Hebenon
Hebenon(orhebona) is abotanicalsubstance described inWilliam Shakespeare'stragicplayHamlet.The identity and nature of the poison has been a source of speculation for centuries.
Shakespeare's usage[edit]
Hebenon is the agent of death in Hamlet's father's murder; it sets in motion the events of the play. It is spelledhebonain the Quartos andhebenonin the Folios. This is the only mention ofhebonaorhebenonin any of Shakespeare’s plays.
- Upon my secure hour thy uncle stole,
- With juice of cursed hebenon in a vial,
- And in the porches of my ears did pour
- The leperous distilment; whose effect
- Holds such an enmity with blood of man
- That, swift as quicksilver, it courses through
- The natural gates and alleys of the body;
- And with a sudden vigour it doth posset
- And curd, like eager droppings into milk,
- The thin and wholesome blood; so did it mine;
- And a most instanttetterbark'd about,
- Most lazar-like, with vile and loathsome crust
- All my smooth body.
- Thus was I, sleeping, by a brother's hand,
- Of life, of crown, of queen, at once dispatch'd:
- —Ghost (King Hamlet,Hamlet's Father) spoken to Hamlet
- [Act I, scene 5]
- —Ghost (King Hamlet,Hamlet's Father) spoken to Hamlet
Identity of the poison[edit]
Writers from Shakespeare's time to the present have speculated about the identity of hebenon.
It may be different fromhemlock,as hemlock is explicitly mentioned in several other writings of his (includingKing Lear,Macbeth,andHenry V). In favour of it beingyeware the familiarity of yew as a poison and the similarity in symptoms.Edmund Spenserwrote of "the deadlyhebenbow "[1]( "heben" being a word for ebony, from Latinhebenus). In favour ofebony(specifically,guaiac) is the fact that ebony was sometimes written with an h, but arguing against it is the low toxicity of guaiac.[2]In favour ofhenbaneis its toxic nature and the possible origin of hebenon asmetathesisfrom henbane.[3]Other authors question whether there is sufficient evidence to resolve the issue, or even whether Shakespeare's attention to botany and pharmacology was sufficient to say he meant a specific plant.[4] John Updike's retelling in the novelGertrude and Claudiusidentifies the poison as "the juice of hebona," which "combines the essences of yew and henbane, with other ingredients inimical to the blood's humors."[5]
References[edit]
- ^Seymour, Mirinda (2000, May 20). "Country & Garden: Herbs - no 22: Henbane",The Independent.ProQuest document ID 311652931
- ^John George Robertson; G.C. Moore Smith; Charles Jasper Sisson (1920).The Modern Language Review: A Quarterly Journal Devoted to the Study of Medieval and Modern Literature and Philology, Volume 15.Modern Humanities Research Association, U of Cambridge Press (hardcover reprint, Repressed Publishing LLC, 2012; paperback reprint, U of Michigan Press, 1905). pp. 304–306.ASINB007IP0BS6.
- ^Georgieff, Dimitar (11 August 2018)."Shakespeare's hapax for the plant hebenon in the play Hamlet"– via ResearchGate.
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(help) - ^Anatoly Liberman; J. Lawrence Mitchell (2008).An Analytic Dictionary of English Etymology: An Introduction.U of Minnesota Press. pp. 110–111.ISBN978-0-8166-5272-3.
- ^John Updike,Gertrude and Claudius(New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 2000), p. 155.
Further reading
- Huxtable, Ryan J. "On the nature of Shakespeare's cursed hebona."Perspectives in Biology and MedicineWinter 1993: 262+.Academic OneFile.10 Oct. 2012.
- G. H."Shakespeare's Hebona"Pharmacy in HistoryVol. 35, No. 3 (1993), p. 137 DOI: 10.2307/41111539
- Harrison, Jr., Thomas P."Shakespeare's 'Hebenon' Again"The Modern Language ReviewVol. 40, No. 4, Oct., 1945 p. 310-311
- Montgomery, Marshall.""Cursed Hebenon "(Or" Hebona ")"The Modern Language ReviewVol. 15, No. 3, Jul., 1920 p. 304-306
- Simpson, R. R."Shakespeare on the Ear, Nose and Throat"The Journal of Laryngology & OtologyVolume64 Issue06 June 1950, pp 342–352
- Tabor, Edward."Plant poisons in Shakespeare"Economic Botany1970, Volume 24, Number 1, Pages 81–94
External links[edit]
- Botanical survey of Shakespeareat theWayback Machine(archived November 22, 2008) by K.N. Rao, Professor of Botany inChennai,India