Video: Was Shakespeare a passionate weed fan and what does his work say about it?
2024 Author: Richard Flannagan | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-15 23:55
The figure of Shakespeare is surrounded by a whole host of theories and assumptions, to the point that he was illiterate, that a whole horde of other writers wrote instead of him, and even that there was no Shakespeare at all. The last such theory was the assumption that the English poet smoked cannabis - and this has even been confirmed.
This theory was first published in 2001 in the very serious edition of the South African Journal of Science. Archaeologists have carefully examined the garden of the family home, which Shakespeare bought in 1597 in Stratford, New Place. In the garden, archaeologists found the remains of smoking pipes, which, in fact, contained traces of smoking cannabis.
According to the official research report on these tubes, cannabis is one of the most harmless substances found. Scientists confirmed that the tubes contained traces of nicotine, camphor, cocaine and some other substances with hallucinogenic effects. The pipes themselves, no doubt, belong to the time when the famous writer lived, but did he use them himself?
There is no answer to this question. Historians argue that for the 7th century, writers, actors and other creative personalities, according to their social status, were quite allowed to get carried away with such substances. By that time, literally half a century had passed since nicotine and coca leaves were brought to Europe from America, and people of that time did not see any particular dangers in their use.
And yet, the idea that Shakespeare might have been, if not a drug addict, then “at least an amateur”, has become a hot topic on the Internet. Connoisseurs of the writer's creativity began to look for confirmation of this theory in his texts. So, for example, in Sonnet 76 there is a phrase
The word "weed" is used in English both to refer to any herb, often a weed, and to refer specifically to the cannabis plant. And "compounds strange" (strange components) also, perhaps, all appeals to the same marijuana. What is true, in the Russian translation of S. Marshak, this phrase about "grass" has completely disappeared. And "strange components" have a completely harmless meaning in the text.
Of course, this theory is absolutely not accepted in the society of researchers Shakespeare's work. On the one hand, the same Stephen King assured that it was under the influence of cocaine that he created his best works, so that the ratio of creativity and drugs takes place. On the other hand, it is simply impossible to find out who smoked pipes in Shakespeare's garden. In the end, after Shakespeare's death in 1616, the house became a tavern, and all these pipes may well belong to the customers of the drinking establishment. It is also possible a theory that all these "strange ingredients" were prescribed to the writer as a medicine. But, alas, we will hardly be able to find out for sure.
In our article about Shakespeare you can find out 25 little-known facts about this greatest poet.
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