Disease in Literature

Just some scrambled thoughts on diseases in literature.

Did you know that you can diagnose what kind of book someone is reading based on the disease mentioned in it? I like to call it a reverse diagnosis. A friend mentioned that there was an outbreak of cholera in the book she was reading. I guessed (correctly), it was set Out West. From the little she told me, I instantly thought: Western romance novel set in the mid-1800s.

It seems to me that certain diseases or health issues are more commonly mentioned in books either written in or set in different eras. Some of these maladies we don't even hear of today, while others are still running rampant. I've noticed that consumption (now known as TB) was pretty popular in the Victorian era.  In the Regency period, you've got ladies with nervous complaints, delicate health, and hysterics. If you get back into the Middle Ages, then you encounter plague and physical handicaps. In the Icelandic Sagas, there is little talk of disease, most people seemed to meet violent ends. (This is just a comment on general trends based on a small selection of literature, not based on any conclusive studies.)

Brain Fever - Among many literary works it appears in The Master of Ballantrae, by Robert Louis Stevenson, several Sherlock Holmes adventures: The Adventures of the Copper Beeches, and The Naval Treaty, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, and The Brothers Karamozov, by Fyodor Dostoevsky. In The Master of Ballantrae, it was brought on by excessive shock after months of frustrating circumstances. The sufferer was ill in bed, delirious and feverish for a long time. After he recovered physically, his brain was slightly addled. In The Adventure of the Copper Beeches, a girl developed brain fever after months of stress, she, too, was ill in bed for quite some time before recovering. In The Naval Treaty, a young man was taken ill with brain fever on learning that some important papers in his possession had been stolen which meant the ruination of his career. He was in bed for nine weeks unable to attend to his affairs. In The Brothers Karamazov, Dmitri reports that he was on the edge of brain fever. He was in a frenzied state of fear and jealousy over a woman, on the verge of reckless behaviour and murder. So, what is brain fever and why do we never hear of it today? Do people still get it? Various online sources equate it with meningitis and encephalitis (infections of the tissues surrounding the brain). But that doesn't exactly add up. It doesn't account for the sudden and utter prostration incurred by bad news.

Bad-breath - while sometimes this is just because someone ate garlic that day, it can also be caused by a number of factors such as poor dental hygiene or other health problems (WebMD). Halitosis traverses many eras. In Shakespeare's Julius Caesar, we hear of the crowds having bad breath. (I felt like puking when I read it.) Additionally he penned this line in Sonnet 130, "And in some perfumes is there more delight / Than in the breath that from my mistress reeks." In Don Quixote, by Miguel de Cervantes, we are told of a handsome young woman who had bad-breath and was mocked for it. In Gigi, by Colette, Gigi's aunt evaluates her. Freshness of breath was one point of of her analysis. It seems that having decent breath was a criterion for beauty although probably not as important as other traits, bad-breath was considered an unfortunate flaw, like freckles, or an ill-shaped nose.

Richard III and Scar

If Richard III was an animated film character, he would be Scar.

Now, I don't know what the real Richard III was like. Here, I'm just talking about Richard III from Shakespeare's play by the same name.

Scar is a character in the Disney animated feature, The Lion King.

List of similarities:
1. Want the throne.
2. Want the death of their nephews and arrange for their deaths to take place. Richard succeeds; Scar fails.
3. Crafty, silver tongued. Scar weaves a web of lies around Simba. Richard III convinces a woman who whose husband's death he caused to marry him. And that is just one specific example for each...
4. Richard III was a hunchback and walked with a limp. Scar is a runt, he's scrawny and can't even grow a full mane while his brother the king is large, strong, beautiful, and brawny. Scar says, "Well as far as brains go, I've got the lion's share, but when it comes to brute strength, I'm afraid I'm at the shallow end of the gene pool."
5. Both are defeated in the end after a battle.

Simba and Uncle Scar

Horses Weeping For Their Masters

In three stories, two ancient and one not so much, the horses were aware that their masters were soon to meet their ends.

In Shakespeare's Play, Julius Caesar, The horses belonging to Caesar wept because they knew his death was drawing nigh.  This was a sign, along with many others that foretold Caesar's death in the Senate.

Achilles' horse Xanthus, foretold Achilles' death.  Xanthus was not a normal horse, he was an immortal horse and he spoke aloud.

The Gray of Macha

Cu Chulainn's horse, the Gray of Macha, knew his master would die if he rode out to battle that day and refused to be hitched to the chariot until Cu Chulainn came and spoke to him. The Gray submitted in tears of blood:  "Cu Chulainn went to him. And thrice did the horse turn his left side to his master....Then Cu Chulainn reproached his horse, saying that he was not wont to deal thus with his master.
Thereat the Gray of Macha came and let his big round tears of blood fall on Cu Chulainn's feet. And then Cu Chulainn leaped into the chariot, and drove it suddenly southwards along the Road of Midluachar."  (An Anthology of Irish Literature, vol. I, by David Greene)
In this case, I'm not sure if the Gray was foretelling the future, he may have just been aware of the circumstances.  Other events foretold the death of Cu Chulainn, and the Gray could have been privy to some of them.

But why horses? I have several ideas, which are merely speculations:
Perhaps because they are man's "second" best friend.  Like dogs, horses are man's companion more so than most other creatures. People bond with their dogs and horses, and this bond is celebrated in many stories.
Mythology about Cu Chulainn, and Greek mythology are steeped in omens and prophecies, so why not have the horses involved?  
Additionally, animals have a keen sense of the approach of danger. Their senses are much keener then ours. A dog knows when someone is approaching before a person does. They also can supposedly sense when someone is good or bad. People can sometimes tell too.  Nothing really has to happen, but certain people make us uncomfortable: it's either women's intuition (if you're a gal) or else a fine reading of body language, tone, and the eyes.  There are also stories from WWII were the fighter pilots knew who wasn't coming back just before a flight. If people and animals have such keen senses, then why not exaggerate in a story and make the horses cry or talk? Mayhap these legends were born from an exaggeration of the amazing abilities of animals coupled with the horse's tendency to freak at things they perceive as threats.