Richard Proudfoot, Anne Thompson and David Scott Kastan. Ed. Although this time in history long preceded an understanding of germ theory, many of the measures taken are consistent with modern-day controls used for infectious epidemics. Let not thy sword skip one. Suffering in Paradise: The Bubonic Plague in English Literature from More to Milton. Inhabitants of houses shut up because of plague infection were given support through local parishes and through a plague tax (Slack 210–11). Houses continued to be marked and no inhabitants—sick or healthy—could leave for up to six weeks, and those who did had to repair to a house in the country and could not return for twenty-eight days. Going to find a barefoot brother out. “Most actors had to leave town or find other work but that was when Shakespeare started work on King Lear. Shakespeare’s birth in April of 1564 fell during the particularly severe outbreak that year in Stratford-upon-Avon, the place of his birth, an outbreak that took the lives of two of his older siblings (Totaro 88–89; Barroll 73, Pollack-Pelzner). Go on.Be as a planetary plague, when JoveWill o’er some high-vic’d city hang his poisonIn the sick air. I don’t just [do a running list] of the roles I’ve played. (qtd in Wilson 97), fits; and what better or properer can we call our own, than the riches of our friends? The plague of 1593, and the nearly continuous outbreaks from 1603–1610 had definitive effects on Shakespeare’s work (Slack 145–46; Barroll 17–18). When the starving flea bites a rat or a human, the bacteria are regurgitated through the bite wound. (qtd in Totaro 100), However, Shakespeare recognizes that despite the dangers gold posses, it had a place in contemporary standards of care in plague. “Timon of Athens.” The Arden Shakespeare Complete Works. And as they last, their verdour still endure. He lost twenty months during this span that could have been used to stage plays and generate revenue. And the Australian actor, who has spent a lifetime scrutinising and interpreting the western world’s greatest playwright, found an oddly grim simpatico; Bell concluded he had a lot to be grateful for. frights, changes, horrors,Divert, and crack, rend and deracinateThe unity, and married calm of StatesQuite from their fixure! Whole housholds, and whole streets are stricken. Like other playwrights of the time, he had to find other sources of income (Barroll 17–18). (Shakespeare, “Troilus and Cressida” 1.3.96–101). Dogs were to be eliminated; the dog killers arose from this need. Bevington wonders if Shakespeare was really slowed during this time period, however, because during that time he wrote forty-six percent of the lines across all his plays (462). “Examiners” were appointed to ensure compliance with the Orders. . Timon is a charitable man who relishes giving away his fortune to fellow citizens of Athens: We are born to do bene- fits; and what better or … “‘I’ll Plague Thee for That Word’: Language, Performance, and Communicable Disease.” Shakespeare Survey 50 (1996): 19–27.McNeill, William H. Plagues and Peoples. Available: http://www.accessmedicine.com. (“2 Henry Iv” 4.5.158–64), The Plague Orders requiring that houses with inhabitants infected with plague be shut up were well known to Shakespeare. Barroll, J. Leeds. The alderman of London adopted specific elements of the General Orders slowly over the following twenty years thinking that the plague had more to do with God’s will than the contagious disease concepts the Privy Council was working under. But thou, most fine, most honour’d, most renown’d, Hath eat thy bearer up. Tragedy ensues. H. J. Oliver. This is illustrated in. STC 21774. “King Lear.” The Arden Shakespeare Complete Works. Elpern), King's College Humanities and Health Centre, Medical Humanities (British Medical Journal), Somatosphere (science, medicine, anthropology). Friar John’s letter to Mantua, advising Romeo that Juliet is not dead as reported but lying in a drug-induced coma in the Capulet crypt, is never delivered because the monk is placed under involuntary quarantine as a suspected carrier of the plague while in transit. Shakespeare obtained some amount of his living during these years from his involvement as an actor in the King’s Servants (also known as the King’s Players). (“Romeo and Juliet” 5.2.1–12). Thomas Dekker, a contemporary of Shakespeare’s, turned to producing pamphlets, some of which included descriptions of life during this plague outbreak: Whole housholds, and whole streets are stricken,The sick do die, the sound do sicken,And Lord have mercy upon us, cryingEre Mercy can come forth, th’are dying.No musick now is heard but bells,And all their tunes are sick mens knells;And every stroake the bell does toll,Up to heaven it windes a soule. (qtd in Slack 227). Having come into their own in the mid 1500s, London playhouses became subject to these restrictions and theaters were often closed during plague outbreaks. 1095–122. 631–67.