Abstracts
The works of William Shakespeare (1564-1616), the greatest dramatist and poet of the English language, reflect several cultural values of the Western world which are also shared by other cultures. On his 450th birthday, many of his concepts are admired as descriptions of human feelings and neurological phenomena, demonstrating his insights into what it is today considered cognitive neuroscience
Shakespeare; neurology; cognition; perception
A obra de William Shakespeare (1564-1616), o maior dramaturgo e poeta da língua inglesa incorpora diversos valores culturais do mundo ocidental que são também compartilhados por outras culturas. Em seu 450º aniversário, muitos de seus conceitos são admirados como descrições de sentimentos humanos e fenômenos neurológicos, demonstrando a sua percepção do que hoje se denomina neurociência cognitiva.
Shakespeare; neurologia; cognição; percepção
William Shakespeare born at Stratford-on-Avon, baptised on 26 April 1564 and died on 23 April
1616, was an English poet and playwright, who lived during the Golden Age of the English
drama. Besides being a very popular dramatist, he was also an actor and a shareholder of the
Globe Theatre11 Moore J. William Shakespeare: an overview of his life, times, and work.
Ottawa: National Arts Centre; 2008 [cited 2014 Jul 27]. Available from:
http://www4.nac-cna.ca/pdf/eth/shakespeare_an_overview.pdf
http://www4.nac-cna.ca/pdf/eth/shakespea...
,22 Benner MC. The Tempest: by William Shakespeare. Pittsburgh Public Theater;
2005 [cited 2014 Jul 27]. Available from:
http://www.ppt.org/documents/SG3004TheTempest.pdf
http://www.ppt.org/documents/SG3004TheTe...
.
There are doubts about his authorship of the plays mainly based on the fact that he had not
attended university like some of his fellow playwrights such as Christopher Marlowe
(1564-1593)11 Moore J. William Shakespeare: an overview of his life, times, and work.
Ottawa: National Arts Centre; 2008 [cited 2014 Jul 27]. Available from:
http://www4.nac-cna.ca/pdf/eth/shakespeare_an_overview.pdf
http://www4.nac-cna.ca/pdf/eth/shakespea...
,22 Benner MC. The Tempest: by William Shakespeare. Pittsburgh Public Theater;
2005 [cited 2014 Jul 27]. Available from:
http://www.ppt.org/documents/SG3004TheTempest.pdf
http://www.ppt.org/documents/SG3004TheTe...
,33 Royal Shakespeare Company. Shakespeare´s life. [cited 2014 Jul 27].
Available
from:<http://www.rsc.org.uk/explore/shakespeare/contemporaries.aspx
http://www.rsc.org.uk/explore/shakespear...
. These doubts are rejected by the great majority of Shakespearean
scholars nowadays.
We know that he married Anne Hathaway when he was 18 years old: she was 26 and pregnant of
their first daughter (Susanna). They had two more children, the twins Hamnet and Judith. They
lost their only son, in 1596, at the age of 11, probably of the plague11 Moore J. William Shakespeare: an overview of his life, times, and work.
Ottawa: National Arts Centre; 2008 [cited 2014 Jul 27]. Available from:
http://www4.nac-cna.ca/pdf/eth/shakespeare_an_overview.pdf
http://www4.nac-cna.ca/pdf/eth/shakespea...
.
Most of his artistic life was spent in London, during the reigns of Elizabeth I (1558-1603)
and James I (1603-1625)22 Benner MC. The Tempest: by William Shakespeare. Pittsburgh Public Theater;
2005 [cited 2014 Jul 27]. Available from:
http://www.ppt.org/documents/SG3004TheTempest.pdf
http://www.ppt.org/documents/SG3004TheTe...
. The majority of his
plays is based on previous works of known and unkown authors transformed by his poetic genius.
His canon is traditionally divided into three genres written in different phases of his
career, and his comedies, histories, and tragedies were published altogether after his death
in one edition known as the First Folio (1623)11 Moore J. William Shakespeare: an overview of his life, times, and work.
Ottawa: National Arts Centre; 2008 [cited 2014 Jul 27]. Available from:
http://www4.nac-cna.ca/pdf/eth/shakespeare_an_overview.pdf
http://www4.nac-cna.ca/pdf/eth/shakespea...
,22 Benner MC. The Tempest: by William Shakespeare. Pittsburgh Public Theater;
2005 [cited 2014 Jul 27]. Available from:
http://www.ppt.org/documents/SG3004TheTempest.pdf
http://www.ppt.org/documents/SG3004TheTe...
,44 Shakespeare W. Shakespeare’s First Folio. London: Blount; 1623. [cited 2014
Jul 27]. Available from:
https://archive.org/details/shakespearesfirs02270gut
https://archive.org/details/shakespeares...
,55 First Folio Portrait. [cited 2014 Nov 11]. Available from:
http://www.sirbacon.org/gallery/folio.html
http://www.sirbacon.org/gallery/folio.ht...
