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Dunsinane Revisited: Medicine in Shakespeare's Macbeth Ralph F The Linacre Quarterly Volume 29 | Number 4 Article 5 11-1-1962 Dunsinane Revisited: Medicine in Shakespeare's Macbeth Ralph F. Sett Follow this and additional works at: http://epublications.marquette.edu/lnq Part of the Ethics and Political Philosophy Commons, and the Medicine and Health Sciences Commons Recommended Citation Sett, Ralph F. (1962) "Dunsinane Revisited: Medicine in Shakespeare's Macbeth," The Linacre Quarterly: Vol. 29: No. 4, Article 5. Available at: http://epublications.marquette.edu/lnq/vol29/iss4/5 * HISTORY OF MEDICINE DUNSIN ANE REVISITED: Medicine in Shakespeare's Macbeth RALPH SETT, B.S. {, F. M ORE than four hundred med- suggested by Shakespeare's Mac­ ical allusions have been tal­ beth. lied from the works of William Knowledge of medicine was L2 Shakespeare. ,5 They range from sparse, and for the most part un­ pithy sayings that chide the pro­ scientific, in Shakespeare's Eng­ fession to poetic descriptions to land. It was expounded by num­ numerous diseases and their treat­ erous charlatans and quacks as ment. Some attribute these medi­ well as by honest physicians.5 ca! references to Shakespeare's friendship with his son-in-law, That there were dedicated men who was a physician, as well as of science in the profession is sub­ to Shakespeare's interest in the stantiated by the character of the medical literature of the period. Scottish doctor summoned to treat Others classify them merely as a Lady Macbeth. Shakespeare pre­ technique of the dramatic artist. sents him as a skilled historicist, In any case, Shakespeare's plays as he studies the patient and ques­ are important in the history of tions one of the Queen's maids: When was it she last walk'd? medicine because they contain a In this slumhery agitation, besides her vivid picture of the profession dur­ walking and other actual performances, ing one of the most ·colorful eras what at a ny time, have you heard her in England's history. This is re­ say? flected not only in casual refer­ Hark! She speaks, I will set down what comes from her, to satisfy my remem­ ences to medicine, but also in the brance the more strongly. characterizations and imagery of (Act V, Scene 1) the plays. Therefore, disregarding His history-taking ability should the caution of one of Shake­ be noted by all students new to the speare's medical characters: art of physical diagnosis. Further­ Were I from Dunsinane away and clear, more he is adherent to the pledge Profit again should hardly draw me here. (Act V, Scene 4) of keeping personal all matters di­ vulged to him during consultation. Dunsinane shall be revisited, and When the maid, fearful for her the field of medicine discussed as own safety, refuses to give him · * Reprinted with permission from Mar­ more details of the Queen's illness, quette Medical R.eview, Vol. 27, n. 4, he tells her: May 1962. Mr. Sett, the author, is a junior student, Marquette University You may, to me; and 'tis most meet you School of Medicine. should. LINACRE QUARTERLY 185 The doctor has been praised be­ apparent in Banquo's comments cause he realizes his limitations, following the encounter with the and prescribes as best he can with­ three witches: out resorting to the panaceas of Were such things here, as we do speak the charlatans: 1.2 about, Or have we eaten on the insane root, This disease is beyond my practice; yet I That takes the reason prisoner? have known those which have walk'd (Act I, Scene 3) in their sleep, w ho have died holily in their beds. This root which produced insanity More needs she the divine than the has been thought to have been physician. - God, God forgive us all! Look after her; hemlock, henbane, or the deadly Remove from her the means of all nightshade. There was also a annoyance. superstition that basil. another And still keep eyes upon her. - So, good night: herb, led to the propagation of My mind she has mated, scorpions in the brain,3 and this and amaz'd my sight. (Act V , Scene 1) is the explanation for the follow­ The doctor's comments show the ing allusion in M acbeth : widely held belief that mental dis­ O ! full of scorpions is my mind, dear wife! turbances were due to the posses­ (Act III, Scene 2) sion of evil spirits. When M ac­ Prescriptions were not filled by beth inquires about his wife's con­ herbs alone. The first Pharma­ dition and asks him to cure her: copeia. published in 1618, listed Canst thou not minister to a mind diseas'd, ninety-one animal products rec­ Pluck from the memory a rooted