The Black Death

Throughout history there have been many horrible plagues, but there have been few as notorious as the "Black Death". Formally known as Bubonic Plague, the Black Death spread through Europe from the silk road around the middle of the 13th century, but it stuck around in the form of smaller outbreaks for a long period of time afterwards. The plague wasn't just a medical phenomenon, it was a cultural one that shaped the society of the time and long after. It's commonly known that the 13th century wasn't a particularly enlightened time, and many relied more on religion for answers than the limited science of the time. This lead to some very outlandish theories on the origin of the pandemic as well as how to treat it. Many believed it was punishment from God for the misdeeds of man, and that it was an inevitable consequence of sin. Some believed that by removing the boils that commonly formed as a symptom, the disease could be cured. Obviously they were wrong, but that as well as all over the other attempts to relieve the symptoms really told the tale of a people that were desperate for any way to bring an end to the tragedy. If we hadn't come as far as we have in terms of our understanding of medicine today, I have no doubt that we would most likely respond in a similar fashion if we were exposed to something similar. Reading about what the world was like at the time and how people responded to the Black Death is nothing short of heart wrenching. People saw their friends and family die right before their eyes and were powerless to stop it. Often individuals were infected themselves and didn't know about it until a few days later, all the while spreading the disease more and more through that interval. As we now know today, the pandemic was caused spread by fleas that picked it up from rats on board ships travelling throughout the Mediterranean sea, but the fact that the cities of the time were so filthy did nothing to slow the spread of the disease. Quite the contrary, all of the filth and squalor expedited the process. I always find it funny when people romanticize the middle ages as though they were this beautiful time full of knights and princesses, when it was actually one of the most disgusting periods in human history. There was no trash disposal, no sewer system, and personal hygiene hadn't exactly taken off yet. When you take all of that into consideration, it's obvious that it was only a matter of time before a calamity such as the Black Death unfolded, but it's still tragic nonetheless. Throughout those days, based on accounts of the time, it was hell on earth. People were dropping left and right to the point when there was a daily cart that would go throughout towns to collect the dead. I would assume that after a certain period of time people somewhat became numb to all of it, if not somewhat insane, especially those that were better off. That brings me to one of my favorite stories that has to do with plagues by Edgar Allen Poe: "The Mask of the Red Death". In this story is about a prince that has gathered friends and they've all holed up in a luxurious castle as they try to wait out a horrendous plague that's spread throughout the world. One night the prince holds a masquerade ball to entertain all of his friends, but at the strike of midnight a mysterious figure dressed up as a plague victim appears, causing outrage among the crowd. The figure is confronted and their costume is ripped off only to reveal that there is no one beneath it and the disease has been spread to the compound. It's a dark story, but that's pretty typical of Poe. The most striking thing about it to me was the indifference to the suffering by those that were better off. Here these people were, throwing a party, as so many were dying just outside the walls. It almost makes one feel as though their contracting of the disease is some sort of justice. The Mask of the Red Death is also often interpreted as an allegory for mans futile attempts to stave off death, which there is quite a bit of merit to that. Try as we may to stop it, death will find each and every one of us. It was no different for the wealthy crowd in Poe's short story, and it was no different for 30-60% of Europe throughout the Black Death. Speaking of, that number is obviously very staggering. Before writing this, I did some brief research on the plague just to brush up on my understanding of it, and I was awestruck by some of the statistics. It took generations before the world was able to grow it's population back to the number before the pandemic, and roughly one out of three people in Europe died from it. That's madness, absolute madness. Art from the time also depicts this insanity. It shows us what people thought of it and how it affected the minds of those who lived through it. Much of the art from the time features dancing skeletons, obviously a representation of the disease. These skeletons are especially unsettling because they often appear to be moving joyously as they spread the illness throughout cities, towns, and pretty much everywhere else. It was inescapable, people eventually figured that out, and the despair that accompanied that knowledge seemed to be societally all encompassing. Perhaps the art and writings of the time are telling of how people felt that they were being mocked by their misfortune. Life must have seemed quite pointless given how fleeting it was during those days, so it's only fitting that the culture depicts that feeling. The plague eventually decipated but the damage that it brought about, the effects that it had, the pain, death and suffering, will probably never be forgotten. To me, the Black Death is a powerful reminder to appreciate my time on this earth. After all, while I think of myself as young, and by most accounts from anyone today I am, I've been fortunate to live a much longer and fuller life than most people during that era. The Black Death is also an event that makes me proud of how far we've come in terms of our understanding of science. Obviously we still have disease, but we've become much more adept at handling it and keeping it from becoming the tragedy that was the Bubonic Plague. That didn't happen by accident, it was the result of the dedication of countless individuals and groups within the scientific community to furthering the length and quality of human life. Like I said, we still have disease, and from time to time a certain outbreak might make headlines, but I doubt that we'll see anything even remotely similar to what was around in the distant past. Also, even if we do, we are without a doubt, more prepared to handle it. Still, I'm not one for absolutism. I've always believed that only the foolish assume there is nothing to be worried about. Perhaps we'll never see anything like the Black Death, but to say that there will never be another outbreak is absolutely ignorant. As science advances, unfortunately, so too does disease. It's as though we're in a constant race with death. When we make an advance, disease is not far behind. This is why science is paramount. We may never defeat death, but with science, we have a fighting chance to stave it off.