Note to King Lear, 2.4.56-58: "mother," "Hysterica passio," "Thy element's below"


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King Lear,
Act 2, Scene 4, line 56
In Shakespeare's time hysteria (often called "the mother") was thought to be a women's disease, caused by the uterus rising upwards, crowding the heart and chocking the throat. Therefore it seems that Lear is accusing himself of not only losing control of himself, but doing so as a woman would.

Happy Hysteria in Sense and Sensibility starring Emma Thompson