Charleston County Public Library

Death by Shakespeare, snakebites, stabbings and broken hearts, Kathryn Harkup

eng

Includes bibliographical references (pages 353-359) and index

illustrations

index present

non fiction

Death by Shakespeare

bibliography

1107443601

Kathryn Harkup

Bloomsbury sigma series

snakebites, stabbings and broken hearts

William Shakespeare found dozens of different ways to kill off his characters, and audiences today still enjoy the same reactions - shock, sadness, fear - that they did more than 400 years ago when these plays were first performed. But how realistic are these deaths, and did Shakespeare have the knowledge to back them up? In the Bard's day death was a part of everyday life. Plague, pestilence and public executions were a common occurrence, and the chances of seeing a dead or dying body on the way home from the theatre were high. It was also a time of important scientific progress. Shakespeare kept pace with anatomical and medical advances, and he included the latest scientific discoveries in his work, from blood circulation to treatments for syphilis. He certainly didn't shy away from portraying the reality of death on stage, from the brutal to the mundane, and the spectacular to the silly. Elizabethan London provides the backdrop for Death by Shakespeare, as Kathryn Harkup turns her discerning scientific eye to the Bard and the varied and creative ways his characters die. Was death by snakebite as serene as Shakespeare makes out? Could lack of sleep have killed Lady Macbeth? Can you really murder someone by pouring poison in their ear? Kathryn investigates what actual events may have inspired Shakespeare, what the accepted scientific knowledge of the time was, and how Elizabethan audiences would have responded to these death scenes. Death by Shakespeare will tell you all this and more in a rollercoaster of Elizabethan carnage, poison, swordplay and bloodshed, with an occasional death by bear-mauling for good measure

Prologue -- Our humble author -- All the world's a stage -- Will you be cured of your infirmity? -- Off with his head! -- Murder, murder! -- The dogs of war -- A plague o'both your houses! -- Most delicious poison -- To be, or not to be -- Excessive grief the enemy to the living -- Exit pursued by a bear -- Epilogue