(Figure 1). He also wrote in collaboration with other
playwrights, a very common practice in the era due to the huge demand for new plays. The last
play to be written by him alone is The Tempest and is supposed to include
“Shakespeare´s farewell to the stage” as some critics read this in
Prospero’s words saying good-bye to his magic art in the long monologue in the opening of Act
V.
Shakespeare, a forerunner on the brain function?
Shakespearean medical concepts have been extensively discussed, mainly by Bucknill in his
The Medical Knowledge of Shakespeare (1860), Simpson's
Shakespeare and Medicine (1959) and Kail's The Medical Mind of
Shakespeare (1986), apud Davis66 Davis FM. Shakespeare´s medical knowledge: how did he acquire it? Oxfordian.
2000;3:45-58.. Shakespeare’s knowledge of medical matters was astonishing.
Simpson stated that “Shakespeare was well acquainted with the medical knowledge of his day,
and probably also with medical literature”66 Davis FM. Shakespeare´s medical knowledge: how did he acquire it? Oxfordian.
2000;3:45-58.. The same historian recorded more than 712 medical references in his
plays, more than twelve major references per play66 Davis FM. Shakespeare´s medical knowledge: how did he acquire it? Oxfordian.
2000;3:45-58.. It is evident that his medical knowledge was sophisticated: “It is
quite remarkable that in three plays he refers to the pia mater”, as
recorded by Davis66 Davis FM. Shakespeare´s medical knowledge: how did he acquire it? Oxfordian.
2000;3:45-58.. This can be either the
result of his special study of the healing art, or simply the fact that Shakespeare repeated
the medical knowledge of some men of learning of his time66 Davis FM. Shakespeare´s medical knowledge: how did he acquire it? Oxfordian.
2000;3:45-58.. In relation to the culture at the time, the skull of Yorick, the
jester at Hamlet’s court, reminds us of Andreas Vesalius's (1514-1564) engraving (Figure 2), and the representativeness of skulls on the
reflexion about the life-death link77 Vesalius A. de Humani corporis fabrica Libri septem. Basel: J. Oporinus;
1543 [cited 2014 Nov 23]. Available from:
http://www.e-rara.ch/bau_1/content/titleinfo/6299027
http://www.e-rara.ch/bau_1/content/title...
. Such
similarities suggest that Shakespeare, born in the year that Vesalius passed away, shared
the same influences of the Renaissance background as Vesalius, the modern neuroanatomy
precursor who is also here honored on the 450th year of his death anniversary
(besides the 5th century of his birth)77 Vesalius A. de Humani corporis fabrica Libri septem. Basel: J. Oporinus;
1543 [cited 2014 Nov 23]. Available from:
http://www.e-rara.ch/bau_1/content/titleinfo/6299027
http://www.e-rara.ch/bau_1/content/title...
. As far as Shakespeare is concerned, he reached the cognitive
neuroscience that addresses the questions of how psychological functions are created. He
also raised issues about perception, a research area that originated presumably from the
time of the ancient Greeks, to understand how stimuli from the world interact with human
sensory systems, forming representations of the world. This can be seen masterfully, e.g.,
in The Tempest (Box), a pearl of
insight: “[...] we are such stuffe as dreames are made on; [...]”.
The culture at the time and the meditative skeleton from Vesalius's work, at the bottom with the inscription “vivitur ingenio, caetera mortis erunt” (Genius lives on, all else is mortal). There is a similar scene in which Hamlet, Shakespeare´s famous character, contemplates the skull of Yorick, who was a jester at the Danish court and Hamlet´s friend, in the cemetery. This may symbolize the recognition of the cognitive abilities of the previously living person7.
Regarding Shakespeare's neurologist illustrious admirers, Jean Martin Charcot (1825‑1893) may be included. He not only appreciated Shakespeare, as Goetz88 Paciaroni M, Bogousslavski J. William Shakespeare´s neurology: neurological and psychiatric disorders in literature. In Finger S, Boller F, Stiles A, editors.Literature, neurology, and neuroscience: neurological and psychiatric disorders. Amsterdan: Elsevier; 2013. p. 3-18. (Progress in brain Research, 206). recorded, but also considered the playwright a “remarkable observer of physiology, medicine, and many other domains”. Charcot savored the wisdom of the poet, as mentioned by Goetz, even more since the Bard described the symptomatology of some his characters that fulfill diagnostic criteria for several neurological nosologies, such as parkinsonism, epilepsy, sleeping disturbances, dementia, headache, prion disease, and paralysis99 Goetz CG, Bonduelle M, Gelfand T. Charcot: constructing neurology. Oxford: Oxford University Press: 1995..
On the other hand, the relationship between thought, memory, emotion and soul versus brain
is not so obvious, and in the Elizabethan and Jacobean eras, Shakespeare raised doubts about
their location. The opposing theories of this dubious placement at the time were
appropriately described by Shakespeare in The Merchant of Venice (1596):
"Tell me where is fancie bred, or in the heart, or in the head: how begot, how nourished.
