Public ledger. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1865-1893, 1882-11-09
shaksPesre on Death.
The Spectator.

shahsPeare on Death.
The Spectator.
OF the deaths BY poisoning, two
are infinitely described. One takes
place of the stage, and is only named
TO us; two are spdden-the Queen in
Hamlet" and Romeo. In these last
cases the agent was clearly hydroey-
anic acid in some form, a vegetable
extract, such as laurel-water, killing
almost at once, and painlessly, leaving
no time for thought, but only for the
certainty Of quick coming death
King John, on the other hand, is
poisoned by a corrosive irritant, prob
ably mineral, comparatively slow in its
action, OF which burning heat is the
chief symptom
THERE'S 80 hot a summer in my bosom.
That all my bowels crumblO up TO dust.
against this fire
Do 1 shriAk up
None Of you will bid the winter come,
10 thrust his icy fingers 10 my nav,
Nor let my kingdom rivers take their course
Through my oursed bosom, nor entreat the
North
To make his bleak winds kias my parehed
lips"
The elder Hamlet, again, dies by
vegetable poisoning. There is strong
reason for thinking that the true read
ing Of the drug is not the usual "hebe-
non" but "hebena," or yew juice, for
the symptoms are precisely those
caused by this, and by no other.
Whether, in the then state of anatomy,
Shakespeare really believed, contrary
to the truth, that such a juice poured
into the ear would so course through
the body, is not clear. 1t is probable
that he took the old story, so far as ne
needed to do so, but having made it
responsible tor the mode in which the
foreign element was introduced into
Homlet's frame, used then his own
observation and curious plant lore for
the efforts which the body made to
cast it out. The many cases of death
by steel are very G osely studied from
nature. Those who have carefully
examined the dead on a battlefield, or
in the street after an emute, are
struck with the TACT that while the
expression on the faces Of those who
have died by gun shot wounds is one
Of agony and distress, and the dead
By the sword have a calmer express
! sion, though their wounds often seem
more painful to the eye. A very
careful observer. who was through the
Indian mutiny, entirely confirms this.
After giving several instances, he
says: "A rapid death by steel is
almost painless. Sabre edge or point
divides the nerve so quickly as to
give little pain. A bullet l~acerates.
This is in entire accordance with
Shakspeare's diagnosis. York, in
Henry ~" dies smiling" so young
Talbot in Henry VI" /; Poor
boy! he smiles" In the great
majority Of cases there appears
10 have no acute pain; and
such distressful sensations as were
felt, when there was time to feel any.
thing, we're those of cold. Death,
therefore, resulted from hemorrhsge,
of which an exceeding ehilliness,
Without pain, is always the oonse
quence. Hotspur and Warwick both
speak Of this chill, the earthly and
cold hand OF death" the cold, con-
gealed blood" The only instances in
which acute pain wrung ''groans''
from the sufferer were those in
which death was long delayed.
when, as with Clifford, THE air
has got into my deadly
wounds" and Montague also groans
from the delay. There is a most
striking passage in Jeremy Taylor's
sermon, in which be speaks Of wounds
to the same effect, but attributes the
painlessness Of a wound at first,
wrongly as it would seem, only to the
heat aud rage Of the fighter, who has
no time to feel. Il have known a
bold trooper fight in the confusion Of
a battle, and, being warm with heat
aRd rage, received from the swords Of
his enemy wounds open as a grave;
but he felt them not, and when, by
the streams OF blood, he found himself
marked for pain, he refused to con
slider then what he was to feel to-
morrow; but when his rage had
cooled into the temper Of a man, and
clammy moisture had checked the
fiery emission Of spirits, he wonders al
his own boldness, and blames his fate,
and needs a mighty patience to bear
his great calamity" Shakespeare care
fully discriminates between the
wounds which pierce the heart and
are at once fatal, and those which
allow a few minutes, or even months
OF life. A stab which causes instant
death wrings from the dying person
one sharp cry Of momentary agony, or
sometimes purely spasmodic and me-
chanical, and then all is silent; and
with the cry there is a sharp, conVul-
siye movement Of the limbs. SO Po-
lonius utters one loud, "Oh, ] am
slain" Aaron initiates the squeal OF
the dying nurse, "Weke, wekel'
Prince Edward, in Richard Ill,
"sprawls," after his first stab. Those
who do not die at once, but bleed ia
death, or are choked in blood, speak
a little, know they are dying, bat are
not in pain, and have no convulsivC
movements.