The Bubonic Plague

The 1300s were a dark time for Europe. Disease spread throughout the continent. The disease that affected Europe the most was the Black Death. The Black Death was a terrible disease because it killed nearly half of Europe’s population, was highly contagious, and extremely deadly. Shakespeare’s plays had a particularly important role in the plague, even though Shakespeare was alive almost 300 years after the largest outbreak of the Black Death. Shakespeare’s plays were really crowded.So crowded in fact, that they were “considered to be hotbeds for contagion”(Rasmussan and DeJong 7). Even though the Black Death was easily spread in the theatres people still came and watched Shakespeare’s plays. People came to his plays because they helped people
There were three types of the Black Death. The most common type of the plague was the bubonic type(eye 1). The Bubonic Plague gets its name from the “swellings or buboes”(eye 1) on its victims. These buboes appeared on a person’s neck, armpits ,or groin(eye 1). These swellings were very large. Their size ranged from the size of an egg to the size of an apple(eye 1). When these buboes appeared, it normally meant the person had about a week to live(eye 1). The second type of the plague is the Pneumonic Plague. This type of the plague affected the victim’s respiratory system(eye 1). The way the Pneumonic Plague affected its victims was by the person inhaling an infected person’s exhaled air(eye 1). The Pneumonic Plague was much more contagious than the Bubonic Plague. The life expectancy for a person with Pneumonic Plague was only one to two days(eye 1). The third type of plague was the Septicemic Plague. This type of the plague attacked the victim’s bloodstream(eye 1). The Septicemic Plague was spread from bites of infected fleas(eye 1).All of the Black Death’s numerous forms were extremely