ABSTRACT
Humoral theory has received much needed attention in relation to the early modern body, and it is to the larger environmental aspect of that theory that the author turn in this sustained investigation of cursing in Shakespeare's first tetralogy. Scholars from David Bevington to Stephen Greenblatt have acknowledged the significance of these early modern maledictions, analyzing their power as religious appeal, political revolt, and rhetorical strategy, and focusing their attention on one end of the curse or the other: on its cause or on its articulation and efficacy. In Henry VI, Shakespeare shows us Richard, Duke of Gloucester, suffering physically, having learned of his father's murder: As it had with the Duke of Suffolk, passion causes Richard to burn within. When he takes a closer look at the man in his arms, he exclaims, 'O God! it is my father's face, / Whom in this conflict the author unwares have kill'd'.
