Wilt Break My Heart?": Broken Heart Syndrome in Shakespeare's Plays

In King Lear, Shakespeare has the king cry out, "Break, heart; I prithee, break!"—a line rich with sorrow, and one that may have held deeper meaning for Shakespeare's audience than we often assume. Modern medicine identifies Takotsubo Syndrome—also known as "broken heart syndrome"—as a temporary dysfunction of the heart triggered by emotional distress. Incredibly, this concept may have had early roots in the Renaissance understanding of how emotion and the body were intertwined.

In this episode, we explore the 17th-century medical beliefs that made room for literal heartbreak, and the evidence in Shakespeare's plays that suggests he was engaging with those very ideas. From Lear and Gloucester to Enobarbus and Cleopatra, Shakespeare's characters don't just feel emotion—they suffer from it physically, sometimes fatally.

Our guests this week, Dr. Bríd Phillips and Dr. Claire Hansen, are here to unpack their research connecting Shakespeare's portrayals of heartbreak with modern cardiology, showing us how the science of the heart may have been hidden in plain sight on the Renaissance stage.

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