Was Shakespeare a stoner?
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William Shakespeare was in danger of being canceled. He was a big fan of mind-altering drugs—especially cannabis. But the Church of England looked down on live theater because of its “unwholesome” moral content and was keeping an eye out for plays to shut down; plus, city officials had to approve plays before they could be performed within the city limits. So, if Shakespeare had dared to admit publicly that he smoked cannabis, it might have ended his career.
That’s right, Shakespeare was a stoner. I’m not making this up—they found the evidence in his backyard. Back in 2001, some anthropologists got permission from a museum to borrow twenty-four clay pipe fragments that had been dug up in the small town of Stratford-upon-Avon, where Shakespeare used to live. Using state-of-the-art forensic technology, the anthropologists discovered cannabis residue on eight of them—including several from Shakespeare’s backyard garden—that dated back to the late 1500s/early 1600s, around the time he actually lived there.
https://lithub.com/did-shakespeare-write-hamlet-while-he-was-stoned/
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It was used for recreational and medicinal purposes back then, in fact farmers had to grow it by law for making ropes/rigging I think.
It's only recently we've (again) demonised the use.As tobacco was first brought to the UK around 1590 and Shakespeare, (checking) lived 1564-1616, he probably did smoke cannabis. We'd apparently been smoking various plants for a thousand years!
Which makes watching 'Upstart Crow' even more entertaining as David Mitchell and Lisa Tarbuck both with pipes, sit together in front of the blazing hearth reflecting on their day, apparently half stoned 🤪
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@Mik
If you mean Upstart Crow(the derogatory name assigned by Greene to Shakespeare in his pamphlet A Groatsworth of Wit), I cannot recommend the TV series highly enough.
Brilliant comedy writing by Ben Elton, you need little or no real knowledge about Shakespeare to enjoy it.The pathos of the episode when his son dies is up there with the last of the Black Adder WW1 series.
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@Mik
If you mean Upstart Crow(the derogatory name assigned by Greene to Shakespeare in his pamphlet A Groatsworth of Wit), I cannot recommend the TV series highly enough.
Brilliant comedy writing by Ben Elton, you need little or no real knowledge about Shakespeare to enjoy it.The pathos of the episode when his son dies is up there with the last of the Black Adder WW1 series.
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@Daniel. said in Was Shakespeare a stoner?:
The "trope" of cancelling Shakespeare is beyond stupid.
You can't cancel Shakespeare It's not possible. He is so ingrained in Western culture. read this.
@Mik said in Was Shakespeare a stoner?:
@Daniel. said in Was Shakespeare a stoner?:
The "trope" of cancelling Shakespeare is beyond stupid.
You can't cancel Shakespeare It's not possible. He is so ingrained in Western culture. read this.
I have!
