[Images of epilepsy in Shakespeare]

Epilepsy and the "falling sickness" are mentioned three times in Shakespeare, in Julius Caesar, I.ii, Othello, IV.i., and figuratively in King Lear, II.ii. The present article surveys these passages in the context of modern research findings, literary as well as medico-historical. It adds further material from Renaissance texts and concludes that epilepsy is an omnibus term for a variety of symptoms and pathological conditions, and that Shakespeare's idea of epilepsy is closer to popular stereotypes than has hitherto been assumed.