8-2Plague

The Plagues of the Elizabethan Era //Answer prepared by Joey J// The plagues during the Elizabethan era were as common as the sun rising every day. Plagues were an epidemic or disease that many residents during the Elizabethan era were stricken with. Pbs says that plagues were commonly transmitted by the vile creatures named "rats". You may be wondering how such a small animal could cause such a big problem, well the fleas that created their habitat upon the rat were the main problem. The odd part of this dilemma was that the Elizabethans had no idea that the plague was spread by fleas. William Shakespeare info says that the residents merely believed that it was life. Medical knowledge during the 16th century was very poor, leading for most people to believe that it was God who did it or it may have just happened. Though, I think the worst part of it was that humans were not the only hosts of this repugnant disease, Pbs acknowledges that over 200 animals would receive this disease. Therefore, it would not only be humans that would have to deal with the hardships of the plague, but animals would be included with the misery that the plague brought.

Numerous plagues struck the Elizabethan Era. One of the most common plagues that was caught by the residents of England, was the Bubonic plague. This plague was so disgusting that it was given the nickname of "Black Death". __When Plague Strikes__, by James Cross Giblin, says that the plague was nicknamed "Black Death" because as death neared, the mouth of the victim would open and the skin blackened from internal bleeding(11-12). Most people of England believed that you could only catch the disease if you lived in the city. This fact was proven false because someone that is in the business of farm produce such as skin hides, can easily be bitten by fleas living in the fur of the animal. Williamshakespeare.info says that there was an enormous outbreak in 1563 where the death toll was around 80,000 due to the Black Death. Though, the Black Death also affected William Shakespeare immensely. His sister Joan, was born six years before William, and he would never be able to experience the warmth of love with her because she died two months after she was born. She died from the Black Death, but she was not the only sibling that had a tragic end. Margaret was born two years before William and would have the privilege of life for only one year. She and her other siblings that were yet to be born, Anne and Edmund, were suspected of passing away due to the Black Death.Though, Edmund did die in his adulthood unlike Anne. Alas, the plague continued to affect William and his career as an actor and writer. Internet Shakespeare states that in the years of 1582, 1592, 1603, and 1607, the plague became so severe that they had to shut down the Theater. Most deaths were caused because people did not have enough knowledge about the disease. Some thought that if one of the family members received the plague, they would bolt the whole family in the house and thought that this environment would keep them safe from the plague. Little did they know, by locking everyone in a confined area, they were literally signing a death warrant for themselves. The plague was an unknown enigma and altered the lives of many England residents.

Knowledge is the key to counter the plague. If people of the Elizabethan time knew that fleas from rats were the main provider of the disease, most would leave the rat infested cities and retreat to where less animals could be found. Internet Shakespeare suggests that some cures were found though, and if more people knew about the cure, who knows how many lives could be spared. A popular remedy for the plague would be to take yarrow, tansy, featherfew, of each a handful, and mix them well together, then let the sick make water into the herbs, then strain them, and give it the sick to drink. Most people didn't know that the disease could be transmitted by exhaling and this could have been easily countered, I think, by making villages and cities more spread apart so that everything is not in such close quarters with one another. One more way that I think would have help prevent the plague from becoming so massive, was to supervise sanitation. William Shakespeare info says that the Elizabethan City of London was filthy. Its population was growing continuously with poor people moving from the country to London in search of work. There was a total lack of a structured sewage system in Elizabethan London. All of the waste was just dumped into the River Thames.  Rats feed off of others garbage and the sanitation in the late 16th centuries was awful. Trash was strewn throughout the streets of England, if it was a little more clean, less rats would be present because of the lack of food. Rats were very common in England at the time making it more likely for a resident to be diagnosed with a disease. As you can see, the plagues affected many civilians and life would not be the same if people only knew what to do in certain situations.

[] Works Cited "1593 the plague." 2003. Pbs. 6 Apr 2009 .//

Best, Michael. "The Plague." November 2005. Internet Shakespeare Editions. 6 Apr 2009 .//

"Bubonic Plague." 2005. William Shakespeare Site Map. 6 Apr 2009 .//

Giblin, James. __When Plague Strikes__. New York: HarperCollins Publishers, 1995.