Food in Shakespeare: Early Modern Dietaries and the PlaysA study of common and exotic food in Shakespeare's plays, this is the first book to explore early modern English dietary literature to understand better the significance of food in Shakespearean drama. Food in Shakespeare provides for modern readers and audiences an historically accurate account of the range of, and conflicts between, contemporary ideas that informed the representations of food in the plays. It also focuses on the social and moral implications of familiar and strange foodstuff in Shakespeare's works. This new approach provides substantial fresh readings of Hamlet, Macbeth, As you Like It, The Winter's Tale, Henry IV Parts 1 and 2, Henry V, Titus Andronicus, Coriolanus, Pericles, Timon of Athens, and the co-authored Sir Thomas More. Among the dietaries explored are Andrew Boorde's A Compendyous Regyment or a Dyetary of Healthe (1547), William Bullein's The Gouernement of Healthe (1595), Thomas Elyot's The Castle of Helthe (1595) and Thomas Cogan's The Hauen of Health (1636). These dieteries were republished several times in the early modern period; together they typify the genre's condemnation of surfeit and the tendency to blame human disease on feeding practices. This study directs scholarly attention to the importance of early modern dietaries, analyzing their role in wider culture as well as their intersection with dramatic art. In the dietaries food and drink are indices of one's position in relation to complex ideas about rank, nationality, and spiritual well-being; careful consumption might correct moral as well as physical shortcomings. The dietaries are an eclectic genre: some contain recipes for the reader to try, others give tips on more general lifestyle choices, but all offer advice on how to maintain good health via diet. Although some are more stern and humourless than others, the overwhelming impression is that of food as an ally in the battle against disease and ill-health as well as a potential enemy. |
From inside the book
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... references and index. ISBN 978-O-7546-5547-3 l. Shakespeare, William, 1564-1616—Know1edge-—Manners and customs. 2. Food in literature. 3. Food habits in literature. I. Title. PR3069.F64F58 2007 822.3 ' 3—dc22 2006034001 ISBN: 978-0-7546 ...
... reference will be made to this throughout the book's main chapters, this is not a study of the humours or medicine per se. Readers who desire more detailed analyses of the humours are advised to consult studies by Gail Kern Paster and ...
... reference to contemporary brewing practices in “Double, double, toil and trouble” (4.l.10). The play's exploration of poisoned nutrients extends from Lady Macbeth's breasts (human milk being a common adult foodstuff) to her husband's ...
... references to food in his report of the Londoners' riot and down-playing the complaints that Roman citizens have about usury-—tells us that he regarded food and feeding to be a social phenomenon worthy of dramatic comment. How the ...
... References to the regular use of emetics by Roman authors and the belief that Romans used vomitoriums at their feasts suggests a people who had given utter abandonment to sensual pleasure.5 Even if we take into account Freidlander's ...
Contents
11 | |
Celtic Acquaintance and Alterity | 37 |
Vegetarianism and the Melancholic | 57 |
Famine and Abstinence Class War and Foreign Foodstuff | 81 |
Profane Consumption | 105 |
Conclusion | 127 |
Index | 155 |