Study on Representation of Madness in the English Renaissace Society and the Elizabethan Drama.

这个项目的目的是研究英国文艺复兴时期社会和伊丽莎白时代戏剧，特别是莎士比亚戏剧中疯狂的表现。在伊丽莎白时代的社会中，疯癫引起了严重的社会焦虑，因为有些“疯癫”无法被医学治愈，比如附身。此外，尽管当时颁布了激进的《济贫法》，但“疯子”几乎不可能指望得到任何政府和法律的保护。该项目分析了广泛的当代生理学和医学文献，并明确指出莎士比亚的灵感来自劳伦斯对忧郁和老年的研究以及詹姆斯国王一世来自苏格兰的消息。莎士比亚对疯狂的描述很大程度上得益于当代医学研究，无论是在疯狂的症状上，还是在他们有趣的令人费解的叙述上。

The aim of this project is to research representation of madness in the English Renaissance society and the Elizabethan drama, especially Shakespeare's. In the Elizabethan society, madness aroused serious social anxiety because some kinds of "madness", such as possession, could not be medically cured. Moreover, "mad" man could not expect almost any governmental and legal protection though radical Poor Laws were issued then.This project has analysed a broad range of contemporary physiological and medical literature, and made it clear that Shakespeare were inspired by Laurentius's study on melancholy and old age and King James the First's News from Scotland. Shakespeare's representation of madness is much indebted to contemporary medical studies both in symptoms of madness and in their interesting mind-bending narratives.