Replie, replie. It is engendred in the eyes, With gazing fed, and Fancie dies, In the cradle
where it lies: let us all ring Fancies knell. Ile begin it. Ding, dong, bell"44 Shakespeare W. Shakespeare’s First Folio. London: Blount; 1623. [cited 2014
Jul 27]. Available from:
https://archive.org/details/shakespearesfirs02270gut
https://archive.org/details/shakespeares...
.
According to Moore11 Moore J. William Shakespeare: an overview of his life, times, and work.
Ottawa: National Arts Centre; 2008 [cited 2014 Jul 27]. Available from:
http://www4.nac-cna.ca/pdf/eth/shakespeare_an_overview.pdf
http://www4.nac-cna.ca/pdf/eth/shakespea...
, Shakespeare devised
new words by combining others, adding beginnings or endings, changing words into different
parts of speech, and creating brand new words. This may be a piece of his attractive
“marketing strategy”, and this may be also a neuroscience matter, more specifically of a
neuromarketing interest made by the most successful poet. Consequently, the Bard may be
considered a renaissance “neurologist” mainly due to his neurological phenomena repertoire.
In England, as stated by Rose1010 Rose FC. Chapter 39: an historical overview of British neurology. Handb Clin
Neurol. 2010;95:613-28. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/S0072-9752(08)02139-8
https://doi.org/10.1016/S0072-9752(08)02...
, neurology
started long before the 17th century because there were English physicians who
took an interest in diseases of the nervous system, John of Gaddesden (1280-1361) being the
the first in England to produce a manuscript on neurological disorders, heralding the
findings of Thomas Willis (1621-1675), the first to use the term neurology,
and one Shakespeare's successors after the English renaissance.
In conclusion, many philosophers shared their knowledge with medicine in its early days, and Shakespeare probably participated in the encyclopedic culture of his time with his works that included keen thoughts on the the brain functions, such as perception, dreams, and other issues.
Shakespeare, a forerunner on the brain function?
Acknowledgments
The author acknowledges with gratitude many valuable suggestions made by Dr. Marlene Soares dos Santos, Professor Emeritus of English Literature of the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro (UFRJ).
References
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1Moore J. William Shakespeare: an overview of his life, times, and work. Ottawa: National Arts Centre; 2008 [cited 2014 Jul 27]. Available from: http://www4.nac-cna.ca/pdf/eth/shakespeare_an_overview.pdf
» http://www4.nac-cna.ca/pdf/eth/shakespeare_an_overview.pdf -
2Benner MC. The Tempest: by William Shakespeare. Pittsburgh Public Theater; 2005 [cited 2014 Jul 27]. Available from: http://www.ppt.org/documents/SG3004TheTempest.pdf
» http://www.ppt.org/documents/SG3004TheTempest.pdf -
3Royal Shakespeare Company. Shakespeare´s life. [cited 2014 Jul 27]. Available from:<http://www.rsc.org.uk/explore/shakespeare/contemporaries.aspx
» http://www.rsc.org.uk/explore/shakespeare/contemporaries.aspx -
4Shakespeare W. Shakespeare’s First Folio. London: Blount; 1623. [cited 2014 Jul 27]. Available from: https://archive.org/details/shakespearesfirs02270gut
» https://archive.org/details/shakespearesfirs02270gut -
5First Folio Portrait. [cited 2014 Nov 11]. Available from: http://www.sirbacon.org/gallery/folio.html
» http://www.sirbacon.org/gallery/folio.html -
6Davis FM. Shakespeare´s medical knowledge: how did he acquire it? Oxfordian. 2000;3:45-58.
-
7Vesalius A. de Humani corporis fabrica Libri septem. Basel: J. Oporinus; 1543 [cited 2014 Nov 23]. Available from: http://www.e-rara.ch/bau_1/content/titleinfo/6299027
» http://www.e-rara.ch/bau_1/content/titleinfo/6299027 -
8Paciaroni M, Bogousslavski J. William Shakespeare´s neurology: neurological and psychiatric disorders in literature. In Finger S, Boller F, Stiles A, editors.Literature, neurology, and neuroscience: neurological and psychiatric disorders. Amsterdan: Elsevier; 2013. p. 3-18. (Progress in brain Research, 206).
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9Goetz CG, Bonduelle M, Gelfand T. Charcot: constructing neurology. Oxford: Oxford University Press: 1995.
-
10Rose FC. Chapter 39: an historical overview of British neurology. Handb Clin Neurol. 2010;95:613-28. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/S0072-9752(08)02139-8
» https://doi.org/10.1016/S0072-9752(08)02139-8
Publication Dates
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Publication in this collection
Apr 2015
History
-
Received
24 Nov 2014 -
Reviewed
18 Dec 2014 -
Accepted
06 Jan 2015