The Bard on the Brain: Understanding the Mind Through the Art of Shakespeare and the Science of Brain Imaging

by Paul M. Matthews, Jeffrey McQuain

More than 400 years after they were first written, Shakespeare's plays still offer a stunning glimpse into the motivations, desires, and deviancies of man. His characters are caught in situations modern readers can sympathize with, and his themes—love, family relations, adultery, power, treachery—are as relevant now as they were then. Surprisingly, another aspect of the Bard's work that has withstood the test of time is his understanding of the brain. The Bard on the Brain is a marvelous combination of close readings of Shakespeare and the most current neurological research that together demonstrate how impulses and actions originate in the brain.

Paul Matthews here shows us the center-stage role of the brain in famous scenes from Shakespeare's plays. With stunning color brain scans and clear English, Matthews demonstrates how uncannily Shakespeare perceived the brain at work in his characters' ideas and deeds, and how the living brain mirrors human experiences created centuries ago by the Bard. Matthews's science is beautifully interwoven with Jeffrey McQuain's interpretations of many of the most significant soliloquies in all of Shakespeare's plays. The Bard on the Brain is also illustrated throughout with performance photos of acclaimed British and American actors—such as Morgan Freeman as Petruchio, Sir Ian McKellen as Prospero, Alfre Woodard as Paulina, and Anthony Hopkins as King Lear—from celebrated Shakespeare companies. The result of this partnership between scientist and scholar is a unique view of Shakespeare's characters, a dissection of his language, and a wonderfully oblique perspective on the human brain.

192 pages, Hardcover

First published April 1, 2003

Reviews

[Sally Sugarman · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a worthy introduction to a greater understanding of the brain and the way in which art as well as science shows us how the brain functions. Each section follows a pattern. There is a quote from one of Shakespeare’s plays with a full page picture of a production of the play. The authors then show how what the bard has said is amplified by contemporary science. There are also pictures of the brain image, highlighting the different parts of the brain that are affected. Clearly, Shakespeare had a great deal of insight into the nature of human psychology and the way in which people function. His language may be different than that of contemporary science, but the insights are similar. The major plays, Macbeth, Hamlet and Romeo and Juliet, King Lear and the Tempest are most often cited, although some of the history plays are also used as examples. Each chapter is relatively brief, following the same pattern. A great deal of information is presented using this formula. One of the major lessons is that art and science have a great deal in common in aiding our understanding of human behavior.

[Viral · Rating 4 out of 5]

A great book that uses many famous scenes and soliloquies from Shakespeare to discuss how the Bard understood our emotions and mental faculties, and then pairs it with what modern neuroscience tells us about these same questions. As a neuroscientist with a huge love for Shakespeare, this book really felt like it was made for me, and my main complaint is that it's analysis of both the Bard and the brain were fairly simplistic. I didn't really walk away with that much, but I do think that the average reader would enjoy it more. Also, the fact that it was published almost 20 years ago does date a lot of the neuroscience work presented in this book. Still interesting to read though!