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Article: To Dream in Bard's Day? At Folger, That's the Question
- Article from:
- The Washington Post
- Article date:
- March 12, 2009
- Author:
CopyrightThis material is published under license from the Washington Post. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Washington Post. (Hide copyright information)
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Before heading to bed, the medieval mind had fearful things to
ponder. There was the succubus, a female demon who would gather seed
from men while they slept, and her male counterpart, the incubus,
who would redeposit it in unsuspecting women. These were the
quintessential Nightmares, devilish figures whose presence was
sensed as a heaviness, to the point of suffocation, on the chest. To
ward them off, you might try a prescription of dragon guts steeped
in wine.
That was the world of sleep and dreams bequeathed to people of
Shakespeare's day. But, as "To Sleep, Perchance to Dream," a new
exhibition at the Folger Shakespeare Library demonstrates, these
torments coexisted in early modern ...