—. . Shakespeare Wrote His Best Works During a Plague The qualities for which live theater is celebrated—audiences responding with laughter, tears, gasps, and … London: Thomson Learning, 2001. “Troilus and Cressida.” The Arden Shakespeare Complete Works. The lymph nodes that swell from plague infection are called “buboes,” and hence the name “bubonic plague” (Dennis and Campbell). The Plague is an infection caused by the bacillus Yersinia pestis, though it was first known as Pasteurella pestis (Slack 7; McNeill 139). What Plagues, and what portents, what mutiny! Instead of associating gold with a cure for plague, he is using it to spread plague (in its metaphorical form). Violation of these requirements could result in arrests and beatings. And finding him, the searchers of the town. Causes and Physical Consequences of Plague. It was during this interval that Shakespeare produced his two non-dramatic poems, Venus and Adonis and The Rape of Lucrece for a patron within the aristocracy, the Earl of Southhampton (Duncan-Jones 54–81). Historic Medical Photography Collection Acquired by Yale, Using Visual Thinking Strategies (VTS) to Enhance Interprofessional Education, The Past, Present, and Future of Medical Television, Humane Medicine and Film Blog (D.J. s live performance venues reopen in Australia and move towards full capacity, spare a thought for those living through Elizabethan England. Welcome from Mantua. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 1991.Bevington, David. 2005. (King Richard III) 3. The bubonic plague closed down entertainment and sporting venues for months at a time on at least five separate occasions during William Shakespeare’s adult lifetime. “King Henry Iv, Part 2.”. What says Romeo? Barroll makes the point that “Shakespeare’s choice of profession led him to work within a social institution subject to suspension in times perceived as dangerous for any reason at all” (15). Theater closings further truncated the playing seasons already affected by required closings for Lent and periods of mourning. “The plague was a constant visitor to England in the 16th and 17th centuries. They welcomed anyone who could pay to see their plays, and so their theaters attracted large crowds of commoners. In Antony and Cleopatra, a … Over the subsequent ten years, an interval which was characterized by frequent theater closings, he would right only ten more plays (Barroll 19). 1640.Folger Shakespeare Library. Ed. . Ed. Shakespeare made references to the plague in several of his plays, King Lear, Romeo and Juliet, Othello, and Henry VI (Mabillard). The King’s Servants comprised an acting troupe under a royal patronage. Part I – “Not One Before the Other” A Humanist Reading Comedy of Errors. The Plague in the Plays. He blames her for this development based on seeing signs of infection: Soft, let us see:Write, ‘Lord have mercy on us’ on those three;They are infected; in their hearts it lies;They have the plague, and caught it of your eyes;These lords are visited; you are not free,For the Lord’s tokens on you do I see. ‘All the world’s a stage, and all the men and women merely players.They have their exits and their entrances; And one man in his time plays many parts.’ (As You Like It, Act 2, Scene 7)3. Or, if his mind be writ, give me his letter.FRIAR JOHN. Ungentle Shakespeare: Scenes from His Life. (“Timon” 1.2.102–06). The plague is not prominent in Shakespeare’s plays. Shakespeare is never simplistic about these things, he always gives you two sides to every character.”, “He loses his kingdom, cuts it into three parts, gives it away, loses his daughters and goes crazy. The General Orders specified that houses with infected inhabitants should be identified by bundles of hay hung from windows for forty days. Concern over the contagious aspect of plague infection produced restrictions on activities that resulted in gatherings of many people in close proximity to one another (Wilson 49–50). Shakespeare died 404 years ago this month, on April 23, 1616, of mysterious causes. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1927. In addition to a ten-year, plague-free start in life, Shakespeare may have benefited from the first efforts by the government to protect the public’s health. They had no regular stipend or retainer. A major form of plague infection is “bubonic plague,” which is associated a dramatic swelling of lymph nodes, most commonly in the femoral and inguinal regions, but can also occur in the axillary and cervical lymph nodes. They maintain this relationship until the rats become sick or die. In the same play, Shakespeare uses plague references as a metaphor for the passions Berowne’s companions have for those of Rosaline’s (Bloom 139–40). Other well-known signs of bubonic plague are carbuncles and blisters that can appear anywhere on the body. (Sonnet 64) 2. Bell says although Covid-19 has infused an unexpected element into One Man in His Time over the past six months, the work has been a lifetime in the making. “Thou art a boil,” King Lear tells his eldest daughter Goneril. Here, writing some time before or perhaps at the start of a renewed 1606 outbreak … Marvelling at how easy it is to become infected with love, Olivia in Twelfth Night asks: “How now? In different places in his works, Shakespeare uses plague literally and in others metaphorically. Most of the controversy surrounding the Plague Orders was directed at these quarantine requirements, sparking Paracelsus, a leading physician of the time, to condemn these requirements as inhumane and counterproductive: What a madness and cruel foolishness is this, that in the time of any great plague, such as are infected, you shut up in houses, set marks upon them in prison, strangle them with cares and solitariness, and kill them for hunger….Do you in this sort love