Ideally, the balance of humors that people needed for ideal health, the theory suggested, reduced by three quarters for each humor. (2019). A specific humoral imbalance would, supposedly, lead to predictable results in the patient. Hippocrates, Galen & The Four Humours. In Europe, humoral theory became connected to gender, with men and women exhibiting different humoral balances and imbalances that explained common medical problems. In all alike he is sane and thoughtful. ", Another aspect of Hamlet's humor glints forth in his dealings with his old school-fellows, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern. Galen: On the properties of foodstuffs(O. Powell, Trans.). When in mourning, its not uncommon to withdraw and find somewhere to sit and cry. In Act IV, Scene 3 of Shakespeare's most famous play, Hamlet, the black humor of Hamlet's comments about the dead Polonius stem from his treatment of the serious issue of death in a . Passions and tempers: A history of the humours. They should then have a quarter as much yellow bile as phlegm, and a quarter as much black bile as yellow bile. There are far fewer phlegmatic leading characters in Shakespeares writing than there are sanguine, melancholic and choleric. He has got far too much phlegm in him, and there are many references to his unattractiveness. 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). Today, this Shakespeare quote is often adapted for humorous effect. Centaury. He is working on his PhD. Describe the four humors as established by ancient Greek and Roman physicians Apply their knowledge of the four humors to their analysis of Hamlet. lessons in math, English, science, history, and more. Centaury(Centaurium erythraea)was a traditional bitter tonic used for treating choleric digestive issues (Osborn, 2015). In Shakespeares time, the understanding of medicine and the human body was based on the theory of the four bodily humours. People with too much phlegm were considered to be phlegmatic, a term dating back to Galen. OSPP Four Temperaments Test. This Whether we have ancestors from ancient Greece, China, or India doesnt matter so much. They were the centerpiece of a medical theory called humorism, proposed by Hippocrates in the fourth century BCE. The four humors I have recently started reading up on Shakespeare as I have read and enjoyed romeo and juliet when i was in high school and I feel like my lack of knowledge of these famous works of literature is something that should be fixed, I recently finished A Midsummer Night's Dream, and now I am on Hamlet and I came across something I don't quite understand. Melancholy individuals were thought to be excessively sad and sullen, possibly a description of what is now known as depression. 2. endstream endobj startxref 0 In Hamlets case the black costume he traditionally wears is also mourning dress: his father the king has recently died. FOOTNOTE 1: Humor in Tragedy, by Sir Herbert Tree. Cambridge, England: Cambridge University Press. 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Yellow bile, the element of fire (hot and dry), flushes out impurities and deeply nourishes the body. A choleric man, according to humoral theory, was likely to be lean and hairy, for instance. succeed. Melancholics are often depicted dressed in black, the colour (unsurprisingly) connected to black bile. - Definition & Examples, Public Broadcast Service (PBS): Definition, Origin & Funding, Satellite Television: Definition & History, Microcasting: Definition, Example & Impact, Communications Act of 1934: Purpose & Impact, Working Scholars Bringing Tuition-Free College to the Community. In our role as herbalists to support the body using natures gifts, may we remember the wisdom given to us by our ancestral teachers. Similarly, the four humours loosely correspond to the wheel of Traditional Chinese Medicine. Now of historic interest, the Four Humours may be evoked or listed as part of a non-mainstream therapeutic philosophy or system . Whether we have ancestors from ancient Greece, China, or India doesnt matter so much. Jones, Trans.). No character in all Shakespeare is more evenly balanced, and no mind more capable of seeing things in all their bearings. And there is pansies, thats for thoughts Theres fennel for you, and columbines. 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The four humors, or bodily fluids, thought to impact humans' temperaments, personalities, and health were blood, phlegm, black bile, and yellow bile. In an ideal situation, each of the humors was properly balanced. Optimistic, red-cheeked, corpulent, irresponsible (compare Falstaff). 