"And there's the humor of it!": Shakespeare and the four humors

 

English poet and playwright William Shakespeare (1564-1616) created characters that are among the richest and most humanly recognizable in all of literature. Yet Shakespeare understood human personality and health in the terms available to his age—that of the now-discarded theory of the four bodily humors—blood, yellow bile, black bile, and phlegm. These four humors were understood to define peoples' physical and mental health, and determined their personality, as well. "And there's the humor of it!": Shakespeare and the four humors explores the language of the four humors and their influence in Shakespeare’s plays. 

 

The National Library of Medicine produced this traveling banner exhibit, guest curated by scholar Gail Kern Paster, PhD (director emerita, Folger Shakespeare Library), and historian and educator Theodore M. Brown, PhD (University of Rochester).

 

 

 

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The National Library of Medicine produced this exhibition and companion website.