Plagues1

===**WHAT PLAGUES STRUCK ENGLAND AROUND THE TIME OF SHAKESPEARE?HOW WERE THE PLAGUES DEALT WITH? WHAT EFFECTS DID THE PLAGUES HAVE? **===

Answer Prepared By: Berj B.
There were a number of plagues that spread through England during Shakespeare’s time in the 16th and 17th centuries. Smallpox was one of the most deadly, and almost killed Queen Elizabeth I. Syphilis, influenza and dysentery were also common. However, the biggest and the one that affected Shakespeare the most, was the Black Death.

The Black Death is scientifically monikered bubonic plague, and it was common in Elizabethan England. Maybe a coincidence, or just the science of the disease taking its course, Shakespeare’s brothers ,sister, and son all died of the bubonic plague. One of the biggest outbreaks occurred in England in 1563, and during epidemics actors at the globe often died. In fact, the Globe was closed during some of the epidemics.

People who were sick and their families were locked in their houses and ‘Watchmen’ watched them and sometimes brought the victims food. You were not allowed out of the house until you were well and given a health certificate. At night, ‘death carts’ came around town to pick up the bodies and bury them. People were terrified and wouldn’t go near any other people. Many businesses were closed and there were few workers. Bodies were often left in the streets, and there was no sewage or garbage collection, so the streets got dirtier. Fleas from rats spread the disease, and as the streets got filthier, there were more rats, and the disease continued.

The Bubonic plague is caused by a bacterium called //Yersinia pestis//, and is usually transmitted to man by the bite of an infected flea. In cities and towns, the fleas usually come from infected rats or other animals. They didn’t know any of this in Shakespeare’s time, but cleaning up the towns and getting rid of the rats would have helped stop the plague. When plague spreads to the lungs it is called pneumonic plague, and can by spread person to person by coughing. The symptoms of the disease were painful swelling of the lymph nodes especially in the armpits and groin. A high fever started, and bleeding in the lungs and mental confusion often led to death in 2-6 days. Only the very wealthy would be able to have a doctor visit, but there was no good treatment of the disease.

The plagues were massive. During the plague in the 1300s, 25 million people died and this was one third of the population. Some of the biggest effects of the disease were living with the terror of the disease, and the reduction in the population and the lower number of workers and of customers, which hurt the economy.

[|Bring out your dead- monty python] Go to 0:54 for the funny part

Here is the Bubonic plague, taking affect on someones hand. This flea is one of the fleas that carried the bubonic plague from rats to humans.

Works Cited Callahan, Gerald N. //Infection; The Uninvited Universe//. New York: St. Martin’s Press, 2006. Print. Day, James. //The Black Death//. New York: The Bookwright Press, 1989. Print. Gottfried, Robert S. //The Black Death//. New York: The Free Press, 1983. Print. Marks, Geoffrey, and William K. Beatty. //Epidemics//. New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1976. Print. 