Shakespeare and Insanity

For centuries, Shakespeares tragedies have swept audiences up in dramatic intensity, achieving what Aristotle expound as catharsis, the purging of emotional tension through drama. They key out us into the psyche of the protagonist--the angst of Hamlet, the guilt-ridden soul of the Macbeths, and the torment of Lear--with an reverberative language of feeling and Shakespeares use of a most decent image: the human mind in a farming of madness.

What drove Shakespeares characters into insanity? Certainly, it can be argued that outside influences vie their part. In the case of Othello, the scheming Iago used his cunning and economic consumption to lead his victim into self-doubt and despair. The same could be verbalise for King Lear, who was driven to madness by his ungrateful daughters. Did Shakespeares tragic protagonists, however, have some pre-disposed disorder? The answers could be in a many centuries old belief that the human body is driven by a state of chemical balance. An imbalance of alchemy could effect the mood of the individual and if not corrected, could lead to lasting illness, madness and/ or death.

Body Chemistry: Having a Sense of Humor(s)

The possibility of body chemistry or humors theory goes back to the quaternate century BC.



There were earlier cultures in Egypt and Mesepotamia which fluctuated between subjective and supernatural explanations of disease, but it took Empedocles to develop theories based on four basic elements and characterized by a quality and a interchangeable body humor or liquid:

Element         Quality         Humor

Fire          instigate         Blood (in the heart)

Earth         Dryness         Phlegm (in the brain)

Water         Moisture         Yellow bile (in the liver)

Air         Cold         Black bile (in the spleen)

These humors were also tied into the seasons as well. Black bile was considered to be a part of autumn, alliance was associated with spring, phlegm with winter and summer...

If you want to get a unspoiled essay, order it on our website: Ordercustompaper.com



If you want to get a full essay, wisit our page: write my paper