I, the Plague king, fully stand behind my actions in killing the nobles and other upper classed citizens, for they have shown no empathy nor concern for the common folk. Their actions called for punishment , and their deaths were well deserved. The nobles abandoned their duties and neglected their responsibilities to care for themselves instead of following through with what they should be doing. They suffered at my hand for the actions they did and mainly the actions that they didn’t take. First of all, the prince, the one whose families job is to protect their people and the domain in which they reside, abandoned those duties in possibly the worst time of all. The prince left his people, bringing with him his friends, to go hide away in a castle, while his people were outside suffering and dying horrifically. His actions were selfish and irresponsible, and he deserved a punishment for the things he lacked to accomplish, or at least attempt. The princes selfishness furthers, when he is said to be 'happy, dauntless, and sagacious'; he acts as if there wasn't a mass infection spreading across his people, he was again, ignoring his duties and thinking about himself more than anything. …show more content…
In this situation he is not only ignoring his purpose in life, he's ignoring it to party with his friends, while the people he should be trying to save, are outside dying. The prince isn't the only culprit here either, the people he invited to have stay with him, are just as bad as the prince. The people along side the prince, ignored the suffering and horror on the outside, not attempting to save anyone but themselves. The self as well as the people were selfish, and did nothing of worth while they were
The Black Death: Natural and Human Disaster in Medieval Europe written by Robert Steven Gottfried is a narrative style book that goes over the environmental and human effects the Black Death had in 12th Century Europe. Gottfried’s thesis is that the Black Death is the greatest biological and environmental event in European history. When the Black Death came to pass, the amount of mortality surrounding the European people pushed them to think harder, and to think deeper about the sanctity of life, and that new mindset triggered some of the major changes in Europe that followed after that, which would eventually lead Europe out of the Medieval Age. Gottfried successfully conveys the historical significance of the Black Death the way he uses the
Nathanael West’s Day of the Locust follows a young costume designer by the name of Tod Hackett after he had moved to Los Angeles in the 1930’s in search of work. As Tod settles in his new hometown, he comes across many interesting people; the most important of which, his neighbor Faye, he falls into a mad lust with. Tod befriends and observes many particular characters in Los Angeles. He is fascinated with the life-less faces of the lower classed and often immigrant people who live on the outskirts of the romanticized and glamorous lifestyles often associated with the city. By the end of the novel, Tod comes to find that the city has done to him what it has done to all the other people that he had observed with fascination; it has corrupted him.
No other epidemic reaches the level of the Black Death which took place from 1348 to 1350. The epidemic, better regarded as a pandemic, shook Europe, Asia, and North Africa; therefore it deems as the one of the most devastating events in world history. In The Black Death: The Great Mortality of 1348-1350, John Aberth, compiles primary sources in order to examine the origins and outcomes of this deadly disease. The author, a history professor and associate academic dean at Vermont’s Castleton State College, specializes in medieval history and the Black Death. He wrote the book in order to provide multiple perspectives of the plague’s impact. Primarily, pathogens started the whole phenomenon; however, geological, economic, and social conditions
Detachment from reality is what the main characters in both Tim O’Brien’s “The Things They Carried” and Edgar Allen Poe’s “The Masque of the Red Death” express. “The Things They Carried” is the collection of interrelated short stories of Lieutenant Cross and his experiences throughout the Vietnam War. “The Masque of the Red Death” is the story of a prince who fears the “Red Death” who hides himself, along with some townspeople, to escape from the terrible disease. Each character, despite having two very different roles in their lives, have to face reality. In order to fully understand the relationship between these two works, each of these factors in turn.
The Black Death or Black Plague between 1349 and 1351, with 1350 being the watershed year, wiped out approximately HALF the population of Europe. Well known is the effect that serfs now had some bargaining leverage until their population recovered, as they were the only labor force available in a greatly reduced labor force. Less well known is the opportunity that that created for alien populations to find entry into Europe: the Gypsies first entered about 1350 through the Great Forest of Prague, camping out there with the permission of Jelen the Forester of Prague, whose daughter was the first European woman to be given a pack of Tarot cards;and, the simultaneous entry into Europe of a significant Jewish population. The Leo Baeck Institute
The Plague (French, La Peste) is a novel written by Albert Camus that is about an epidemic of bubonic plague. The Plague is set in a small Mediterranean town in North Africa called Oran. Dr. Bernard Rieux, one of the main characters, describes it as an ugly town. Oran’s inhabitants are boring people who appear to live, for the most part, habitual lives. The main focus of the town is money. “…everyone is bored, and devotes himself to cultivating habits. Our citizens work hard, but solely with the object of getting rich. Their chief interest is in commerce, and their chief aim in life is, as they call it, 'doing business’” (Camus 4). The citizens’ unawareness of life’s riches and pleasures show their susceptibility to the oncoming plague. They don’t bother themselves with matters not involving money. It is very easy for the reader to realize that they are too naive to combat the forthcoming calamity. The theme of not knowing life is more than work and habits will narrow the people’s chances of survival. Rieux explains that the town had a view of death as something that happens every day. He then explains that the town really doesn’t face towards the Mediterranean Sea. Actually it is almost impossible to see the sea from town. Oran is a town which seems to turn its back on life and freedom. The Plague was first published in 1948 in France. “Early readers were quick to note that it was in part an allegory of the German occupation of France from 1940 to 1944, which cut France off from the outside world; just as in the novel the town of Oran must close its gates to isolate the plague” (“The Plague” 202). When the plague first arrives, the residents are slow to realize the extreme danger they are in. Once they finally become aware of it...