your neighbour as yourself…when as at no time…there is greater need of fellowship, company, comfort and help than in the time of plague? Walton-on-Thames Surrey: Thomas Nelson and Sons Ltd, 1998. Eventually, however, the London Orders began to reflect the approaches centering on identification and isolation, but never abandoning the link to God’s will (Slack 201–07). “Shakespeare Wrote His Best Works During a Plague.”, Shakespeare, William. Shakespeare uses his knowledge of the role of gold in plague at the time, which was thought to be an effective agent, but he has inverted its value. But as the Harvard literary historian and author Stephen Greenblatt noted, no character in any of Shakespeare’s plays ever actually dies of the bubonic plague. Harold F. Brooks. It’s been a great joy to revisit those pieces and examine them more fully.”. During the years Shakespeare wrote and performed in his plays, theater closings were usually based on the number of plague deaths per week; theaters would be closed when plague deaths exceeded some pre-established number per week, which was usually between thirty and fifty. . The existence or threat of plague was constant during Shakespeare’s life. Medieval & Renaissance Literary Studies. The public theaters were closed for sixty-five of the eighty-four months of those years (Barroll 173). Let not thy sword skip one. 50 Of Shakespeare’s Most Famous Quotes 1. Albert C Labriola. 50–62.Slack, Paul. The lymph nodes that swell from plague infection are called “buboes,” and hence the name “bubonic plague” (Dennis and Campbell). So that my speed to Mantua there was stay’d. Barroll makes the point that “Shakespeare’s choice of profession led him to work within a social institution subject to suspension in times perceived as dangerous for any reason at all” (15). I could not send it – here it is again –        Nor get a messenger to bring it thee,        So fearful where they of infection. He used this requirement as an important plot twist in Romeo and Juliet. . Brian Gibbons. . Efforts were also directed at cleaning up streams, rivers, and ditches, which served as repositories for all sorts of waste products. It really is very much a product of that period of terror and uncertainty, and part of a Doomsday mentality.”. 631–67. The swelling of the lymph nodes is exquisitely painful, and they can eventually rupture. They lived with it. However, Shakespeare recognizes that despite the dangers gold posses, it had a place in contemporary standards of care in plague. Walton-on-Thames Surrey: Thomas Nelson and Sons Ltd, 1998. After 2 years plague decimates the theater companies, 2 long, best-selling poems, over half dozen plays, Shakespeare joins the newly formed Lord Chamberlain’s Men as their chief dramatist, his first steady job, spanning the remainder of his career. Playwrights had to find other sources of income (Wilson 85–113). “A plague-sore or embossed carbuncle in my corrupted blood.”, The scourge is even leveraged by Shakespeare in jest. Shakespeare’s first ten years of life came during one of the few plague-free interludes of that duration occurring between 1485 and 1665 (Slack 67–68). Arden Shakespeare. One is through the bite of a “blocked” flea. Walton-on-Thames Surrey: Thomas Nelson and Sons Ltd, 1998. 50–62. It was during this interval that Shakespeare produced his two non-dramatic poems. “Searchers” were appointed to give a report to the parish clerk on the number of deaths due to plague. That being the case, Shakespeare needed other sources of income (17). In this essay, I address the cause of plague and describe some of the actions taken to prevent and treat plague during Shakespeare’s time. I could not send it – here it is again –, The influence of plague on Shakespeare shows up in, References to the plague appear in many other Shakespeare plays. By Paul Yachnin | - Shakespeare lived his life in plague-time. For example, a “beadle” in each ward marked houses where plague visited, while “warders” and “watchers” were assigned to watch infected houses to make sure none of the inhabitants left the premises (Wilson 19–20, 68–69; Slack 211). Required fields are marked *, Supported by the Louis and Rachel Rudin Foundation. 741–70.—. Other plays have references to signs of plague infection or occupations related to plague, for example, Mercutio calls Tybalt a rat catcher. Taking a Shot: An Interview with Daniela J. Lamas, MD, on the Covid-19 Vaccination, Stanley B. Burns M.D. The environment in which Shakespeare began his work as a playwright and actor was, therefore, shaped in part by the Plague Orders of 1578 and the Plague Act of 1604, which assigned various officials duties specific to plague control, in particular to improve sanitation and to minimize the spread of plague during outbreaks (Wilson 14–16). He points to a scene where Titania is beckoning Bottom: Come, sit thee down upon this flow’ry bedWhile I thy amiable cheeks do coy,And stick musk-roses in thy sleek smooth headAnd kiss thy fair large ears, my gentle joy (“Dream” 4.1.1–4). Many of the measures put in place had profound effects on the English society, one in particular, the closing of theaters, had a profound affect on Shakespeare. 