Introduction: The Play’s the Thing

Medicine is a discipline that embraces the sciences and the humanities. However, society has a perception that there has been a decline in empathy between doctors and patients. This decline is mirrored by an apparent drop in medical students’ empathy during their training. There is now a need to examine the humane education of the doctor. Drama, on the other hand, has been used in medical education to enhance empathy in students and doctors. A description of empathy is followed by a discussion of the relevance of Shakespeare’s plays in inspiring empathy. Further chapters, each interrogating a Shakespeare play, examine aspects of the concept of empathy and give practical tips on how to integrate a study of Shakespeare into medical education. This book argues that a study of Shakespeare’s plays might reduce the current empathy gap in medical practice by inspiring an empathic patient–doctor relationship.