I constantly come across people fainting or even dying from watching scary plays during Victorian times and people dying from ‘heartbreak’ days after their loved one dies.
This rarely seems to happen today, so was it simply because people weren’t used to being exposed to such intense emotions and so they died of over exertion? Or was it simply other ailments that couldn’t be explained?
Thanks!
It sounds like you're getting your facts from pulpy novels of the day, and not from history. It's dreadfully romantical to end a story with the two lovers dying within days of each other due to heartbreak, but it's not rooted in facts of any kind.
There's also a long history of salacious or potentially controversial media advertising itself as being life-threatening to consume due to the sheer gratuitousness of the content. This is an advertising gimmick, not an actual public health issue.
In re dying of shock, "shock" can be both the familiar emotion of feeling shocked, or it can be a medical condition caused by blood flow problems after massive physical trauma. You can definitely die of the latter kind of shock.