Shakespeare under the influence of Absinthe

  While I was thinking what I could write about Shakespeare that had not been said by my classmates, I remembered the play A Midsummer Night’s Dream and particularly its allusions to the world of the fairies. Then it came to my mind the idea that could it be possible that Shakespeare had drunk Absinthe while writing his plays? Why do I say this? Because this particular alcoholic beverage is commonly named as “the green fairy” and it is said to have hallucinogenic effects.  

According to Lainier (1995)  Shakespeare was most certainly familiar with the drink. Doris Lainer also quotes another author (Emboden) who says that in the play  A Midsummer Night’s Dream Oberon uses wormwood plant on Titanias’s eyelids to counteract the effects of the wild pansy.

In  order to clarify a bit, it is said that one of the main ingredients of Absinthe is the plant commonly named wormwood, which its name is Artemisia absinthium. The aromatic oil of this plant is characteristic of the alcoholic beverage.


Coming back to what I first said that Shakespeare probably drank Absinthe as a way to get inspired, I would like to add that is not that uncommon among writers to drink it because according to the website: http://www.absinthe.se/absinthe-drinkers/ , authors such as Oscar Wilde, Ernest Hemingway, Vincent Van Gogh, among others were drinkers of Absinthe.

Taking into account that the percentage of alcohol that Absinthe has is (between 50°- 80°) I would say that is possible that the effect in Shakespeare, makes him imagine other dimensions and even visualize those characters that we can see in the play.

I know that we will never be able to prove that Shakespeare drank Absinthe, but at least, we can discuss about it and try to find more evidence of imaginary worlds in his works that might have been produced by that old beverage.

Would you try Absinthe in order to see what Shakespeare and other writers saw?

Would you like to travel into those imaginary wolrds of fairies? References:

Lanier, Doris (1995) . ABSINTHE THE COCAINE OF THE NINETEENTH CENTURY: A History of the Hallucinogenic Drug and Its Effect on Artists and Writers  in Europe and the United States. Retrieved October 9 , 2014.

Absinthe Drinkers (n.d) Retrieved from http://www.absinthe.se/absinthe-drinkers/ October 9 , 2014.

Absinthe Fever (n.d) What is wormwood? Retrieved from http://www.absinthefever.com/wormwood October 9, 2014.

Absinthe Fever (n.d) The effects of absinthe Retrieved from http://www.absinthefever.com/wormwood October 9, 2014.