2003 Fiscal Year Final Research Report Summary
Study on Representation of Madness in the English Renaissace Society and the Elizabethan Drama.
| Project/Area Number |
12610506
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| Research Category |
Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (C)
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| Allocation Type | Single-year Grants |
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| Section | 一般 |
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| Research Field |
英語・英米文学
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| Research Institution | Gakushuin University |
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Principal Investigator |
NAKANO Haruo Gakushuin University, Department of Literature, Professor, 文学部・イギリス文学科, 教授 (30198163)
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| Project Period (FY) |
2000 – 2003
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| Keywords | madness / Shakespeare / the English Renaissance society / melancholy / the Elizabethan drama |
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| Research Abstract |
The aim of this project is to research representation of madness in the English Renaissance society and the Elizabethan drama, especially Shakespeare's. In the Elizabethan society, madness aroused serious social anxiety because some kinds of "madness", such as possession, could not be medically cured. Moreover, "mad" man could not expect almost any governmental and legal protection though radical Poor Laws were issued then.
This project has analysed a broad range of contemporary physiological and medical literature, and made it clear that Shakespeare were inspired by Laurentius's study on melancholy and old age and King James the First's News from Scotland. Shakespeare's representation of madness is much indebted to contemporary medical studies both in symptoms of madness and in their interesting mind-bending narratives.
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