In ancient medicine, which still dominated medical thought in Shakespeare’s time, the body had four humors: blood, yellow bile, black bile and phlegm, according to Hippocrates and Galen. The word comes from the Greek "black bile". The melancholic temperament was described as serious, introverted and cautious, and prone to depression and mood swings.
Where It Appears
- Act II: Feigned madness and the theater trap
- Act III: The Mousetrap and the death of Polonius
- Act V: Graveyard and duel
Quotes
The spirit that I have seen / May be a devil, and the devil hath power / T' assume a pleasing shape; yea, and perhaps, / Out of my weakness and my melancholy, / As he is very potent with such spirits, / Abuses me to damn me. I'll have grounds / More relative than this