What Shakespeare Actually Wrote About the Plague

Not that long ago, the word quarantine simply meant to me, the delay Friar John was presented with after he visited a family infected by the plague, when going from Verona to Mantua to inform Romeo that Juliet was indeed alive! (You may recall Balthasar got to Romeo first, and informed him that Juliet was dead. The rest is dramatic history.)

Not a day goes by where one doesn’t hear or speak the word, “Quarantine.” References to plagues of the past, most specifically the Spanish Flu of 1918, are frequent as we venture forth in these fearful unknown times. Dr. Fauci’s warnings and the precautionary descriptions of Dr. Birx have reminded us daily that staying home and wearing masks saves lives. Many listen to Governor Cuomo offer the daily statistics in New York State and provide guidance and words of encouragement and leadership. Yet overall, it is the words echoed from the Scottish play that transverse our hearts and minds:

Alas, poor country,
Almost afraid to know itself.
Macbeth; Macbeth, IV, 3

Stephen Greenblatt’s essay from The New Yorker examines several references to the various outbreaks of the plague during Shakespeare’s life.

A plague on both your houses!
Mercutio; R&J, III, 1

Friar John’s quarantine takes on a more urgent and realistic concern now.

Read: What Shakespeare Actually Wrote About the Plague by Stephen Greenblatt