Abstract
William Shakespeare’s plays provide an invaluable compendium of medical terminology in the form of brief to detailed descriptions of clinical features and pathophysiology of various medical conditions. Shakespeare’s ability to describe dysfunctions of the human body and mind is astounding and has remained so for almost four centuries. The afflictions appear in the characters of kings, princes’ and commoners in his plays and their clinical features described in verse are more or less true even to this day. The aim of this study is to present a comprehensive compilation of medical afflictions from Shakespearean plays in alphabetical order containing verses that specifically depict clinical features, pathophysiology of medical conditions and medical ethics, and to provide short clinical explanations of relevance of passages in modern times as appropriate. Most passages do not reflect on the clinical conditions of actual patients, but deal with figurative expressions, drawn from clinical relevance in medicine during the Shakespearean era and used figuratively by the bard to illustrate those expressions through characters in the plays. Keywords: Shakespeare and Medicine, History of Medicine, Clinical features, Symptomatology, Pathophysiology DOI : 10.7176/JHMN/62-16 Publication date :May 31 st 2019
Highlights
Shakespeare’s literary legacy of plays is so informative, intricate and stimulating, that even after four centuries, they are regarded with conspicuous veneration
For modern audiences who are either professionals in the medical field or have an interest in medicine, Shakespearean plays are a portal on human afflictions, and the figurative descriptions made by the bard in his plays at a time when the term ‘medical science’ was oxymoronic and people believed disease was a punishment for sinful behaviour and when afflictions on health were perceived to be the result of movement of stars and the planets, have been most ingenious
Shakespearean plays convey a profound insight into scientific knowledge and it is in this regard noteworthy, that it would be very unusual, had the issue of health and disease found no place in his literary collection
Summary
Shakespeare’s literary legacy of plays is so informative, intricate and stimulating, that even after four centuries, they are regarded with conspicuous veneration. For modern audiences who are either professionals in the medical field or have an interest in medicine, Shakespearean plays are a portal on human afflictions, and the figurative descriptions made by the bard in his plays at a time when the term ‘medical science’ was oxymoronic and people believed disease was a punishment for sinful behaviour and when afflictions on health were perceived to be the result of movement of stars and the planets, have been most ingenious. Shakespearean plays convey a profound insight into scientific knowledge and it is in this regard noteworthy, that it would be very unusual, had the issue of health and disease found no place in his literary collection. It is important to state in context that caution is required while attempting to interpret Shakespeare’s description of clinical features in the light of modern medicine where his descriptions are at best figurative albeit the similarity to the modern medical view, and diseases including clinical features are used metaphorically as a means to project the Bard’s superlative genius
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