RHINOCEROS

8th January 2024

Photo Credit: xtrekx (Getty Images), CANVA, Southern White Rhino

What man dare, I dare.

Approach thou like the rugged Russian bear,

The armed rhinoceros, or th’ Hyrcan tiger;

Take any shape but that, and my firm nerves

Shall never tremble. Or be alive again

And dare me to the desert with thy sword.

If trembling I inhabit then, protest me

The baby of a girl. Hence, horrible shadow!

Unreal mock’ry, hence! Why so, being gone,

I am a man again. - pray you sit still.

MACBETH: Macbeth, Act 3, Scene 4

RHINOCEROS (White Rhino: Ceratotherium simum; Black Rhino: Diceros bicornis)

The Rhinoceros is one of the fierce and deadly animals which Macbeth says he would rather face than the ghost of Banquo whom he has killed. Shakespearean audiences. It is very unlikely that any of Shakespeare’s audience, or the playwright himself, would have seen a live Rhinoceros, but at least some might have been aware of the Rhinoceros as one of the circus animals in ancient Rome, or have seen the iconic Rhinoceros print of Albrecht Durer (1515). Durer’s print is gloriously but inaccurately detailed and his Rhinoceros does look like an armoured tank on legs. Durer never saw a Rhinoceros but his print was replicated many times and was also included in Topsell’s Book of Four-footed Beasts (1607).

There are currently 5 species of Rhino in the world, 2 in Africa and 3 in Asia. The Black Rhino (Diceros bicornis) is assessed as Critically Endangered and the White Rhino (Ceratotherium simum) as Near Threatened. The Black Rhino is threatened by illegal poaching for the Rhino Horn trade and they are both affected by habitat loss or change.

More Information

Folger Shakespeare Library: Search Shakespeare’s Works

IUCN Red List: Black Rhino, White Rhino

Natural History Museum, London: the legacy of Durer’s Rhinoceros, the lost Rhino

WWF Species Factsheet: Rhinos

Zoological Society of London (ZSL): Greater One-Horned Rhino, Nepal