The Bubonic Plague, or more commonly known as ‘The Black Death’ or ‘The Black Plague,’ was one of the most devastating and deadliest pandemics that humans have ever witnessed in the history of mankind. The disease spanned two continents in just a few years, marking every country between Western Europe all the way to China. During the reign of the plague, which is estimated to be the years between 1347-1352, it is estimated that “20 million people in Europe–almost one-third of the continent’s population” was killed off due to the plague. The Black Plague would change the course of European history since the plague knew no boundaries and inflicted its wrath upon the rich and the poor alike. As a result, not only did the plague have a devastating demographic impact which encountered a massive social disruption, but also, an economic and religious impact as well.
Albert Camus’s The Plague is a novel about an ordinary town that is suddenly stricken by plague. A few of Camus’s philosophies such as the absurd, separation, and isolation are incorporated in the events of the story. The absurd, which is the human desire for purpose and significance in a meaningless and indifferent universe, is central to the understanding of The Plague. In The Plague, Camus uses character development and irony to show that even through the obvious superiority of the universe, man is in constant effort to outlive the absurd. The Plague is crafted around the belief that humans live life in search of a value or purpose that will never be revealed to them because it does not exist.
...nobles. Martin Luther wrote the book Against the Robbing and Murderous Hordes of Peasants. In that book he said it was okay for the upper class to go and kill off the lower classes. So the public could bypass another “unprecedented and unchristian rebellion” the officials advising Charles V created the Decree of the Imperial Diet. (#12) The officials that created this document gave life to it so that they could restore power to its “previous and honorable estate.” (#12)
Landlords tried their best to keep a cap on the rising wages and changing social ambitions of the peasants, but there was too much chaos in the system at the time. Lords and peasants were both looking for the highest wages they could possibly take. Because of this, no matter who you were before the plague hit Europe, anyone who survived the plague, additional wealth from the rise in wages and accumulated holdings of land hold by plague victims was in store.
The Bubonic Plague DBQ Sweeping through Western Europe during the fourteenth century, the Bubonic Plague wiped out nearly one third of the population and did not regard: status, age or even gender. All of this occurred as a result of a single fleabite. Bubonic Plague also known as Black Death started in Asia and traveled to Europe by ships. The Plague was thought to be spread by the dominating empire during this time, the Mongolian Empire, along the Silk Road. The Bubonic Plague was an infectious disease spread by fleas living on rats, which can be easily, be attached to traveler to be later spread to a city
It is funny to the guests seeing their beloved Prince chase around an intruder. The fact that he could not capture him at first made the Prince, “madden with rage and cowardly shame” (452). Adding on to that, the Prince made it more suspenseful because he, “rushed hurriedly through the chambers” (452). At this point, the Prince just wants to catch the guy and make his party, peaceful again. However, “none followed on the account of deadly terror which seized them all” (452). It seems that at some point the guests feel the terror of the intruder more than just a fun game to watch. With this line of information one would be able to make a guess that something bad was coming up. Finally, Prince Prospero caught up to the intruder and he, “bore a drawn dagger and had approached in rapid impetuosity to within three to four feet of the figure” (452). The Prince is angry because he is ruining his party so he decides to attack this intruder once and for all. However when he strikes, the intruder strikes the Prince dead. The guests all finally saw the true terror of the uninvited guest and everyone felt that, “he had come like a thief in the night and one by one dropped the revellers in death” (452). These point to the fact that the game of cat and mouse played by the Prince and the intruder build to the quickening
Albert Camus was born on the 7th of November 1913 in Mondovi, Algeria to Lucien Camus, whose family had settled in Algeria in 1871, and Catherine Sintes, of Spanish origin. During Camus' high school years, he met Jean Grenier, the man who would influence Camus' career to the greatest extent by opening his mind to the philosophy of thinkers such as Nietzsche and Bergson. He and Grenier focused much of their writing on the duality of mortality.
How to Survive a Plague (2012) is a documentary about the story of two coalitions, ACT-UP and TAG (Treatment Action Group). Both groups dedicate their time and energy to stop AIDS from being the deadly disease that it has been for years and is only getting worse. Those affected by the disease were primarily of the LGBT community. Those with AIDS struggled to see progress with research for a cure because of those who held leadership roles had in certain religious views along with a lack of political interest. As millions of individuals were dying from this abhorrent disease, the two coalitions continued to protest and advocate for change. Through their actions, an effective treatment was found for AIDS. Their actions even led to the LGBT community
This story is told from the perspective of a less than likeable monarch who hides himself and the rest of the nobility in his castle to avoid contact with a deadly plague that is ravaging his kingdom and the citizens themselves. The prince seemed unmoved by his actions as evident in the follow quote, “But the Prince Prospero was happy and dauntless and sagacious. When his dominions were, half depopulated, he summoned to his presence a thousand hale and light-hearted friends from among the knights and dames of his court, and with these retired to the deep seclusion of one of his castellated abbeys” (Page 1). The choice to close off himself and the rest of the nobility was limited by his want to stay alive but the choice to feel nothing towards the suffering of his citizens is one he made on his own without a limiting factor. This specific choice was chosen out of malicious, selfish intent to maintain his extravagant lifestyle. This is evident again from a quote that stated “The external world could take care of itself. In the meantime, it was folly to grieve, or to think” (Page 1). This displays the naïve motion that the prince believes that the world will fix itself and to think about the outside tragedy was useless. That only made the choice to not feel sorry for the prince when he meets his untimely demise at the end of the story easier for the reader. This choice was