Reviews tagging 'Murder'

Death by Shakespeare: Snakebites, Stabbings and Broken Hearts by Kathryn Harkup

5 reviews

thenageler's review against another edition

informative medium-paced

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death and Murder

Moderate: Self harm, Fire/Fire injury, Violence, Grief, Pandemic/Epidemic, Gore, Child death, Medical content, Torture, Suicide, Terminal illness, Blood, Injury/Injury detail, and Chronic illness

margueritestjust's review against another edition

dark informative medium-paced

4.5

A scientific and medical examination of the number of ways in which people died in Elizabethan England.  Organized by general sections of various ways in which you could die, ranging from the plague to public executions to poisons (and more!), Harkup illustrates not only examples from Shakespeare plays (such as Cleopatra's death from snake venom, Hamlet's father being killed by poison in the ear, etc.) but also discusses examples from everyday Elizabethan life, such as discussing how common it was to be hanged in England (answer: very), as well as occasionally taking time to provide how such a death may have been staged, especially when it comes to disembowlings and eyes being gouged out and the like. 

Providing both an examination of the text and a broader cultural overview of society during that place and time, Harkup masterfully weaves together this text that also examines the advancements in medicine that society has made today.

There's also a fun index that details all the deaths in the plays near the end, and how the poor souls met their deaths. 

I definitely came into this book as an avid fan of Shakespeare, and I do recommend it for fellow fans of Shakespeare.  I do, however, also think that this book can be enjoyed by those who are not as familiar with his work or only have a passing knowledge of it, provided of course, that they're interested in that time period or in, well, death.

Note: Obviously, there's a load of possible triggers regarding death and all its various trappings, and I will admit there were moments were I had to take small breaks simply to get away from all of it (though apparently I did happen to read it all in one day according to my journal).  I advise caution when going into this book, no matter how squeamish you may be.  But even when sometimes the tone can be darkly humorous, all of the topics covered are treated with respect.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicide, Death, Gore, Murder, and Pandemic/Epidemic

tmickey's review against another edition

challenging dark informative medium-paced

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Injury/Injury detail, Death, Medical content, Suicide, Suicidal thoughts, and Violence

Moderate: Blood, Child death, Chronic illness, and Gore

erinbarton's review against another edition

dark funny informative medium-paced

3.5

an examination of all the death in shakepeare’s plays and the historical context and medical science behind each cause of death

wouldn’t really recommend if you’re unfamiliar with a lot of shakespeare’s  plays since this book does go over pretty much every play at some point, but if you have base level knowledge of quite a few you’ll be able to follow 

if you were a horrible histories fan as a child you’ll probably enjoy this, or if you have an interest in post-mortem/forensic science as well as medieval history or the bard then give this a go!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Medical content, Death, and Murder

Moderate: Suicide

beckysbookshelf's review

dark informative medium-paced

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death

Moderate: Blood, Body horror, Excrement, Gore, Medical content, Mental illness, Murder, Suicide, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide attempt, and Torture