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Fear Of The Plague Essay

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From the fifteenth to the eighteenth centuries were people superstitious, in D16 Physician Bertrand blamed God for bringing such a disease, fearful, in D13 an English bureaucrat, Samuel Pepys, claimed that people were afraid to buy wigs, inferring that people believed anything was a carrier of the disease, and people took advantage of the people below them, an example being D4 Heirs payed lowerclassmen to smear the town gates with an ointment contaminated with the disease, in order to receive their inheritances faster. In a time of crisis, people become very superstitious. In D7 an Italian housewife claims that a piece of bread touched by Saint Domenica cured her husband. In Contrast to that, D16 claims it is God’s fault for bringing the disease. D15 Emperor Leopold 1 believed the Plague Column would bring mercy. Some had other ideas, such as D10 claiming that a person is to hang venomous toads from their neck which will draw the plague …show more content…
In D5, a traveler states that as soon as one person is known to have the disease they board up the household in fear of the plague spreading. In parallel to D5, is D6 in which a physician states fire is for burning infected things. Instead of trying to treat the plague it is so bad that most would rather stop it from spreading more. Also in D5, Heinrich von Staden says that the country closed all roads and highways. In D14, Daniel Defoe states that France, Holland, Spain, and Italy closed their ports, in order to keep from spreading more. People were even afraid to return to school, in D1. Also like D1, is D12 and D13. D12 claims that all but four men were terrified once they learned Rome was violent with the disease as well. In D13, people were afraid to buy wigs, in fear that anything could carry the plague. Lastly in D8, Nehemiah Wallington fears she will die before her kids. She wants to care for her children before and after they die, if they do

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