Deep in the heart of Shakespeare

Be still, my beating heart: reading pulselessness from Shakespeare to the artificial heart

“…Our particular angle of inquiry determines what we see through that window.' 12 To understand the ramifications of pulseless living, we must understand the problem through multiple 'windows'.…”

“…33 The heart was 'crucial' to the period's interpretation of the humoral system. 34 Importantly, at this time the body was thought to contain 'a heart whose blood did not yet circulate'. 35 In this system, As generator of heat and distributor of refined fluids and spiritus to the rest of the body, the heart kept the body alive and well regulated.…”

“…Though it could not ordinarily be seen or touched and still be able to perform its vital functions, it was the wellspring of life and health. 36 For Shakespeare and early modern English culture, the beating of the heart bookended the beginning and end of human life. While the heart encompassed critical 'physiological and spiritual functions' in early modernity drawn from ancient philosophy and the Bible, its palpable presence through the rhythm of the pulse made tangible an organ that, in English culture, was not only physical but spiritual and metaphorical.…”

“…While the heart encompassed critical 'physiological and spiritual functions' in early modernity drawn from ancient philosophy and the Bible, its palpable presence through the rhythm of the pulse made tangible an organ that, in English culture, was not only physical but spiritual and metaphorical. 37 While twenty-first century conceptualisations of the literal and figurative heart indicate our tendency to separate 'mental and physical states of self-awareness', early modern understandings of 'human interiority' allow for the 'fusion' of these states. 38 In the early modern period, the passions and the physical world were inseparable.…”

“…37 While twenty-first century conceptualisations of the literal and figurative heart indicate our tendency to separate 'mental and physical states of self-awareness', early modern understandings of 'human interiority' allow for the 'fusion' of these states. 38 In the early modern period, the passions and the physical world were inseparable. Early moderns did not divide between 'inner' and 'outer' in the way that twenty-first century western culture does.…”