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13 Jan 05 - 08:56 PM (#1378667) Subject: BS: To pee or not to pee...ouch From: Shanghaiceltic Well my 5th form English Lit studies teacher never mentioned the dreaded dose.... Inspires a hole new set of potential quotes. Shakespeare's Writings Indicate He May Have Had Syphilis Shakespeare's name usually inspires thoughts of kings, fairies, lovers, wars and poetic genius--not syphilis. However, some passages in his plays and sonnets indicate that the Bard may have suffered from one or more venereal infections, according to an article in the Feb. 1 issue of Clinical Infectious Diseases, now available online. Although syphilis is relatively uncommon now, it was rampant five centuries ago, transmitted from country to country by sailors, soldiers and merchants. Symptoms of syphilis can include genital lesions; rashes on the torso, palms, and soles of the feet; neurological problems; and destroyed facial tissue. Shakespeare alluded to sexually transmitted disease (STD) symptoms--and treatments--in several of his plays and poems, including Troilus and Cressida, As You Like It, and Sonnets. Mentions of the "pox," the "malady of France," the "infinite malady," and the "hoar leprosy" in his writings seem to indicate that the Bard knew--perhaps from personal experience--how torturous venereal disease could be. "Shakespeare's knowledge of syphilis is clinically precise," said John Ross, MD, author of the study. A line in Sonnet 154, "Love's fire heats water," apparently refers to an STD causing burning urination. In Shakespeare's time, one of the treatments for syphilis, inhalation of mercury vapor, was worse than the disease. Dr. Ross suggests that Shakespeare's tremulous signature on his will, his social withdrawal in later years, and even his baldness might all be due to a mild degree of mercury vapor poisoning. However, it doesn't seem likely that Shakespeare's death at 52 years of age was due to an STD. In fact, the alternative Elizabethan practice of using very hot baths to treat syphilitic people "would have been at least somewhat effective and perhaps highly effective," according to Dr. Ross, of Caritas St. Elizabeth's Medical Center in Boston, because high, fever-causing temperatures can kill the organisms that cause syphilis. (There is a reference to a "seething bath" curing "strange maladies" in Sonnet 153.) Shakespeare was also an actor, and he appeared in plays until at least 1603, said Dr. Ross. "It's unlikely that he would have been performing if he had been suffering from the ravages of tertiary syphilis." Nor did the Bard exhibit the mental problems toward the end of his life that would indicate severe mercury poisoning, judging from the quality of his writing, so any mercury treatment he received was probably limited. Were Shakespeare's remains to be examined today, evidence of infection might be obtained by examining the shinbones for the damage typical of an advanced case of syphilis or by testing for elevated levels of mercury that could indicate STD treatment. Until then, "it's something that can't be proven or disproven," Dr. Ross said, but Shakespeare's own warning on his gravestone ("Blessed be the man that spares these stones,/And cursed be he that moves my bones") might give pause to those who would try to find out. |
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13 Jan 05 - 10:55 PM (#1378738) Subject: RE: BS: To pee or not to pee...ouch From: Amos It's clear he knew of it, and would have to, being a close associate of all sorts of raffish types -- he knows them all, well enough to sing in their voices: sailors and grave-diggers and bold young lovers, not to mention emperors and kings. Amazing, to me, how little in the minds around him escaped his penetrating eye. A |
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13 Jan 05 - 11:10 PM (#1378744) Subject: RE: BS: To pee or not to pee...ouch From: GUEST,Offal I am disapointed! I thought this was treatise on either buying a wig or a wigwam |
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14 Jan 05 - 12:55 AM (#1378780) Subject: RE: BS: To pee or not to pee...ouch From: mack/misophist To paraphrase Amos, a great writer knows people inside and out. |
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14 Jan 05 - 09:13 AM (#1378881) Subject: RE: BS: To pee or not to pee...ouch From: GUEST,William Shaxpere Nay, I suffered not from the French pox, tho' we all suffered much from the poxy French. Tho' as an actor and a writer of some few plays, I didst sometimes suffer from a lack of clap! |
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14 Jan 05 - 10:30 AM (#1378896) Subject: RE: BS: To pee or not to pee...ouch From: Once Famous Amos said: "Amazing, to me, how little in the minds around him escaped his penetrating eye" Yeah, his penetrating one-eyed worm. |
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14 Jan 05 - 08:44 PM (#1379264) Subject: RE: BS: To pee or not to pee...ouch From: GUEST It's clear that he knew a good deal about VD, but then he obviously knew a good deal about everything! He gives rather detailed descriptions of various towns in Italy where, to the best of scholarly knowledge, he had never traveled, just for instance. Of course, to tell the truth, this is sometimes used as fodder for the "Someone else must have written Shakepeare" crowd. Even so, the opening post in this thread is nothing but speculation for the sake of titillation, say I. "Might have", "possibly knew", "perhaps from personal knowledge", and the like. Dave Oesterreich |
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14 Jan 05 - 08:50 PM (#1379266) Subject: RE: BS: To pee or not to pee...ouch From: GUEST,history makes meaning of now Shakepeare stole all his best ideas from ye olde Martin Gibson.. its true.. |
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15 Jan 05 - 12:12 AM (#1379286) Subject: RE: BS: To pee or not to pee...ouch From: GUEST,.gargoyle Hold it until the final excruciating moment.....
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15 Jan 05 - 04:22 PM (#1379600) Subject: RE: BS: To pee or not to pee...ouch From: GUEST Interesting how you blokes urinate. |
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16 Jan 05 - 01:07 AM (#1379813) Subject: RE: BS: To pee or not to pee...ouch From: EBarnacle When I first joined the renal division at my hospital, I really learned to appreciate the pleasure and satisfaction of being able to take a good piss. Leave dem bones alone! |
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16 Jan 05 - 07:14 PM (#1380144) Subject: RE: the blue and the grey (song) From: GUEST,spalpin |