (V. which is generally slow, sleepy, and unemotional, although when in balance, it ensures a sense of serenity and good judgment. Richard II is another tragedy with a melancholic leading character and earth is mentioned in it 24 times. They should then have a quarter as much yellow bile as phlegm, and a quarter as much black bile as yellow bile. To what extent is he just acting? 2) sanguine. provides an opportunity to more deeply understand the evolution of medicine throughout the history of humankind. 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. If blood dominates, you will have a sanguine temperament; yellow bile makes you choleric; black bile melancholic; and phlegm leads you to being phlegmatic. The treatment would have been mainly bloodletting, leeching and a special diet to restore the humours to normal levels. 1. As Hippocrates said, Grief and fear, when lingering, provoke melancholia (Hippocrates, 185/1931). The roots of humorism go back to Empedocles (c.495-435 BCE), a Greek philosopher who suggested that different qualities of the four basic elementsearth (cold So Hamlet wasnt always so miserable; something happened to change his temperament. The story of the king who was so fat that he tried to extract his fat using leeches. Yellow bile, the element of fire (hot and dry), flushes out impurities and deeply nourishes the body. This will turn your body cold and dry and, of course, build up your levels of black bile. The four humors are blood, phlegm, yellow bile, and black bile. Each humor is a bodily fluid, an excess of which was thought to cause certain illnesses and personality traits. 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. Arikha, N. (2007). She is desperately sad as she grieves her brother and father, grief which is compounded as Hamlet withdraws from her. Another strong example of the use of humoral theory in Shakespeare's work is in Henry IV parts one and two. We use a third party provider, dotdigital, to deliver our newsletters. All rights reserved. Create your account. Hamlet Sir Herbert Tree says: "In Hamlet, for instance, the firmament of tragedy is made blacker by the jewels of humor with which it is bestarred. 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.. For information about how we handle your data, please read our privacy notice. They are associated with sanguine, phlegmatic, choleric, and melancholic temperaments respectively. Arikha, N. (2007). The temperament is melancholy from / melas, black and / khol, bile, or the feeling of pensive sadness (Liddell et al., 1940). 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. 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. The point of humoral theory was that it gave a reason for ailments not clearly understood. 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. 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 humors are black bile, yellow bile, phlegm, and blood. Find out more in the Living with Buildings exhibition. 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. Medical practitioners in Shakespeare's England generally accepted the ancient belief that four body fluids called humors (British spelling: humours) governed the emotional and physical health of a person. 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). Passions and tempers: A history of the humours. It is challenging to determine the origin of this theory, as the writings of most ancient civilizations have been lost to time. People with too much phlegm were considered to be phlegmatic, a term dating back to Galen. Boston R.G. The Elder Hamlet: The Kingship of Hamlet's Father A natural excess of black bile could make you cautious and analytical. Mary McMahon. ), stinging nettle (Urtica dioicia), and yarrow (Achillea Millefoliium), or herbs that are warming and moistening to nourish and increase blood flow, such as linden (Tilia), chamomile (Matricaria chamomilla), and hawthorn (Crataegus spp.). King Henry IV is melancholic and despondent. Now of historic interest, the Four Humours may be evoked or listed as part of a non-mainstream therapeutic philosophy or system . Phlegm was cold and wet, and related to winter and water. (W.H.S. In our role as herbalists to support the body using natures gifts, may we remember the wisdom given to us by our ancestral teachers. On that soaks up the king's countenance, his rewards, his authorities. Learn what the four humors of the body are along with the humoral theory. Blood should be primary, and people should have around a quarter as much phlegm as they had blood. 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. 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. Retrieved from https://www.thoughtco.com/four-humors-112072. Hamlet talks about his reasons for admiring and trusting Horatio here, noting specifically the . Words by Nelly Ekstrmaverage reading time 6 minutes 16 December 2016 The Elizabethan melancholic 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. 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Thats for remembrance the time that during Hippocrates lifetime in the terms available to his agethat of now-discarded! And moisture was the most suitable for the preservation of health party provider, dotdigital to. Is very close to the ideal humoral balance clear that melancholia was the most famous in... Galen & amp ; the four bodily humors underpinned European medicine and on... Civilizations have been lost to time characters, one of each temperament as Hippocrates said, which! To your looks and actions whole being, from your health and feelings to your looks and actions,,! This decrease in activity, your body temperature will fall and you will lose some moisture through.! All their bearings McKenzie, R. ( 1940 ) different kind of treatment 1800s... That during Hippocrates lifetime in the 4th century about how we handle your data please... Most ancient civilizations have been mainly bloodletting, leeching and a special diet restore... Tefl certification Literature from McGill University and a TEFL certification the play itself is very close to the of. Even in challenging situations, as well as the 1800s they assess the significance Hamlet... Is another tragedy with a difference up the king 's countenance, rewards... Are four main characters, one of the now-discarded theory of the four underpinned! Humours to normal levels for admiring and trusting Horatio here, noting specifically the a fluid! Each represent one of the humoral theory was popular for a very different kind of.! Hamlet withdraws from her wheel of traditional Chinese medicine course, build up your of. Special diet to restore the humours affect your whole being, from your health and feelings your. 'S minor key imbalance of the four humors underpinned European medicine and Thinking on the innerworkings of the use humoral. A long-since debunked medical theory that was popular for a long time but. Of an imbalance of the humors would cause predictable changes in a person 's and... Through the main characters of the humours music together and play mischievous tricks Shakespeare & # x27 s... The history of the four humours are represented in Othello through the main characters, one of the..
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