Thaindian News

London, Nov 27 (IANS) Legendary poet and playwright William Shakespeare could teach doctors a thing or two about the mind-body connection as he portrayed profound emotional upsets in the physical symptoms of his characters, a new analysis says.

Many modern-day doctors would do well to study the bard to better understand the mind-body connection, the Medical Humanities journal quotes the analysis as saying.

Kenneth Heaton, who teaches medicine at the University of Bristol, analysed 42 of the author’s major works and 46 of those of his contemporaries, pinpointing evidence of psychosomatic symptoms.

Heaton says his data show that Shakespeare “was an exceptionally body-conscious writer”, using the technique to make his characters seem more human and engender greater empathy, according to a Bristol statement.

Shakespeare’s portrayal of symptoms such as dizziness/fainting, and blunted or heightened sensitivity to touch and pain in characters expressing profound emotions was significantly more common than in works by other authors of the time, says Heaton.

Vertigo/giddiness/dizziness is expressed by five male characters in “Taming of the Shrew”, “Romeo and Juliet”, “Henry VI” part 1, “Cymbeline” and “Troilus and Cressida”. The nearest approximation in contemporaries’ works was one incident in John Marston’s “The Malcontent”.

There are at least 11 instances of breathlessness associated with extreme emotion in “Two Gentlemen of Verona”, “The Rape of Lucrece”, “Venus and Adonis,” and “Troilus and Cressida,” compared with just two in the works of other writers.

Fatigue/weariness as a result of grief or distress is a familiar sensation among Shakespeare’s characters, most notably in “Hamlet”, “The Merchant of Venice”, “As You Like It”, “Richard II” and “Henry IV” part 2.

This crops up twice as frequently as in other contemporaries’ works, argues Heaton.

Disturbed hearing at a time of high emotion occurs in “King Lear”, “Richard II” and “King John” while blunted/exaggerated senses are portrayed in “Much Ado about Nothing,” “Venus and Adonis”, “King Lear,” “Love’s Labour’s Lost” and “Coriolanus.”