Good Question!
I love reading/attending plays written by Shakespeare, and I
have never thought to ask that question myself. Here is what I could
find.
In the play, "As You Like It" - a study was done that seems to
think that Shakespeare was referring to Alzheimer's disease.
http://www.emory.edu/OXFORD/CLASS/Ali/sp/IDS%20Alzheimer's%20Paper/sld019.htm
Also, in "King Lear" there was a reference to madness:
"I fear that I am not in my perfect mind" (Act IV
Scene VII)
http://www.emory.edu/OXFORD/CLASS/Ali/sp/IDS%20Alzheimer's%20Paper/sld020.htm
Additionally, I did a search on "disease" as quoted by
Shakespeare. Seemingly, Shakespeare used the word disease to describe
emotions that took over the soul. Here are some examples:
1) "O, he's a limb that has but a disease:
Mortal, to cut it off; to cure it, easy."
- William Shakespeare, Coriolanus (Menenius at III, i)
2) "Diseases desperate grown
By desparate appliance are relieved,
Or not at all."
- William Shakespeare, Hamlet Prince of Denmark
(Claudius, King of Denmark at IV, iii)
3) "This apoplexy, as I take it, is a kind of lethargy, an't
please your lordship, a kind of sleeping in the blood, a whoreson
tingling."
- William Shakespeare, King Henry the Fourth, Part II
(Falstaff at I, ii)
4) "I'll forbear;
And am fallen out with my more headier will
To take the indisposed and sickly fit
For the sound man."
- William Shakespeare, King Lear (King Lear at II, iv)
5) "Before the curing of a strong disease,
Even in the instant of repair and health,
The fit is strongest. Evils that take leave,
On their departure most of all show evil."
- William Shakespeare, Life and Death of King John (Pandulph at
III, iv)
In Shakespeare's own life it is easy to find the themes of disease.
During several years in his career (apx 1590-93) England was suffering
from the spread of the bubonic plague, or "Black Death". As a result,
many theatres and businesses were closed, and Shakespeare found
himself out of work - left to write about it.
http://www.suite101.com/article.cfm/history_for_children/18003
Additionally, there were many Smallpox & other outbreaks in
Shakespeare's dangerous time.
Furthermore, syphillus was common. This article describes the
situation and seems to suggest that Shakespeare went a little too far
in making fun of the harlotry and veneral diseases of his day:
http://www.geocities.com/ncgirlintx/Troilus.html
Finally, here's a great page that sums up most of what I've said, and
looks at Shakespeare and his life related to disease:
http://www.uh.edu/engines/epi1143.htm
Good Luck, and I hope this helped!!
-Rebekah |
