Resources

Procedures

1. Display the “The World of Shakespeare’s Humors” online exhibition section. Ask students to recall what they learned about Galen and Hippocrates and the theory that shaped Western traditional medicine from the ancient Greek and Roman eras and beyond to the Renaissance period.
2. Tell students that they will use a primary source—illustrations and descriptions of the four humors from the book of emblems by English Renaissance author Henry Peacham (1576–1643) published in 1612.
3. Divide student pairs into four groups and give each group copies of The Four Humors Chart and copies of one of the following four-humors, primary source handouts.
   • Choler
   • Melancholy
   • Phlegm
   • Sanguine
4. Review the chart and the primary-source handouts as a class, then have pairs follow the instructions on their handout and fill in their assigned humor column on the chart.
5. Have each group share their responses and complete The Four Humors Chart as a class, using the Teacher’s Four Humors Chart as a reference.
6. Tell students that the four-humor theory was well known by Shakespeare and his contemporaries. Display and read aloud the introduction of the online exhibition section “The World of Shakespeare’s Humors”.
7. Display Portraits of Katharine Minola, hiding the accompanying text, and ask students:
   • Which humor seems to dominate in this portrait? Provide visual evidence for your answer.
   • Which Shakespeare character do you think this is? (If students are unfamiliar with Shakespeare’s plays or with The Taming of the Shrew in particular, explain to them that this is a picture of Katherine from the play of that title. Explain the meaning of shrew in this context.)
   • Why do you think people once thought that Katherine needed to be tamed? (Then read the text that accompanies the portrait.)
   • Given the four-humor theory, speculate on how one might have gone about taming her.
     (Then display the second picture, in which she is being tamed, and read the accompanying text.)
8. Have students think about their own humoral balance and then draw a pie chart that shows the composition of their four humors with illustrations and words. Remind students that everyone was believed to have all four humors, but each person would naturally have a different composition of them (with a balance of all four being the ideal).
9. Have a couple of students share their four-humor illustrations, explaining their choices.
10. Return and read a sampling of responses to the exit slips that students completed at the end of Lesson 1, Step 10.
11. Provide printouts of or direct students to the following web pages to read about current medical thinking about the mind-body connection:
    • “And There’s the Humor of it,” https://www.nlm.nih.gov/exhibition/shakespeare-and-the-four-humors.
    • “Mind/Body Connection: How Your Emotions Affect Your Health,”https://familydoctor.org/mindbody-connection-how-your-emotions-affect-your-health.
    • "Emotions and Health: The Mind-Body Connection." In NIH MedlinePlus, vol. 3 no. 1, Winter (2008), pg. 4-7, https://magazine.medlineplus.gov/pdf/winter2008.pdf.
12. Have students edit their responses and examples based on what they now know and have thought about. Assign homework for students to write a short essay with a minimum of three paragraphs that:
    • Explains their “edited” position
    • Provides examples that support their own position
    • Compares and contrasts their position with the four-humors theory
    • Are well written and organized

Extension Activities

• If students have already studied both ancient Greece and China and know the theory of yin and yang and the role of balance in traditional Chinese thinking, they can write to compare and contrast the two cultures, especially in regard to science and philosophy.
• Students who read a Shakespeare play in middle school can look for examples of the four humors in the play they are reading.

Science Standards

• Science Standards
  • explain how science and scientific understandings at a given time/place influence the culture, and how they evolve, fall out, or persist over time
  • demonstrate higher order thinking skills moving from concrete observations and facts to questioning and inferences
• History (NCHS) Standards
  • Obtain historical data from a variety of sources
  • Compare and contrast differing sets of ideas, values, and institutions
  • Draw comparisons across eras and regions
• Social Studies (NCSS) Standards
  • Culture
    • compare similarities in the way groups, societies, and cultures meet human needs and concerns
  • Time, Continuity, and Change
    • develop critical sensitivities such as empathy and skepticism regarding attitudes, values, and behaviors of people in different historical contexts
  • People, Places, and Environments
    • examine, interpret, and analyze physical and cultural patterns and their interactions, such as land use, settlement patterns, cultural transmission of customs and ideas, and ecosystem changes
  • Science, Technology, and Society
    • examine and describe the influence of culture on scientific and technological choices and advancement, such as in transportation, medicine, and warfare
• Common Core State Standards
  • Determine the central ideas or information of a primary or secondary source; provide an accurate summary of the source distinct from prior knowledge or opinions
  • Determine the meaning of words and phrases as they are used in a text
  • Write arguments to support claims with clear reasons and relevant evidence
  • Write routinely over shorter time frames for a range of discipline-specific tasks, purposes, and audiences
  • Engage effectively in a range of collaborative discussions (one-on-one, in groups, and teacher-led) with diverse partners on grade-level topics, texts, and issues, building on others’ ideas and expressing their own clearly
  • Interpret information presented in diverse media and formats (e.g., visually, quantitatively, orally) and explain how it contributes to a topic, text, or issue under study