humours, heavens, character in MD

[Paul Murphy]

Recent discussions of astrology led me to ruminate about the question of
character as it was addressed up to and including the 18th century. Not in
the sense of the literary question of 'character' (as in, whether a novel,
and MD in particular, has well-developed characters) but in the sense of
sets of traits which determine the course of individual behaviour, and how
these traits become caused or influenced initially.

I'm thinking in particular of the oft-mentioned melancholy of Mason. In
earlier centuries, the etiology of this temperament would have been traced
back to excess of black bile (Greek melas=black + khole=bile), in relation
to the other three humours: blood, phlegm, and yellow bile. By the 1700's
the 'humour' theory of character had fallen into disrepute, no doubt due to
Harvey's theory of circulation (which, for example, Descartes accepts in
_The Passions of the Soul_, though he displaces some of the old humours
into the nervous system).

Of course, the Age of Reason didn't give up the old systems in toto -- Kant
still refers to the characterological schema of melancholic, sanguine,
choleric, and phlegmatic in his pre-critical _Observations on the Feelings
of the Beautiful and the Sublime_, but he doesn't try to explain character
through any recourse to physiology, appealing instead to a vague sense of
'nature' (one which, I might add, recurs in his _Critique of Judgment_
definition of genius). (In the context of MD, Kant's _Observations..._ is
worth consulting, especially for the chapter on national characteristics --
wherein Kant defines the English as melancholy, the Dutch as phlegmatic,
and so on. It's a silly book, really, heavily derivative of Burke and prone
to sweeping generalizations presented as empirical observation, riddled
with conventional sexism and racism, but very illuminating of its period).

That said, the body was well-disenchanted by the epoch of MD. Astrology's
'influence' lingers, however; the disenchantment of the heavens may never
have really been completed, up to a certain point -- the moon as cause of
lunacy (and of were-beavers...) is not to be taken seriously, for instance.
Nevertheless, astral and planetary influence plays a role in MD, even if
half-seriously, as recent posts on Taurus and Mercury demonstrate. I've
only just commenced re-reading MD, but one planet I'm watching out for is
Saturn, which is traditionally associated with melancholy (hence the term
'saturnine' -- see Walter Benjamin's brilliant discussion of melancholy in
his early study of Baroque German Trauerspiel).

Since Locke and Hume, character has nothing to do with humours or heavens,
just insubstantial memory and mechanical habit, both of which we see in the
character of Mason. And since Freud, melancholy is explicable as arrested
libido occasioned by traumatic loss of a loved one, which we also see in
Mason. Those of you better versed than I in Kristeva's _Black Sun_ might
want to add something to these ruminations ... not that this list needs
much prodding, but I of course invite those of you better versed in
everything I've just said to add something (what am I missing ... Burton!),
or just tear me apart, or ignore this as you see fit in favour of more
pressing topics.

(Humour me ... these thoughts are the product of flu-induced sleeplessness,
fever dreams, and near-delerium).

Cheers,
Paul