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. Words by Nelly Ekstrmaverage reading time 6 minutes 16 December 2016 The Elizabethan melancholic The influence of the humors changed with the seasons and times of day and with the human life span. Ancient Greece | Galen & The Four Humours 60 Second Histories 3.45K subscribers Subscribe 121 Share 7K views 1 year ago MEDICINE IN TIME In this video Galen explains what the four humours. I feel like its a lifeline. He changes his character by changing his way of life and transforms into a worthy successor. Treatment for phlegmatic personalities included avoiding foods thought to be insipid or flavorless, including cucumber, lettuce, and fish, and instead eating choleric foods like capers, olives, garlic, onions, parsley, and other bitter and salty foods. 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. William Shakespeare notably used humoral theory in his plays as a way to describe his characters in terms that would have been familiar to his audience. The belief that blood, yellow bile, black bile, What is the humoral theory. Hippocrates (1931). It could destroy your appetite and keep you awake at night and cause you to doubt and suspect everything and everyone around you. Another Greek physician, Galen, connected the humors to temperament and personality. The Elder Hamlet: The Kingship of Hamlet's Father (2.2.555-612), Soliloquy So Hamlet wasnt always so miserable; something happened to change his temperament. As Hippocrates said, Grief and fear, when lingering, provoke melancholia (Hippocrates, 185/1931). It suggests that certain bodily fluids need to be in balance in order to ensure health. Though his troubles were sufficient and his task difficult enough to unbalance almost any mind, yet Hamlet retains from first to last a calm and firm grasp of the situation in both its complexity and its incongruity. . The humours affect your bodily and mental health alike, and what you do with your body and mind will in turn affect the levels of your humours. In some of the most tragic moments of his career he has the sanity to play with his tormentors and with the sad conditions of his life. In The Taming of the Shrew, for instance, the feisty Katherine displays a choleric temper. The Four Humours are Blood, Black Bile, Yellow Bile, and Phlegm. y-axis (horizontal): Thinking - Feeling scale. Strong passions, like the mourning over a dead family member, the betrayal of a friend or a lost love, could affect the levels of your humours. Learn what the four humors of the body are along with the humoral theory. Hamlet addresses frailty as though speaking to a human being. Belief in humoral theory was not limited to ancient Greece. Shakespeare incorporated humoral theory into his work because it was a prevailing medical theory at the time. Blood, the element of air (hot and moist), is the vital force of the body and the very essence of youth and health. These four humours, from the Greek word. (2.2.555-612) (V. ii. 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. . one that would circumvent God, might it not?" Early in the play we learn that the young prince has gone through some kind of recent transformation. Like many ancient systems of medicine, the humours integrated an understanding of disease, psychology, habits, and personalities, as well as astrological connections. In tragedies, the characters usually start out with a normal excess of their temperamental humour, but thru their actions and reactions their excess is built up, leading to more and more extreme behaviour until all hope of restoring balance is lost. Yellow bile, supposedly produced in the liver, was also called ''choler.'' Humoral theory is based on beliefs that ancient civilizations developed thousands of years ago. These humours in turn were composed of four qualities (hot, dry, cold and . There were also herbals: books with collected descriptions and drawings of medical plants. Links to external sites are for informational purposes only. The young warrior's choler gave him courage but phlegm produced cowards. Hamlets sanity is one of the major themes in the play. 4. Hamlet's Antic Disposition: Is Hamlet's Madness Real? Hippocratic method and the four humors [Blog Post]. Like many ancient systems of medicine, the humours, f disease, psychology, habits, and personalities, as well as astrological connections. Students explore the influence of the humoral theory in Shakespeare's plays. 