HYENA

6th February 2024

Photo Credit: wrangel (Getty Images), CANVA

QUOTATION

No, no, Orlando, men are April when they woo,

December when they wed. Maids are May

When they are maids, but the sky changes

When they are wives.

…

I will weep for nothing like Diana in the fountain,

and I will do that when you are disposed

to be merry. I will laugh like a hyena and that

when you are disposed to sleep.

ROSALIND, As You Like It, Act 4, Scene 1

HYENA (Spotted or Laughing Hyena: Crocuta crocuta)

The Hyena appears only once in Shakespeare and in the form of the ‘laughing hyena’. Hyena’s have had a mainly negative reputation in much of western literature.