Sleeping potions

Ator, N. and J.E. Henningfield Barbiturates Sleeping Potion of intoxicantChelsea House Publishers, Broomall, PA, 1988. 

Indeed, in later versions of the myth, Hercules, with his great masculine strength, perseverance, and cunning, obtains the apples of the Hesperides. In some accounts, he gives the snake a sleeping potion, while in others he slays it.106... 

If the sleeping potions of Romeo and Juliet and Antony and Cleopatra reflect the form of the plays, they also underline the difficulty in classifying that form. As Shakespeare s only double tragedies and, along with Othello, his only ventures into the Italianate... 

The friar similarly tells the families, at the end of the play, that his sleeping potion achieved his intended aim in giving her the form of death (V.iii.246). 

In England, in the 1500s, justice officials experimented with giving aconite to condemned criminals. They did this on two occasions, and both of their subjects died. It s very likely that Shakespeare knew about this. The identity of the sleeping potion that his Juhet takes to enter a state resembling death remains a mystery, however. But a well-measured dose of opium could do the job. 

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