185 BCE). Jones, Trans.). Often compared to sap in plants, blood is responsible for the foundation of life. Folger Shakespeare Library is the world's largest Shakespeare collection, the ultimate resource for exploring Shakespeare and his world. Then he suggests that Rosencrantz is only "a sponge . Discover humorism and the four humors written about by Hippocrates during Greek times. Those who were thought to be excessively sanguine were sometimes treated with bloodletting, which was a common medical practice that unfortunately did much more harm than good. The people of Shakespeare's time did not think about physical or mental health the way modern doctors and scientists do. All of these and more could affect your humours and, through them, your entire being, body and soul. Water was thought to be cold and wet, so it was associated with phlegm. Hippocrates's humoral theory of illness proposed that the body consisted of four humors: black bile, yellow bile, blood and phlegm. In Ophelias last scene in Hamlet she comes on stage with her arms full of flowers. balance of his humors: blood and phlegm noted as "judgment." He goes on to talk about how a . What matters is that we understand history as the foundation of our modern practices and find the inspiration we need to understand the complexities of health. 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. 359-365.) Sickness was no longer the result of a mortal transgression but was the result of imbalances in the body from a variety of factors, including diet, social class, environmental cleanliness, and the state of ones mental health. [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. . The treatment would have been mainly bloodletting, leeching and a special diet to restore the humours to normal levels. They were relied upon to determine if one of the three current standard practices for balancing the body induce vomiting, diarrhea, or bloodletting was appropriate for an individual, using herbs as the foundation for supporting the body. His first meeting with Horatio furnishes opportunity. Choler refers to anger, a characteristic of yellow bile when out of balance in the body. ), 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.). x-axis (vertical): Introversion - Extraversion scale. This idea dates back to ancient Greece, where the body was seen more or less as a shell containing four different humours, or fluids: blood, phlegm, black bile and yellow bile. Hamlet's Melancholy: The Transformation of the Prince Hamlet talks about his reasons for admiring and trusting Horatio here, noting specifically the . The four humours were: phlegm blood yellow bile black bile If the humours stayed in balance then a person remained healthy, but if there was too much of one humour then illness occurred. Hippocrates believed the human body is home to four types of liquids which, if imbalanced in any way, could cause mental and physical health problems in the individual. Phlegm. 20 Aug. 2009. Herbs that support this imbalance include pungent, stimulating, and aromatic herbs, such fenugreek (. 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. He has given Hamlet nearly all varieties of humor, from the playful to the sardonic. What is Phlebotomy? The 4 humors corresponded in their natures to earth, air, fire, and waterthe 4 elements of which all matter was composed, according the Greek philosopher Empedocles, a contemporary of Hippocrates. Curator Gail Kern Paster explains "The four humors were an early typology for human personality. copyright 2003-2023 Study.com. 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. Similarly, the four humours loosely correspond to the wheel of Traditional Chinese Medicine. Hippocrates - Greek physician (c460BC - 370BC). It was supposedly produced in the brain and was associated with the fall. It is this exuberant humor that reveals beyond doubt Hamlet's fundamental sanity. Retrieved from http://www.greekmedicine.net. Choleric people were quick to anger and highly irritable. The four "humours" were bodily fluids (blood, phlegm, black bile, and yellow bile) and . The melancholic character was easy to recognise on an Elizabethan stage. | Melancholy Temperament. . What he should be doing is trying to restore the balance by switching to a warming and drying diet and engaging in warming and drying activities. His world is vast. As a result of this decrease in activity, your body temperature will fall and you will lose some moisture through crying. Arikha, N. (2007). These humours were thought to be connected to different organs inside the body; to the four elements of earth, water, fire and air; and even to the movements of the stars in the sky. 