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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