newspaper headline that Shakespeare used marihuana for inspiration are work waves on the web , based on a new report card by an anthropologist who claims the famous English Bard makes reference to “ the noted pot ” and “ deepen unknown ” in his penning .
parse the “ news ” let out that no new conclusive evidence was found to link remains pipes compass up in Shakespeare ’s garden to the author , though South African anthropologist Francis Thackeray and his colleagues are still trying to make the case that Shakespeare was a buff of the sticky icky .
They ’ve been beating this drum for more than a decade . In 2011 , Thackeray wanted todig up Shakespeare ’s bonesto search for grounds of reefer fury . On August 8th , he wrotean articlein The Independent touch on his own inquiry that is now being treated as breaking newsworthiness . Dozens of article and thousands ofTweetsare talking up Shakespeare ’s stonerdom :
Did Shakespeare smoke pot?http://t.co/1lNoa8TwBV
— VANITY FAIR ( @VanityFair)August 10 , 2015
In 2001 , Professor Thackeray , from the Institute of Evolutionary Studies in South Africa , spearhead a chemical analysis of tobacco pipe and stem found in Shakespeare ’s garden alongside exchangeable 17th century pipes , fragment , and residuum . They used a technique called gas chromatography mass spectrometry ( GCMS ) , that can identify different substances . GCMS is use in investigations ranging from drug detection to explosions , and is a favorite method of airport certificate .
The results of that bailiwick show pipes from Shakespeare ’s garden had cannabis residue , while other pipes from the era also had cannabis , nicotine , and Imogene Coca folio , which were introduce to Europe following expedition to Peru in the 1500s . citizenry in Elizabethan England fume a multifariousness of substances , cannabis amongst them — just like citizenry have , around the world , for one thousand of year . There was no evidence that the pipework from the Stratford - Upon - Avon property belonged to Shakespeare . The cyberspace , like Thackeray , has chosen to disregard this .
JUST INShakespeare ’s pipes test positive for marijuana as polarity emerge he wrote while stoned.pic.twitter.com/Wzu6jIOLXypic.twitter.com/pkHBO3sZgf
— Liberty Reach ( @MyLibertyReach)August 10 , 2015
The pipage results have n’t been word since 2001 , though most medium source are blithely re - reporting them based on a new clause from Thackeray about his own inquiry . Hislatest reportturns to literary depth psychology to further plead the favourite possibility . Like many an English major before him , Thackeray comb through the Bard ’s canyon assay to find some Good Book that would prove Shakespeare liked to kick back and get off up . In particular he citesSonnet 76and the line “ invention in a remark weed ” as reading that the Bard both used and was urge by marijuana . He severalise CNN , “ I think that Shakespeare was playing with words and ( it ) is credibly a cryptic reference to cannabis . ”
https://twitter.com/embed/status/630760683022344192
Dude , this is freshman yr - level stuff . The orbit is so over - the - top it ’s amazing that its been covered anew by everyone from The Telegraph to TIME . In Shakespeare ’s day , the word “ weed ” was most often used to come to to vesture , or “ weeds . ” Shakespearean bookman James Shapiroderides Thackerayfor a “ really lame interpretation , ” pointing out , “ The verse form is about habilitate up speech in a sure way and you really have to be insensitive to the poem to force the reading [ to be about marijuana use ] . ” While it ’s for sure possible that Shakespeare illumine up , this is not the stuff and nonsense that valid scientific research is made of .
“ Literary analysis and chemical science can be mutually good , bringing the arts and the skill together in an endeavour to better understand Shakespeare and his contemporaries , ” writes Thackeray . While the sentiment is nice , it ’s awfully wanton to cherry - pick from texts so as to make an arguing that has zero correlation coefficient with what a author was thinking or doing . And at last , does it count if Shakespeare like to smoke ? Our concerns and rendering of the subject are awfully twenty-first century . The net doth protest too much .
The author is dead : let ’s provide his bones to consist in peace , marijuana or no .
[ CNN;TIME;Huffington Post ]
Top range from John Gerard ’s The Herball or Generall Historie of Plantes isalmost certainly notShakespeare
marijuanamemelandShakespeare
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