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. A later Greek physician, Galen, suggested that the humors could predict moods and temperaments. Something is rotten in the state of Denmark.. Hamlet Study Quiz (with detailed answers) Sickness was no longer the result of a mortal transgression but was the result of imbalances in the body from a variety of factors, including diet, social class, environmental cleanliness, and the state of ones mental health. Shakespeare Online. The humours would be commonly practiced for 2,500 years and would later be revived by Greek physician and philosopher Galen (130-210 AD), who greatly emphasized their validity in his extensive writings, thus establishing them as a dominant practice well into the Middle Ages (McKeown, 2017). It is very likely that Shakespeare created these humoral parallels deliberately, as he would have been very familiar with the kinds of personalities and treatments delineated by humoral theory. Retrieved from, Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window), Click to share on Pinterest (Opens in new window), Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window), Click to share on LinkedIn (Opens in new window), Click to share on Tumblr (Opens in new window), Click to share on Reddit (Opens in new window), Click to email a link to a friend (Opens in new window), Pantry Herbalism for Cold and Flu Support: Free eBook, Making Herbal Preparations 101 Mini Course, Emulsifiers and Preservatives in Botanical Skin Care Products, A cabinet of ancient medical curiosities: Strange tales and surprising facts from the healing arts, The greatest benefit to mankind: A medical history of humanity. The four humorsblack bile, yellow bile, blood, and phlegmrepresented different qualities: while black bile was cold and dry and yellow bile was hot and dry, blood was hot and wet and phlegm . The choice of words also brings us into this realm of melancholia where Hamlet lives: a world of earth, death, decay and graves. The four humors were thought to be sanguine (blood), choleric (yellow bile), melancholic (black bile), and phlegmatic (phlegm) and their composition within the body was considered to determine. Harry Hotspur is choleric, his anger motivating his actions; finally, Falstaff is phlegmatic and unwilling to act at all. Background. All rights reserved. Retrieved from, (O. Powell, Trans.). The way doctors would rid you of your excess humours would probably not be recommended today though: enemas, vomiting and especially bloodletting were common treatments for a wide range of conditions. In Europe, the theory remained widespread for centuries and still had its adherents as late as the 1800s. Four Humours. Create your account. , the element of air (hot and moist), is the vital force of the body and the very essence of youth and health. Loeb Classical Library. In the human body, the interaction of the four humors explained differences of age, gender, emotions, and disposition. What a person ate was thought to change the balance of these humors, and even specific flavors were thought to influence humors. or bodily fluid, helped ancient healers effectively explain disease and help those seeking medical treatment with appropriate recommendations, becoming a practice that would survive well into the Middle Ages (Galen, 165-175/2003). The theory of the four humors underpinned European medicine and thinking on the innerworkings of the body until at least the 1700s. When he needs what you have gleaned, it is but By Erika Mills ~ English poet and playwright William Shakespeare (1564-1616) created characters that are among the richest and most recognizable in all of literature. Sour flavors were associated with melancholy, including vinegar and lemons. 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 ). THE THEORY OF THE FOUR HUMOURS The theory of the four humours (blood, phlegm, yellow bile, black bile) rst appears in a fth-century bcHippocratic treatise called The Nature of Man, the only treatise from the Hippocratic Corpus to which we can attribute an author's name. 2) sanguine. 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 In Shakespeares comedies, like The Tempest and As You Like It, there is often a melancholic figure who acts as foil to the more optimistic leading characters. 3. As a result, those who had too much yellow bile were considered choleric. The four humours are represented in Othello through the main characters of the tragedy. 1. It was classified among other types of mental illness of its time, like mania, phrenitis, frenzy, lunacy and demoniacal possession. Properties of foodstuffs ( O. Powell, Trans. ) dry, cold and situation! & amp ; the four humors the four humors hamlet European medicine and Thinking on the theory,! Gave him courage but phlegm produced cowards to sap in plants, blood is responsible for the foundation life. Bile when out of balance in the the four humors hamlet body temperature will fall and you will lose some moisture crying. Was based on beliefs that ancient civilizations developed thousands of years ago Grief and,! Of fire ( hot, dry, cold and wet, so it was among., by Sir Herbert Tree God, might it not? and cry here, specifically! Person ate was thought to be cold and, its not uncommon to withdraw find! Be in balance in the Taming of the four humors underpinned European and... 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