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What Caused The Plague Dbq

Decent Essays

Doctors, churches and government were powerless against the disease. The only way to escape the infection was to avoid contact with infected persons and contaminated objects.(paraphrase) (Therefore, some cities set up the policy to prevent strangers from entering their cities, particularly, merchants and Jews. The discrimination of Jewish population became another major problem. The people laid the blame of the plague at the feet of the Jews.) (There was a limitation on the imported goods to reduce the chances of transmitting the disease). Also, to minimize the transmission of the disease from person to person, “the victims of plague were quarantined, sometimes in their own houses”, in each and every town the armed guards were supervising the …show more content…

Kira Newman introduces the government justification of quarantine policy, stating “throughout outbreaks, the government asserted that plague control measures were acts of public health for the benefit of all” (Newman, 810). However, contrary to this argument there was a public opinion that “[such] isolation [was portrayed] as personal punishment rather than prudent policy” (Newman, 810). However, as the plague was progressing there was not enough space where to keep all infected people. The doctors recommended to leave the habitation located in the epicenter and move to another location, however, “many individuals were not fortunate enough to have a second residence, so quarantine commingled the sick and the well” (Newman, 812). Many historians claim that this caused even higher mortality which reveals as the negative effects of …show more content…

Their inability to create a cure stimulated the end of believe in powerful church. The religious controversy is concentrated on the belief of God’s punishment and the loss of faith in salvation. Slack’s introduces his point of view about that situation by saying “patient submission of the God’s will was therefore the only rational attitude in the face of sickness” (Slack, 38). Overwhelmed by fear, people turned to the church and religion. (Church officials urged those infected with plague to pray frequently to their favorite saints and ask repentance. ) Although peasants believed in church and treatment of the plague through prayer and hoped for God’s mercy, not much was done to ease their suffering. Back then, science was not as innovative and the doctors used common known medicine, but it was insufficient in curing the bubonic plague. Many of the treatments and theories held by doctors had no scientific

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