title: William Shakespeare's neurology.
abstract: Many of Shakespeare's plays contain characters who appear to be afflicted by neurological or psychiatric disorders. Shakespeare, in his descriptive analysis of his protagonists, was contributing to the understanding of these disorders. In fact, Charcot frequently used Shakespearean references in his neurological teaching sessions, stressing how acute objective insight is essential to achieving expert clinical diagnosis. Charcot found in Shakespeare the same rigorous observational techniques for which he himself became famous. This chapter describes many of Shakespearean characters suffering from varied neurological disorders, including Parkinsonism, epilepsy, sleeping disturbances, dementia, headache, prion disease, and paralyses.
authors.affiliation: Stroke Unit, Division of Cardiovascular Medicine, University of Perugia, Perugia, Italy. Electronic address: mpaciaroni@med.unipg.it.
authors.forename: Maurizio
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Paciaroni
authors.forename: Julien
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Bogousslavsky
mesh_terms: D004324:Drama / Q000266:history*; D004739:England; D005197:Famous Persons; D005260:Female; D049669:History, 16th Century; D049670:History, 17th Century; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008513:Medicine in Literature; D009422:Nervous System Diseases / Q000266:history*; D009462:Neurology / Q000266:history
keywords: William Shakespeare; dementia; epilepsy; neurological diseases; neurology; paralyses; parkinsonism; prion disease; sleep disorders