Four Humors

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Four Humors

• Renaissance Theories of Psychology, Gender Roles,
  and Madness

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Four Body Fluids

• Blood (sanguine)
• Bile
• Choler
• Phlegm

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The Four Elements Combined with the Four Humors
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How Humors Worked

• The "humours" gave off vapors which ascended to
  the brain an individual's personal
  characteristics (physical, mental, moral) were
  explained by his or her "temperament," or the
  state of that person's "humours." The perfect
  temperament resulted when no one of these humours
  dominated. By 1600 it was common to use "humour"
  as a means of classifying characters knowledge
  of the humours is not only important to
  understanding later medieval work, but essential
  to interpreting Elizabethan drama. . . .
• http//www.wsu.edu8080/hanly/chaucer/coursemater
  ials/humours.html
• Michael Hanly
• 15 October 2008

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Platos theory of the ideal state and ideal man
assumed a hierarchy of reason governing both
courage and appetite, soldiers and workers.
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Burton, Robert. Anatomy of Melancholy
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Burtons Soul Hierarchy

• 1. The VEGETAL SOUL is common to plants, and
  simply denotes that plants are alive, but lower,
  of course, than man and animals on the chain.
  They have "heat" and can grow.
• 2. The SENSITIVE SOUL is common to animals and
  has an APPREHENDING power and a MOVING power

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APPREHENDING power

• Allows the organism to perceive reality in the
  nominalistic sense. It has two modes INWARD and
  OUTWARD.
• The INWARD consists of three elements that allow
  the soul to organize sense data a. COMMON
  SENSE--integrates data from the five senses
• b. FANCY--imagination

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3. The RATIONAL SOUL

• (Common to man, and subsumes all the powers of
  the other "souls")
• A. Understanding---rational judging and
  reflecting and apprehending powerB.
  Will---rational moving power
• Thus an experience that threatens ones
  rationalitysuch as falling in lovemight be seen
  as a cause of madness, though perhaps only a
  temporary state of madness.

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Wit vs Understanding

• ACTIVE POWER---called WIT (critical thinking)
• PASSIVE POWER--called UNDERSTANDING
• Will is the rational moving power and it acts on
  knowledge from understanding and wit in order to
  make proper choices

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Melancholy and Madness

• WIT / WILL could be corrupted by
• passion over reason --- humors out of balance ---
  original sin --- appetites --- control of the
  devil --- sinful habits...

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Melancholy and Madness

• Failure of this process can cause insanity or
  madness, especially if the MELANCHOLIC humor
  dominates the other three. This "psychological"
  type became a favorite in the Renaissance. Causes
  of madness
• fall of man --- lust the devil --- passions ---
  humor imbalance --- God's punishment ---
  excessive imagination --- lack of
  self-knowledge...

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Women and Sexuality

• Traditional antifeminist (misogynist) views of
  women looked at Eve as the one who tempted Adam
  to sin. Women therefore were the source of evil
  in the world.
• Christianity offered the Virgin Mary as an
  antithesis to Eve, as the ideal chaste figure.
• Womens Chastity was also mens property right,
  guarded fiercely by fathers, brothers, and
  husbands.

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Women and Madness

• Women who took too much power (Lady Macbeth) were
  seen as unfeminine, leading to madness.
• Sexual promiscuity was also seen as a sign of
  madness in women .

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Other Causes of Madness in the Renaissance

• Possession by the devil was a common theory.
• Cures involved having a clergyman exorcise
  (remove) the demon who was possessing the person.

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Sources

• http//www.kheper.net/topics/typology/four_humours
  .html
• http//www.wsu.edu8080/hanly/chaucer/coursemater
  ials/humours.html
• http//www.stjohns-chs.org/english/Renaissance/Ren
  -psy.html