The Bard on the Brain:... | Buy

Summary

To count the ways and times William Shakespeare is quoted every day would be impossible, but it is easy to see why we return to his words again and again. Shakespeare discerned the unique capacities and problems of our humanity. He showed them from every angle. His plays are filled with the passions, desires, and deviances of man. His themes -- love, family relations, adultery, power, treachery -- are as modern as today's front page, and illuminating all is his uncanny insight into the human mind and brain. That is what fascinates us. Here we explore the beauty and mystery of the human mind and the workings of the brain, following the paths the Bard pointed out in the most famous speeches from his plays. Paul Matthews, director of brain imaging at Oxford University, and Jeffrey McQuain, scholar of Shakespeare's language, find the playwright an irresistible guide and mentor. It is Shakespeare who sees what we need to know in our modern quest to understand the engine of our humanity. How remarkable that a man from a small village in 17th century England marches so confidently along the very frontiers of 21st century science. Having him ask again the questions we are trying to answer today makes them even more compelling and absorbing.

Author Biography

Paul M. Matthews is the director of the University of Oxford's Centre for Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging of the Brain.

Jeffrey McQuain is a language writer and Shakespeare scholar who is a popular speaker at Shakespeare festivals. He is the coauthor of Coined by Shakespeare: Words and Meanings First Used by the Bard and the author of several books on vocabulary and usage.

Foreword: On the Bard's Brain

(12)

by Diane Ackerman

Introduction

(8)

A Map of the Brain

(2)

1. Minds and Brains

The Wonder of the Human Brain (The Tempest, 5.1)

(6)

Seeing the Man Through His Brain (Hamlet, 5.1)

(6)

We Share a Common Humanity (The Merchant of Venice, 3.1)

(6)

2. Seeing, Smelling, Feeling

Finding a Face (Romeo and Juliet, 2.2)

(6)

Smell: A Direct Link to the Emotional Brain (Hamlet, 3.3)

(6)

Heat and Cold: As Much in the Mind As on the Skin (Hamlet, 5.2)

(6)

3. Decision and Action

Battle of the Sexes (The Taming of the Shrew, 2.1)

(6)

Movement Begins in the Mind (Henry V, 3.1)

(6)

"Let Me Clutch Thee" (Macbeth., 2.1)

(5)

Learning and Growing (Love's Labour's Lost, 4.3)

(7)

Judgment and Control (Henry IV, Part I, 1.2)

(5)

Motivation and Morality (Richard III, 1.1)

(7)

4. Language and Numbers

A Muse of Fire (Henry V, Prologue)

(6)

A Subtle Voice (The Merchant of Venice, 4.1)

101

(5)

What Is a Word? (Henry IV, Part I, 5.1)

106

(5)

Binding Qualities in Meaning (Romeo and Juliet, 2.2)

111

(6)

Putting an English Tongue in a French Brain (Henry V, 5.2)

117

(5)

Numbers on the Mind (Julius Caesar, 2.1)

122

(7)

5. Our Inner World

Development and Memory (The Tempest, 1.2)

129

(8)

Music As a Call to Life (The Winter's Tale, 5.3)

137

(5)

What Makes Music Sweet? (Twelfth Night, 1.1)

142

(5)

Being God's Spy: Opening the Emotional heart (King Lear, 5.3)

147

(5)

A Fearful Anticipation (Macbeth., 5.8)

152

(5)

Building a World in the Mind (The Tempest, 4.1)

157

(6)

6. The Seventh Age of Man: Disease, Aging, and Death

Brain Sickness and the Seven Ages of Man (As You Like It, 2.7)

163

(6)

The Falling Sickness (Julius Caesar, 1.2)

169

(7)

A Strange Commotion in the Brain (Henry VIII, 3.2)

176

(6)

The Blackness of Depression (Richard II, 3.2)

182

(6)

Tempests in the Mind (King Lear, 3.4)

188

(5)

7. Drugs and the Brain

A Celebration of Alcohol (Henry IV, Part II, 4.3)

193

(6)

Miming Death (Romeo and Juliet, 4.3)

199

(6)

The Seduction of Drugs (Othello, 1.2)

205

(5)

Treating Depression (Hamlet, 3.1)

210

(6)

The Promise of Treatment (Macbeth, 5.3)

216

(9)

Scientific Sources

225

(2)

Credits

227

(4)

Index

231

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