The Bard’s Infinite Malady

Did William Shakespeare actually suffer from a sexually transmitted disease such as Chlamydia or Syphilis?   To date, we have no definitive evidence such as physicians’ records, personal correspondence or direct quotations about the illness.   However, by assembling the circumstantial proof that is available in the Bard’s writings and what we know about the end of his life, a case can be made that William Shakespeare was probably suffering from some form of “the pox.”

Examination of Shakespeare’s writings gives many clues about his knowledge, perhaps personally, about the symptoms and treatments of Syphilis (and other sexually transmitted diseases) during the late 16^th century.   If we are to believe that the Sonnets are

autobiographical and very personal in nature, (another topic for a research paper!), there are some very graphic references contained in the Sonnets.    These references such as “my plague” (Sonnet 141.13) and “My love is as a fever” (Sonnet 147.1) are found in 10 of Shakespeare’s Sonnets.   A complete listing and evaluation of these disease references are found in Peter Jensen’s book, Secrets of the Sonnets, Shakespeare’s Code. The author presents a convincing argument stating, “He has a fever from the disease.   Perhaps it went dormant during his later life and flared up again when his fever came back during his fatal illness in 1616.  Many feel that he went to the springs at Bath to try hot water as a cure” (Jensen).

Dr. John J. Ross writes in an article for The Medical News, that “mentions of the “pox,” the “malady of France,” the “infinite malady,” and the “hoar leprosy” in his writings seem to indicate that the Bard knew—perhaps from personal experience—how torturous venereal disease could be. Shakespeare’s knowledge of syphilis is clinically precise. A line in Sonnet 154, “Love’s fire heats water,” apparently refers to an STD causing burning urination” (Ross).

Medical treatments for venereal diseases in Elizabethan England were almost as dangerous as the disease itself.   The inhalation of Mercury vapors was one such “cure.”    Dr. Ross suggests that Shakespeare’s tremulous signature on his will, his social withdrawal in later years, and even his baldness might all be due to a mild degree of mercury vapor poisoning (Ross).   The Elizabethan practice of using very hot baths may have been more effective than even they knew at the time.   The high temperature fever causing baths could possibly kill the organisms that cause the infections.   The only effective “cure” to the “French Pox” was still a few hundred years in the future with the discovery of antibiotics in 1939.

In Sonnets #153 and #154 there are references to “Seething bath” and “came there for the cure”.   Did William Shakespeare make a trip to Bath, England to soak in the healing waters?    He certainly was aware that people who were suffering from the symptoms of syphilis felt the baths were healing.   Why would he make so many references to this cure if he did not feel it was worthy?

Shakespeare makes these references in the lines of the Sonnets, but can we take him literally?    A number of scholars seem to want to make the “leap” to a full bore case of tertiary syphilis.    From the references in the sonnets and in plays about the sexually transmitted diseases of the day, I feel that there is good evidence that he had some form of sexually transmitted disease.   With the devastating effects of syphilis later in life, I would think that Shakespeare would have not been able to function as a playwright or an actor on stage.    Dr. Ross theorizes that, “It’s unlikely that he would have been performing if he had been suffering from the ravages of tertiary syphilis.  Nor did the Bard exhibit the mental problems toward the end of his life that would indicate severe mercury poisoning, judging from the quality of his writing, so any mercury treatment he received was probably limited” (Ross)  The symptoms of the late stages of syphilis would prove to be extremely debilitating and would have surely been noticed and documented by Shakespeare’s peers.

The possibility that William Shakespeare was not infected with the more devastating venereal diseases, but with Chlamydia presents a more plausible scenario.   The symptoms and long term complications are far less severe than with tertiary syphilis.   According to the CDC, “complications among men are rare. Infection sometimes spreads to the epididymis (the tube that carries sperm from the testis), causing pain, fever, and, rarely, sterility.   Rarely, genital chlamydial infection can cause arthritis that can be accompanied by skin lesions and inflammation of the eye and urethra (Reiter’s syndrome) (CDC).   These symptoms are like the ones Shakespeare so eloquently placed into his sonnets.

My reading of the Sonnets and their references to “the pox”  leads me to believe that Shakespeare was writing about himself, his loves and loves lost.   The study of the Sonnets could make for an entire career for a Shakespearean Historian.   There is more to them than just a well-written love poem.   It seems to me there are just too many connections within the Sonnets to Shakespeare’s life that would not make them seem autobiographical .    Was Will sharing his most personal feelings and innermost thoughts with the world?   Maybe not the world, but surely with the people in his life.

Works cited

Jensen, Peter. Secrets of the Sonnets, Shakespeare’s Code. Eugene, Walking Bird Press, 2007. 57-59.

Ross, John MD, Shakespeare may have had syphilis, The Medical News. Jan 2005. 6 Feb 2010. Web.

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Chlamydia – CDC Fact Sheet. Dec 2007. 6 Feb 2010. Web.