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Plagued by kindness: contagious sympathy in Shakespearean drama
Ist Teil von
Medical humanities, 2011-12, Vol.37 (2), p.103-109
Ort / Verlag
United States: BMJ Publishing Group Ltd and Institute of Medical Ethics
Erscheinungsjahr
2011
Quelle
Applied Social Sciences Index & Abstracts (ASSIA)
Beschreibungen/Notizen
This article considers Shakespeare's metaphors of transmission, contagion and infection in the light of period plague tracts, medical treatises and plague time literature. The author demonstrates how period conceptions of disease are predicated upon a notion of sympathetic transference and, consequently, how kindness, likeness and communication between characters in Shakespearean drama are complicated and fraught with period specific anxiety. This article situates Shakespearean literary texts within a precise historical and medical moment, considering how scientific conceptions contaminate dramatic text.