The changing use of metaphors charts the evolution of social order. The depictions of illness in Thomas Mann’s Death in Venice and Tristan and Albert Camus’ The Plague reveal Western culture’s evolving values. By examining their portrayals of disease through a phenomenological analysis, one sees a reflection of the philosophies of the early twentieth century. Written in 1902, Tristan illustrates the decline of the European aristocracy and the rise of new world powers. In Death in Venice, cholera represents the changing social structures by emphasizing the relationship between beauty and death. In Camus’ The Plague, the stifling effects of the plague mirror the unsettling philosophical questions inspired by the rise of totalitarianism throughout Europe and the lack of resistance to the Nazi occupation of France. By examining Thomas Mann and Albert Camus’ interpretations of disease on the individual and government, one can observe the influence of historical phenomena on Western philosophy.
As an early twentieth century work, Mann’s Tristan reflects the major political and economic changes which reshaped Europe in the pre-World War I era. As industrialism swept Europe, Europeans were forced to abandon age-old notions of aristocracy in favor of nationalist ideals and philosophies of government. The mortally afflicted Gabrielle Klöterjahn serves as the most prominent representation of the traditional elite. Delicate and feeble, Gabrielle conforms to conventional gender roles by obeying her husband’s every order. To establish Gabrielle’s role as a symbol of the failing European order, Mann juxtaposes her ailing countenance with opulent imagery. References to Gabrielle’s “pale blue and sickly” veins evoke images of the old...
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...italism and industry. Camus’ The Plague demonstrates the changes in political philosophy caused by the effects of World War II and reflects Camus’ absurdist views. Through images of oppression and futility, Camus examines the role of morality and the individual in an absurdist world with little hope for true understanding. The transition from Tristan and Death in Venice’s concern for the decline of the aristocracy and the rise of capitalism to The Plague’s interest in the nature of morality in a totalitarian society reflects the effects of political events. Through a phenomenological examination of disease in Mann’s Tristan and Death in Venice and Camus’ The Plague, one can observe the shifts in political philosophy due to major historical changes caused by the decline of the old-world monarchies and the totalitarian occupations of much of Europe by the Nazis.
The anticipated research paper will be taking into consideration the perspectives of the individuals that lived and died as a result of the Black Death, specifically from the year 1348 CE – 1350 CE and in the better known parts of the world during that period, the reactions, preventative measure that were taken to combat the plague, the religious and governmental response. In the collection of primary sources amassed by John Aberth in The Black Death, 1348-1350: the great mortality of 1348-1350 ; a brief history with documents1 he very succinctly provides a condensed description of each document by giving a background of the author as well as the source of the primary source. Aberth manages to do this while remaining impartial, an admirable skill to have especially when it comes to examining primary sources, even in the limited way Aberth does. Aside from those brief narratives before each source, Aberth does not add any additional information or opinions. In his book From the brink of the apocalypse: confronting famine, war, plague, and death in the later middle ages2, he does go in depth regarding the reception to the Black Death. He does not immediately start with what occurred during the Black Death; he details the world before that seemingly apocalyptic event with an examination of the social structure that existed during the Middle Ages, such as the rise of chivalry and the revolutions in warfare and the Great Famine that immediately preceded the plague. In this way Aberth sets the reader up to gain a means of understanding the resulting responses to the plague from the very different yet similar mindset of a person of medieval times. For example, although Aberth considers the primary belief was that the plague was ca...
Charles Rosenberg’s article Cholera in the nineteenth-century Europe: A tool for social and economic analysis evaluates the impact of epidemics on society and the changes that ensue as a result. It is Rosenberg’s view that most economic historians overlook the overall importance of epidemics by focusing primarily on economic growth. Rosenberg’s article aims to bring a more human approach to the Cholera epidemic while showing its potential to affect every aspect of society (453). Rosenberg believes epidemics are an event that show the social values and attitudes towards science, religion and innovation at that particular moment in time (452). His thesis for the article begs the question, what was needed at that time for the culmination of all
Furthermore, the medical experts who provide professional insight into the symptoms and transmission of the plague subtly contribute to the overall non-discriminatory sense of Aberth’s book. Although not explicitl...
literary perspective, which tends to blame the illness of the narrator on the patriarchy of society;
The scholarly works selected for this analysis were chosen due to the different perspectives they present regarding the flagellant movements of the Black Death. The first work, The Black Death studies the reactions of the Black Death from a psychosocial perspective, arguing that fear and hysteria were leading factors of reactions like flagellation and persecution. The Black Death suggests that participants in flagellants and later the persecution of the Jews were mostly uneducated, and thus fear and ignorance encouraged the population to participate in flagellant movements. The Black Death was selected because it offered a sociological and psychological analysis of the flagellation and persecution movements. Piety and Plague: From Byzantium to the Baroque was chosen as a source due to its focus on art history. Piety and Plague: From Byzantium t...
