To Roll or Not to Roll, That is the Question

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We all know William Shakespeare is one of the most prominent literary figures to ever exist, if not the most prominent. His work is known and loved across the world. Hamlet, Romeo and Juliet, Macbeth- and the list goes on. As a society there seems to be an accumulation of vast knowledge surrounding the Bard: he lived in Stratford-upon-Avon, he wrote over 150 poems, and married Anne Hathaway (not the Devil Wears Prada Anne Hathaway but the farmer’s daughter Anne Hathaway). We seem to know a good amount about him and his life.

But did you know he smoked weed?

It’s important to note that during Shakespeare’s time, cannabis was widely used for medicinal purposes. The plant had been brought over to England by the Romans, and by the 16th century, it was commonly used by physicians to treat a variety of ailments. Therefore, it’s possible that Shakespeare would have been exposed to the plant in this context.

Additionally, some scholars have pointed to certain passages in Shakespeare’s works that could be interpreted as references to cannabis use. For example, in Sonnet 76, the speaker compares his lover’s breath to “the perfumes of the east,” which some have suggested could be a reference to the exotic scents associated with cannabis. Similarly, in “A Midsummer Night’s Dream,” the character Bottom makes a reference to “a ballad of a fish that appeared upon the coast on Wednesday the fourscore of April, forty thousand fathom above water, and sung this ballad against the hard hearts of maids” – a nonsensical sentence that some have speculated could be a reference to smoking cannabis.

Of course, it’s also possible that these interpretations are purely speculative and that there is no actual evidence of Shakespeare’s cannabis use. It’s worth noting that during Shakespeare’s time, cannabis was not yet widely used for recreational purposes – this wouldn’t come until much later in history. Therefore, even if Shakespeare did consume cannabis, it would have been for medicinal reasons rather than for recreational enjoyment.

In the end, the question of whether Shakespeare smoked weed remains unresolved. While there are certainly some interesting factors that could suggest he did, there is no concrete evidence to support this claim. Nonetheless, it’s intriguing to think about the possibility that one of history’s greatest playwrights might have had a bit of a wild side – even if we may never know for sure.

Source: https://time.com/3990305/william-shakespeare-cannabis-marijuana-high/

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