Did Shakespeare Really Smoke Weed? Here’s What Science Says
Did William Shakespeare ever light up a bowl? While there isn’t a clear answer to this question, research published in 2015 indicates that he may have at one point. At the very least, Western Literature’s largest contributor likely knew of its hallucinogenic effects.
As the Smithsonian reports, the search to uncover the Bard’s recreational activities began in 2001. South African anthropologist Francis Thackeray used technology from a narcotics crime lab to determine the kinds of substances smoked in 400-year-old pipe fragments found in Stratford-upon-Avon and Shakespeare’s garden.
Some fragments contained residues of nicotine and cocaine, likely from Peruvian coca leaves. Four pipes found at an excavation site in the Bard’s backyard bore a similar chemical signature to that of cannabis. Despite these findings, the results were not conclusive. This is because there is no evidence that Shakespeare himself used the pipes, let alone smoked them.
To this day, Thackery argues that the pipe present compelling evidence. In two articles published in The Independent and the South African Journal of Science, he cites literary and historical evidence, as well as his scientific data.
Shakespeare’s Sonnet 76, for instance, refers to “invention in a noted weed,” as we all as an aversion to “compounds strange.” Thackery interprets these phrases as indicating the Bard’s possible preference for cannabis over cocaine. This is controversial because it is unclear when people began referencing cannabis as weed.
More recently, historians have suggested that Shakespeare’s likeness appeared on a 1598 botanical book. Among other herbs, the book covers a few flavors of tobacco. The connection is weak, at best.
We may never know if Shakespeare did or did not partake in cannabis. According to historian James Shapiro of Columbia University, the interpretation is “dubious.” He said, “We don’t know what Shakespeare did or didn’t do. Just because these pipes were found in his garden doesn’t mean his neighbor kid didn’t throw the pipes over the fence. There are a million possible explanations.”
Related Topics
Related News & Articles
Poetry and art enthusiasts in Delhi are keeping Mirza Ghalib, the legendary Urdu poet, alive in their own ways. Here’s looking at how these people are lendi...
Recently posted . 798 views . 2 min read
Unearthed by Amedeo Maiuri in 1938, an Italian scholar, Pompeii Lakshmi is an ivory statuette that lays testimony to the intensity of Indo-Roman trade relations dat...
Recently posted . 917 views . 2 min read
On 15th August 1947 India gained its independence. It was an uphill task but was achieved after years of agitations, toiling, sacrifices and hard work by the coll...
Recently posted . 1K views . 4 min read
PARIS: Legend-slaying scientists on Wednesday dismantled the myth of the abominable snowman, the towering yet furtive half-human rumoured for centu...
Recently posted . 1K views . 2 min read
There is a widespread myth about Indian history that the Islamic invaders from central Asia descended upon Afghanistan, then part of the Indian civilization had s...
Recently posted . 709 views . 3 min read
Trending News & Articles
Quatrain 75, Century X
Long awaited, he will not take birth in Europe,
India will produce the immorta...
Recently posted . 17K views . 2 min read
Secret's of Alauddin Khilji's sexuality
Several historians argue that the roots of ancient Indian history, especially linked to ...
Recently posted . 6K views . 1 min read
The kangaroo is a marsupial. A distinctive characteristic common to marsupials is that, with most, the young are carried around in a pouch. They are mainly found in...
Recently posted . 4K views . 1 min read
There are various challenging stories about Rani Padmavati otherwise known as Padmini. While from one viewpoint, the Rajputs keep up the holiness of everything iden...
Recently posted . 3K views . 1 min read
More in History & Classics
Pakistan’s founder feared that Muslims in India would be shut out of power. As it turns out, Muslim representation in the Lok Sabha is at an all-time low....
Recently posted. 746 views . 1 min read
Chandra Shekhar Azad, popularly known as 'Azad', was born on 23 July 1906 in the Jujhautiya Brahmins family of Pandit Sitaram Tiwari and Jagrani Devi in B...
Recently posted. 1K views . 4 min read
In this post I will share 28 amazingly shocking facts about Ashoka.
Our history text books in school teach us that Ashoka was...
Recently posted. 2K views . 3 min read
Recently posted . 647 views
Recently posted . 896 views
Recently posted . 2K views
Recently posted . 1K views
Sanchi, a town located 49 kilometres from Bhopal, is famous throughout the world for its Buddhist stupas. These Buddhist monuments, dating from the 3rd century BC...
Recently posted. 727 views . 1 min read
On this day, 110 years ago, a boy was born in Lyallpur district of the Punjab Province of British India (which now lies in Pakistan) who, along with a fellow freedo...
Recently posted. 1K views . 29 min read