- Under observation my first love full#
- Under observation my first love license#
- Under observation my first love professional#
This discovery is usually attributed to William Harvey and was first described by him in a lecture he gave in 1616 (although Harvey didn’t publish his theory until 1628, after the playwright’s death). One example of Shakespeare’s in-depth medical knowledge was his apparent references to the theory of the circulation of the blood. There are hundreds of medical references in his work, direct and oblique, showing an understanding of health and anatomy far beyond that of any other playwright of his day. Shakespeare went further than all of his contemporaries in his portrayal of medicine and use of medical terms in his plays. Apothecaries appear on stage to sell poisons surgeons are sent for to treat the wounded after altercations with swords wise women are consulted and doctors are depicted, both real and fictional. Many cheap, and sometimes effective, treatments might be offered by women and men who had no official training, but vast experience.Īll of these various types of medical practitioner are depicted, or at least mentioned, in Shakespeare’s plays.
Under observation my first love license#
Quackery was rife, but the lack of a license did not necessarily mean the individual was a quack.
Under observation my first love professional#
For example, fever was seen as an illness in itself, rather than a symptom exhibited by many different diseases.Īs well as medical people with accepted professional status, right at the bottom of the pile were all manner of unlicensed healers. There was little concept of disease as a distinct entity. The form of help they received, however, was very different. The Elizabethans were no different in being preoccupied with their health and seeking medical help. The harm done by common forms of treatment generally outweighed any benefits linked with expertise or price.
However, the size of the fee and education of the practitioner didn’t improve the chances of recovery. Options ranged from the highly regarded, university educated and very expensive physicians, to the much cheaper choice of the nearest wise woman. There were many options for consultations open to patients in Shakespeare’s day, but choice was governed by a patient’s ability to pay rather than medical expertise. But we are quick to notice when those processes aren’t working properly, and seek medical help to make us feel better and prevent things becoming serious, or even fatal. Most of the time our bodies carry on doing their complex essential tasks without us really paying them much attention. The complexity of the human body means there are many points of vulnerability that can potentially bring about our end. Her death comes in the same play, Henry V, as the demise of Shakespeare’s great comic creation, Falstaff, but his death is the more typical experience of the day as he dies in a domestic setting surrounded by friends. Pistol’s beloved Doll is the only one of Shakespeare’s characters to go to a “’spital,” where we are told she died of the “Malady of France” (syphilis). These institutions were strictly for the poor and few of those who entered expected to leave. Sixteenth-century London had only three hospitals: St Bartholomew’s, St Thomas’s and Bethlem hospital for the insane. Today our final moments will most probably be spent in a hospital or care home where medically trained staff are close at hand. The manner of our death, however, is likely to be very different from the experiences of our predecessors in the 16th century. No matter how much we may try to prolong or cheat the inevitable, “All that lives must die, / Passing through nature to eternity” ( Hamlet).
Under observation my first love full#
In Love’s Labour’s Lost, a play full of frivolity and witty word play, the announcement of a death brings the comedy to a juddering halt.Īdvances in medicine have extended our average stay on earth considerably when compared to those living in Shakespeare’s day, but death is still inescapable. Loss of life in the tragedies and histories is expected, but death lurks in the comedies too, where plays that are usually associated with laughter and romance also have characters who are threatened with execution ( Comedy of Errors, Measure for Measure) or appear onstage in mourning ( Twelfth Night). There are discussions about death too, and threats to kill. Shakespeare’s plays are full of characters dying, both onstage and offstage. “I know when one is dead, and when one lives.”
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