EXHIBITS

The Anatomy of Melancholy, as a medical text, can be viewed as a recipe book of sorts. It very plainly lays out the symptoms, causes, and cures for the recognized varieties of melancholy in the 17th century. 

When viewing Burton’s work in the scope of the historical time period in which it was written, the late-renaissance period, it can be seen as a personal rejection of modernism by the author. The text itself is organized more like a medieval writing, relying heavily on quotations from philosophers and great thinkers that came before Burton. He quotes many characters from history, often with a sense of reverence for them and the legacy they left behind. To this end, we also see the author reject many social developments of the time period, such as a new brand of masculinity that began to surface in the Renaissance. During this period, masculinity had evolved from a show of force and power to that of temperance and the controlling of one’s emotions. In a number of sections, notably Religious Melancholy, Burton fails to restrain his contempt for non-believers and hypocrites, excoriating them unapologetically.

Viewing this book from the scope of where it was written can also give context to the religiosity that so obviously permeates into Burton’s writing. At the time of its first publishing, not even 100 years had passed since Henry VIII had broken away from Roman Catholicism and established the Anglican Church. The author, as mentioned in the exhibit, was a theologian at Oxford and was a Vicar (Priest) for the Anglican Church. We can surmise that physical and emotional health were viewed as being inseparable from spiritual health in Burton’s day, as many of his recommendations for cures rely on prayer or other religious rites.