About Clare Washbrook Expertise I can answer questions related to the texts, sonnets or to Shakespeare's life. I can help with historical context and language difficulties. I am a secondary school English and Drama teacher in England and can therefore help current students with the texts which they are studying.
DO NOT ASK ME WHERE HE GOT HIS IDEAS FROM! I know that it is a dreadful question to be posed as homework but I have recieved it dozens of times. The answer can be found in past questions.
Experience I fell in love with Shakespeare at a young age and continue to be enthralled. I have studied Shakespeare to undergraduate level and teach Shakespeare to A-level (age 18). I have performed three of his plays. As an amateur etymologist I am familiar with many misconceptions about the meanings, intent and usage of words in the plays which other people are often unaware of.
Educated to post-graduate level.
Published and performance poet.
Former Journalist, former Editor, occassional Private Tutor. Included in OED as the first writer to use a particular word.
Organizations The Poetry Society
Publications The Radio Times, Books by Dogma, "SO" Magazine, NUS publications, Other Poetry, OED, Publications by PTS others
Education/Credentials BA (HONS) Literature (Theatre minor), MA (current accreditation)
Awards and Honors Bronze Award - International Poetry Awards 2004
Shakespeare - Shakespeare and Circulation of Blood
Expert: Clare Washbrook - 4/19/2009
Question You have probably been asked this question many times, but I have not seen an answer. In Hamlet, Act I, Scene V, the ghost speaks about poison given to him and says "...swift as quicksilver it courses through the natural gates and alleys of the body..." William Harvey discovered in 1628 that blood circulates in the body, and yet it appears that Shakespeare already knew this. Is there any explanation for how Shakespeare might have known? Thanks.
Answer Sandra,
Because Harvey's "great" discovery is a lie.
Basically that's it.
Harvey fixed some errors of previous writers but claimed all the credit. Of course, he did conduct his own experiments but he wasn't working a unique theory!
The earliest writings about the circulatory system that I know of date to the 16th Century BC. However, what Shakespeare would have known about (via popular Renaissance texts) were the writings of Galen, 2nd century AD. There were certain things wrong with the theory, such as the heart sucking blood from the body, blood being created in the liver and blood being used up but he identified the circulatory system via veins, identified arterial and venous blood and that they had different functions and a number of other reasonably accurate aspects. There are other notable writers but the knowledge itself already existed.
Various natural remedies which were/are meant to aid the circulatory system originate in 16th Century Renaissance Italy.
It is difficult to gauge how common the knowledge was amongst common men because common men did not write. It is however clear that it was no great secret (just somewhat wrong).
Shakespeare tends to stick to general ideas of circulation when he references it (Hamlet, Titus Andronicus, The Winter's Tale) and doesn't get into specifics. This means that we see the correct ideas, without the misleading details which would identify a specific writer as an influence.
