On September 29, 2014, HSLS will host the National Library of Medicine’s exhibit, “And There’s the Humor of It” Shakespeare and the Four Humors at Falk Library.
William Shakespeare (1564–1616) created characters that are among the richest and most humanly recognizable in all of literature. Yet Shakespeare understood human personality in the terms available to his age—that of the now-discarded theory of the four bodily humors—blood, bile, melancholy, and phlegm. These four humors were thought to define peoples’ physical and mental health, and determined their personalities, as well. “And There’s the Humor of It” Shakespeare and the Four Humors explores the language of the four humors that bred the core passions of anger, grief, hope, and fear—the emotions conveyed so powerfully in Shakespeare’s comedies and tragedies.
The exhibit runs through November 8, 2014. This exhibition was developed and produced by the National Library of Medicine, National Institutes of Health.
Look for more details about the exhibit in the September issue of the HSLS Update.
~Nancy Tannery