Ghastly medicine in
Literature!
(Above) Mary Poppins |
“Just a spoonful
of sugar helps the medicine go down…!” the rosy cheeked Mary Poppins
cheerfully sang in the Disney adapted version of the original book series by
P.L Travers. In the time before every medicine was mostly available in a
pristine and tasteless pill form, we had to endure the morbid and cringe worthy
act of swallowing down gloopy and bitter liquid remedies. Myself (and possibly
a great many others) would have shared my not very fond memories of having to
pinch my nose and clamp my mouth in protest as mum shoved the luminous banana
coloured putrid smelling gloop in my squealing face. Medicine in literature
does not have a particularly positive reputation either, whether it’s marvelled
at by children in all its disgusting glory or written in a very practical
recipe form to force feed to children in outdated recipe books, I will take a
brief look at Mrs Beeton’s Book of Household Management, The Tale of Peter
Rabbit and George’s Marvellous Medicine to see the negative
portrayal (if any at all) of medicines in these books.
The Three Good Bunnies Eat Their Supper |
Beatrix
Potter’s The Tale of Peter Rabbit, a series of whimsical little
picture books following the story of a mischievous bunny, printed in 1902 is
meant for a much younger audience. It follows the naughty and disobedient
young Peter rabbit being chased about the garden of Mr McGregor. He escapes and
returns home to his mother who puts him to bed after dosing him with camomile
tea. Below is a quote of the end of the book:
"I
am sorry to say that Peter was not very well during the evening. His mother put
him to bed, and made some camomile tea; and she gave a dose of it to Peter! One teaspoonful to be taken at bed-time. But Flopsy, Mopsy
and Cotton-tail had bread and milk and blackberries for supper."
For me, the
ending almost seems like a cautionary tale for young readers, with the prospect
of missing dinner and replacing it with unpleasant medicine acting as a
deterrent for naughty children planning mischief in the day. The medicine
rather seems like a form of punishment for naughty Peter rabbit.
George’s Marvellous Medicine is a playful story written by well-known and hugely popular
children’s author Roald Dahl. It tells the story of a young boy who concocts a
medicine to give to his “grumptious” grandmother to “cure her of her
nastiness.” The reader can observe
a somewhat reversal of roles in the two children’s books. In The
Tale of peter Rabbit we see Peter’s mother (who is the elder) giving the
medicine to Peter (who is the child,) whereas
in George’s Marvellous Medicine, we
see a role reversal; though the medicine is given for the same reason (as a
punishment), it is the child giving the medicine to the elder (his grandmother)
this time, so for the child reader this
works as a sort of gratification; children can delight in the idea that
horrible medicine is not something that’s not only for naughty children, it can
be for adults too. Traditionally it is the mother, or adults authority to give
the medicine, The very idea of a child making medicine is exciting, as children
are traditionally warned against going anywhere near the medicine cupboard Roald
Dahl gives a child the authority to do so this time and so young readers can
feel the excitement of child rebelliousness.
I knew it would be simply impossible to even attempt to
recreate George's "brutal and bewitching," "spicy and
staggering," "fierce and frenzied" concoction containing
ingredients such as his father's shaving foam, anti-freeze, denture cleaner,
curry powder, nit cream, and shoe polish to name but a few! I instead decided
to follow one of Mrs Beeton's medicine recipes written in the morbidly titled
chapter: 'The Doctor.' Mrs Beeton’s Book of Household Management was
first published in 1859 a guide to running all aspects of a British Victorian
household. Her writing style is very practical and no- nonsense. I found
that as with many of her recipes, Beeton never really describes the taste of
any of her food and lacks any description regarding the final result or
what to expect from of any of the recipes. This, paired with somewhat
old-fashioned ingredient measurements meant that I somewhat improvised a little
on the recipe. (for example, due to religious reasons I omitted the use of
alcohol in the recipe, and had to check how much a “quart” was.) Below, is the
recipe from her book:
(Above) To Cure A Cold by Mrs. Beeton |
(Above) All of the ingredients |
I was
expecting it to be a revolting concoction but was greatly surprised by how
sweet and not very awful tasting it was. It did after all contain sweet
liquorice, raisins and sugar. I did not enjoy the distinctly aniseed-y taste of
the liquorice and would certainly not drink it out of enjoyment. Would I
instead prefer to settle with George’s supposedly marvellous medicine
containing (among many other ‘ingredients’): horse medicine, extra hot chilli
sauce and shaving foam? No I will settle comfortably with Mrs Beeton’s cold
remedy thank you very much!
The two drinks compared: Mrs B's remedy (R) Kaava (L) |
All in all I
shall give this cold remedy a gory rating of: 1 out of 5
☠- - - -
Comments:
What can I say?
It was surprisingly soothing! Nice one Mrs B!
Click the links below to see how I got on with making Mrs B's cold remedy!
All in all I learned that medicine is
not always necessary, as we see in these books, medicine serves more as a
punishment and a deterrent from bad behaviour rather than a necessity; given mostly to children by an adult.
Essentially, medicine is largely portrayed in a negative light, in taste, as well
as appearance. Though sometimes illustrated as being 'good for you'
it isn't necessarily perceived as being 'tasty' and is often
associated with negative behaviours and punishment. Mrs Beeton’s recipe for a ‘cold remedy’ was just that, a recipe.
The only similarity I could draw was that Mrs Beeton instructs mothers to dose
the child with the remedy before bed, just as Peter Rabbit’s mother did. Kaava
anyone?
Really insightful and well written post! Also like the fact you are going to try make the medicine :) look forward to reading more.
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