Shakespeare’s: his 450th birth anniversary and his insights into neurology and cognition

Abstract

The works of William Shakespeare (1564-1616), the greatest dramatist and poet of the English language, reflect several cultural values of the Western world which are also shared by other cultures. On his 450 th birthday, many of his concepts are admired as descriptions of human feelings and neurological phenomena, demonstrating his insights into what it is today considered cognitive neuroscience Keywords: Shakespeare, neurology, cognition, perception. reSuMo A obra de William Shakespeare (1564-1616), o maior dramaturgo e poeta da língua inglesa incorpora diversos valores culturais do mundo ocidental que são também compartilhados por outras culturas. Em seu 450º aniversário, muitos de seus conceitos são admirados como descrições de sentimentos humanos e fenômenos neurológicos, demonstrando a sua percepção do que hoje se denomina neurociência cognitiva.Palavras-chave: Shakespeare, neurologia, cognição, percepção.

Sleep Disorders in Shakespeare’s Drama: A Neuro-Literary Perspective

“…Kocher (1954) and Gomes et al ( 2015) consider it the first laboratory session presented in the literature. In this clinical case, Shakespeare presents two disorders of which the playwright and his age were unaware [1,3,12]. However, the dramatist applies a protocol similar to that used in modern practices, as in Baltzan et al ( 2020) and Bargiotas et al (2017) [11,13].…”

“…Gibbs (2016) also notices that sleep talking and sleepwalking are two of the most common sleep disorders, while the experience of insomnia includes hallucinations and confused states that happen during sleep or the transition to sleep [16]. Gomes et al (2021) hold that somnambulism and somniloquism disorders are parasomnias that are marked by "abnormal and unpleasant verbal or behavioral motor signs that may appear during sleep or wake-up-to-sleep transitions" [1]. However, Janowitz argues that it is necessary to study Shakespeare's views on sleep from the viewpoint of the Renaissance era and what that age inherited from Greek, Roman, and Medieval perceptions and not from the viewpoint of modern neuropsychology and knowledge.…”

“…William Shakespeare demonstrates a high ability to monitor human behavior and a variety of natural phenomena. In his plays, the groundbreaking playwright incorporated the knowledge of his age [1] about natural human phenomena and further described many clinical and mental disorders. Sleep is one such important phenomenon treated in his works.…”

Lady Macbeth's Night Walking With Dissociative Symptoms Diagnosed by the First Sleep Medicine Record

“…William Shakespeare was an innovative play writer prone to capture in his works the knowledge of his time, at the English Renaissance that includes the Elizabethan and early Jacobean Eras (Gomes, 2015). Much of Shakespeare's work was assembled at The First Folio (Shakespeare, 1623) that is Bard's 35 plays post-mortem collection that is considered one of the most influential books ever published.…”