Monday, March 12, 2018

Kristen on AYL Intro

Jean Howard Intro to AYL (Kristen Black)
Jean E. Howard’s introduction to As You Like It includes a brief mentioning of lovesickness as a “recognized malady in early modern culture” causing “paleness, sighing, tears, fainting, melancholy, palpitations, and a host of other symptoms” (407-08). As love sickness is known to cause its victims to become somewhat crazed, several of the characters in As You Like It are afflicted by perplexing circumstances born out of love-melancholy. De la maladie d’amour ou mélancholie érotique, written by Jacques Ferrand in 1623, addresses the definition of love-melancholy, otherwise known as love sickness, what causes it and how to cure it. According to Noga Arikha in Passions and Tempers: A History of the Humours, Ferrand claims love-melancholy stems from “the hypochondries, containing the liver, the spleen, the mesentery, the intestines, the pylorus, the vein of the womb, and other adjoining parts of the body” (164). Arikha goes on to describe the appearance of those suffering from love-melancholy: “These victims were wan and hollow-eyed, devoid of appetite, distracted, exhausted by sleeplessness, and obsessed with the object of desire” (165). This statement aligns with what Howard discusses in her introduction. She mentions that Shakespeare probes on “what is natural in matters of love and sexual desire” and the idea that love sickness is an actual disease gives it a sort of medical significance to the audience. As You Like It approaches the topic of love melancholy and its effects on the several characters experiencing it, but does not describe prescribed treatments and antidotes to the poison that is unrequited love. Cures in this time period included distance from the beloved, cold water, bleeding the “liver vein”, a specialized enema, and prayer (Arikha 167).




Works Cited
“Harmonies: Renaissance Bodies and Melancholy Souls.” Passions and Tempers: A History of the Humours, by Noga Arikha, HarperCollins, 2007, pp. 162–168.
Howard, Jean E. Introduction. The Norton Shakespeare: Essential Plays/The Sonnets, by Stephen Greenblatt, et al., 2016, W. W. Norton & company, Inc., pp. 405-413.
Molly,  Cordelia. “16th Century Barber Shop.” Fine Art America, 9 May 2013, www.fineartamerica.com/featured/16th-century-barber-shop-cordelia-molloy.html

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