Home| StoriesThe four humoursSeriesshow credit information for image 'The four elements, four qualities, four humours, four seasons, and four ages of man, 1991'The four elements, four qualities, four humours, four seasons, and four ages of man, 1991. © Wellcome Collection. Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0).ArticleShakespeare’s cholerics were the real drama queensIn Shakespeare’s times, people’s personalities were categorised by four temperaments. The choleric temperament was hot-tempered and active.ArticleShakespeare and the four humoursBlood. Phlegm. Black bile. Yellow bile. The theory of the four humours informed many of Shakespeare's best-known characters, including the phlegmatic Falstaff.ArticleHamlet, the melancholic Prince of DenmarkHamlet clearly demonstrates an excess of black bile and is arguably the most famous literary melancholic.