393–428. The famous game of chesse-play. As Shapiro points out, references to the plague and its bubbling sores, called “God’s tokens,” surface in Shakespeare’s scripts from the period. Suffering in Paradise: The Bubonic Plague in English Literature from More to Milton. . The Privy Council established the General Plague Orders. Theatres closed for 14 months and 10,000 … “It also coincided with Guy Fawkes’ plot to blow up parliament so there’s a good deal of bad omens, if you like, in the zeitgeist of King Lear. H. J. Oliver. Ed. The infection progresses rapidly to high fever, headache, tachycardia, lethargy, agitation, seizures, delirium, and then multiple organ failure and death (Dennis and Campbell). Kenneth Palmer. 887–910. A chilling curse when the play was first published around 1596, an era when scores of Europeans and Asians were dying in waves of … Churches remained open – it was inconceivable anyone could be struck down with contagion while engaged in the practice of piety – but lockdowns, masks (of sorts), and what we now call social distancing were ominous and omnipresent facts of life for Shakespeare, who is understood to have. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2000.Wilson, P. F. The Plague in Shakespeare’s London. But, he has Venus suggest to Adonis that from her love his breath could ward off plague instead: ‘Long may they kiss each other for this cure!Oh never let their crimson liveries wear,And as they last, their verdour still endure,To drive infection from the dangerous year:  That the star-gazers, having writ on death,  May say, the plague is banish’d by thy breath…’ (“Venus and Adonis” 505–10). Plague is often used as a curse, such as Mercutio’s famous repeated imprecations towards the Capulets and the Montagues “a plague o’ both your houses” in, J. P. Conlan has suggested that Shakespeare may have embedded Kellwaye’s advice concerning preventative measures, Come, sit thee down upon this flow’ry bed, And stick musk-roses in thy sleek smooth head, And kiss thy fair large ears, my gentle joy (“Dream” 4.1.1–4), Politics, Plague, and Shakespeare’s Theater: The Stuart Years. In the early years of the 1600s [when Shakespeare would have been in his early 40s], there was a particularly bad dose of the plague and everything closed down for some months,” Bell tells Guardian Australia. Shakespeare had to navigate his career around frequent and prolonged loss of performance venues (Barroll 15). The alderman of London adopted specific elements of the General Orders slowly over the following twenty years thinking that the plague had more to do with God’s will than the contagious disease concepts the Privy Council was working under. This same should be the voice of Friar John. A flea is blocked when ingested plague bacteria multiply within the gut of the flea to the extent that no further ingestion of blood is possible. These items were often burned. “A Midsummer Night’s Dream.” The Arden Shakespeare Complete Works. Garden City, NY: Anchor Press, 1976.Pollack-Pelzner, Daniel. “Love’s Labour’s Lost.” The Arden Shakespeare Complete Works. Walton-on-Thames Surrey: Thomas Nelson and Sons Ltd, 1998. Plague is also used as metaphor for war and genocide when Timon urges Alcibiades to attack Athens on his behalf: Go on. Walton-on-Thames Surrey: Thomas Nelson and Sons Ltd, 1998. Shakespeare has created a safe environment for Titania and Bottom, and presumably for the audience watching as well having spread perfumed flowers about the stage. It could also mean Plague Inc: Evolved . But he did include several references to the disease. Here’s gold. Plague was not new to Stratford-upon-Avon, or England, or the European continent at the time of Shakespeare’s birth, although it took the form of frequent epidemic outbreaks. The General Orders specified that houses with infected inhabitants should be identified by bundles of hay hung from windows for forty days. humanities, social sciences, and the arts in relation to medicine and medical training, What Plagues, and what portents, what mutiny!What raging of the sea! The influence of plague on Shakespeare shows up in Love’s Labour’s Lost. Pittsburgh, PA: Duquesne University Press, 2005.Wear, Andrew. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2000. More may have been at work in the closing of theaters than just plague, however. Knowledge & Practice in English Medicine, 1550-1680. I think he has many lessons for future leaders.”, One Man in His Time is showing in Sydney from 11 March and Canberra from 14 April, ‘We looked after each other’: Harry Potter's Australian cast finally returns to the stage, Uncanny alley: grocery store made out of plastic trash debuts in Adelaide’s Rundle Mall. The emphasis on these early orders was identification and isolation of plague sources. Timon is a charitable man who relishes giving away his fortune to fellow citizens of Athens: We are born to do bene-fits; and what better or properer can we call our ownthan the riches of our friends? Ed. Walton-on-Thames Surrey: Thomas Nelson and Sons Ltd, 1998. “Shakespeare Wrote His Best Works During a Plague.” The Atlantic March 14, 2020.Shakespeare, William. Timon of Athens is the play Shakespeare uses references to plague most directly and as such has been considered his most “pestilential” play (Elam 20). The book is divided into stories that the characters tell each other while waiting out the disease. Ed. References to the plague are largely in turns of phrase or metaphors, indicating how much it really was just a grim part of 17th century life and lexicon.