When the black death mysteriously and suddenly hit Europe, it spread at an unbelievable speed leaving almost no city untouched. The citizens of fourteenth century Europe were unsure of how to cope with half the population being wiped out in such a short time span. What had caused this “great mortality”? Who was really to blame for their suffering? How were they to overcome it? While being overwhelmed with sickness and a number of dilemmas stemming from it, many societies became weak and eventually fell apart.
In 1348, people from all around the world suffered from one of the most deadliest and cruel diseases known as the Black Death. The plague killed so many people in Europe that some of the villages were abandoned and the population of some cities was decreased by half. Giovanni Boccaccio was an Italian writer and poet who eye-witnessed and described the horrors caused by the Black Death in his novels Decameron. In Boccaccio’s work, the sick people were left behind to survive on their own and even children were left behind by their parents because they were sick. Unfortunately, from all the people who died during the epidemic, the peasants were those who actually benefited from it. The Black Death end up with political,
To begin with, the plague killed an estimated 30000 Athenians – out of a population of 100000—it represented 25% of the population . As a result of the mass deaths, the conventional Athenian society changed. It led to the failure of social order in Athens. This idea of “living in the moment” became the motto of so many Athenians. Consequently, the traditional moral laws such as the obligation of families to care for the sick, funerary, and religious rites were not as i...
Albert Camus was a French writer who was very well known all over the world for his different works but especially with the idea of “absurdism”. Camus believed that something that was absurd was not possible by humans or logically. It was beyond ridiculous and therefore impossible. This was the basis of one of his most famous works, The Plague. The Plague is a novel that explores aspects of human nature and condition, destiny, God, and fate. The novel is about a plague that takes place in Oran, Algeria that is fictional, but it’s believed to be relatively based on a cholera outbreak in the mid 1800’s in Oran that killed thousands of people. Dr. Bernard Rieux is the protagonist but also is the narrator. However, he doesn’t admit to being the narrator until the end of the novel. Camus writes in the beginning that the instances in Oran are being told by witnesses of the plague. In The Plague, Camus wants his audience to read the book unbiasedly not knowing the narrator in order to take sides with the characters that one wants to and not to be persuaded by the narrators telling of the events.
Albert Camus’ The Plague is an influential existentialist novel that vividly depicts the impact of a plague have on a community. Set in the French Algerian city of Oran in the 1940s but based on the Black Plague that swept Europe in the Middle Ages, Camus draws on a large cast of character to portray and embody the historical impact that the plague on both the populace and society. Uniting the experiences of the various characters is Doctor Rieux, who play the role of a plague chronicler, and in the process demonstrates the impact of the plague on religion, social structures, and community morals.
It cannot be argued that the Black Plague was detrimental to every aspect of Europe’s communities. It was a powerful epidemic that wiped out a third of the continent’s population. Out of the midst of all its terror, however, positive after effects presented themselves. Some of these effects included revolutions in the church and society, eventually leading to the separation of church and state. Feudalism was also challenged as peasants demanded wages and revolted. Along with social changes came technological innovations, new inventions, and an attention to hygiene and the beginning of modern medicine. The plague may have devastated Europe, but it also gave way to a new era.
The first and most obvious instance of aestheticism and decadence as correlating themes in this story is the title, Death in Venice. By fore-grounding the name of the city in the title, Mann is highlighting the city's key role in the unfolding narrative. Mann aligns the word 'Venice' with the word 'death' in the title. This creates a relationship between these two words - the word 'death' strongly infuses the word 'Venice' with all its connotations. Death and decay are important ideas within the context of decadence. By shear nature the title relates the concepts of death and dying to the city of Venice, which implies that the location is where a death will occur. However, this is paralleled by the opening of the story when Mann drearily tells of Aschenbach’s stroll through Munich. In the reading of this passage it ...
As the title clearly suggests, the novel The Plague is, indeed, a story of disease. On the surface, the novel The Plague, may be an accounting of facts detailing the outbreak of bubonic plague in the town of Oran. But on a deeper level, it is a novel that reveals awareness and acceptance of the limits of human existence. And it is also a reminder of our absurd freedom and the choices we make in life, especially when facing death.
Death, the first of three crucial building blocks for a dystopian society, may appear in various forms. For example, death may come as a serious disease. From the late 1340s through the early 1350s, the Bubonic plague swept through Europe and shattered the continent’s population by killing an entire third, or approximately 25 million, of its citizens. Following death
Albert Camus’ gripping novel The Plague is a fascinating story of how man handles the concept of death and how a person's drive can radiate and transform the people around them. After the North African coastal town of Oran is struck by a mass plague, Dr. Rieux, the story's protagonist, makes a life changing choice that is in blatant contrast with society, as well as pure rationalism. Despite knowing that the chances of actually making a difference are rather minuscule, Dr. Rioux commits to sterilizing a city full of mass disease and hopelessness simply out of hope and goodwill. Through his selfless actions, he singlehandedly inspires society's transition from an aesthetic state to an ethical one, while defining himself as an individual.