sorrow, ommended as treatment for numer­ Raze out the written troubles of the ous ills. Frequently a dozen or brain, And with some sweet oblivious antidote more ingredients were incorpo­ Cleanse the stuff'd bosom of that rated into the medical preparation; perilous stuff Galen's Mithridatic, a universal Which weighs upon the heart? antidote against all poisons, con­ The doctor gives the following re­ tained one hundred ingredients. ply: A compilation of sundry compo­ Therein the patient Must minister to himself. nents by M eek revealed the fol­ (Act V , Scene 3) lowing : snake skins, scorpions, Macbeth's adversaries think they wood lice; teeth, claws, hooves, have the proper potion in the per­ and bones of animals; human son of Malcolm : bones, urine, menstrual fluid, and M eet we the med' cine of the sickly weal; feces. 2 Such bizarre remedies con­ And with him pour we, in our country's tinued to be found in the Pharma­ purge, Each drop of us. copeia until 1746. Indeed as Meek (Act V , Scene 2) has stated, "The witches' brew is Because of the belief in the a poetical version of the medical magical powers of herbs, laymen prescription of the day." D ancing competed with the apothecaries in around the boiling cauldron, the preparing innumerable concoc­ weird hags represent the super­ tions.5 That Shakespeare was natural elements or superstitions aware of the potency of herbs is w hich misled the honest physi- 186 LINACRE QUARTERLY cians and filled the coffers of the .. drenched." a drench being a dose charla tans: of medicine administered to an Round about the cauldron go. a nimal. In the poison'd entrails throw­ Toad. tha t under cold stone The study of insanity. w hich is Days and nights has thirty-one not unique to Macbeth. but also Swelter'd venom, sleeping got. found in King Lear. Timon of Boil thou first j' th' charmed pot. Fillet of a fenny snake. Athens. and H amlet. has led to In the cauldron boil and bake; the view that Shakespeare had E ye of newt. and toe of frog. Wool of bat. and tongue of dog. great psychiatric insight. The Adder's fork. and blind-warm's sting. ability to expose abnormal psy­ Lizard's leg. and howlet's wing. chology and its degenerating effect For a charm of powerful trouble Like a hell-broth boil and bubble. on character is seen in the artist's Scale of dragon. tooth of wolf; conception of both Macbeth and Witches' mummy: maw. and gulf. his queen. M acbeth may have be­ Of the ravin'd salt-sea shark; Root of hemlock. digg'd j' th' dark; come the victim of hallucinations: Liver of blaspheming Jew; Is this a dagger. which I see before me, Gall of goat, and slips of yew. The handle toward my hand? Sliver'd in the moon's eclipse; (Act II, Scene 1) Nose of Turk. and Tarta.r's lips; Finger of birth-strangled babe. After he has stabbed Duncan. Ditch-deliver'd by a drab, Macbeth hears voices: Make the gruel thick and slab; Add thereto a tiger's chaudron. Methought, I heard a voice cry For thOi ngredients of our cauldron. " Sleep no more! • (Act IV, Scene 1) Macbeth does murder Sleep." .. (Act II. Scene 2) The use of wine in the machina ~ tions of Macbeth and his shrewish Pomeranz describes Macbeth as a wife reinforces the impression that paranoiac suffering from delusions excessive drinking was not highly of persecution. hallucinations. and regarded by Shakespeare; melancholia. and finally emerging as a homicidal maniac: 4 ... his two chamberlains Will I with wine and wassail so convince. The castle of Macduff I will surprise; That memory. the warder of the brain. Seize upon Fife. give to the edge Shall be a fume. and the r eceipt of reason 0' the sword A limbeck only: when in swinish sleep His Wife. his babies. and all Their drenched natures lie. as in a death. unfortuna te souls What cannot you and I perform upon That trace him in his line . , Th' unguarded Duncan? This deed I'll do before this purpose cool. (Act I, Scene 7) But no more Sights! The old anatomists believed that (Act IV, Scene 1) the brain contained three rather The subject of dreams did not than four ventricles, The third escape the scrutinizing eye of ventricle was the seat of memory. Shakespeare, Macbeth is be­ w hich was thought to warn the seiged by nightmares: reason of attack; intoxication in~ Now o'er the one half-world Nature seems dead. and wicked dreams terfered with this activity, The abuse imagery · of "swinish sleep" con­ The curtained sleep fers a brutish appearance to the (Act II, Scene 1) drunken chamberlains. and this is In the affliction of th ese terrible dreams. That shake us nightly.
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