Essay Questions

The black death plague was not a health issue but rather a religious issue Show how the writer presents the plague as a religious crisis rather than a health crisis in The Black Death: A Personal History

Written employing the point of view of the local priest, Master John, the book follows the happenings as a result of the black death plague. Through the priest’s eyes and those of the other people, the book examines the question of whether the crisis is a health one as opposed to being a religious one. Throughout the pages, Master John and the other priests struggle in an attempt to find the reason and religious meaning behind the plague. In this sense, these characters are of the idea that the plague is a religious issue. There is a hovering assertion that the plague was sent by God as a punishment. The assertion of the disease being religious-related is thus valid as an argument as it clearly presents the politics affecting the Catholic church.

Show the role that the black death epidemic plays in resulting in economic inequality as presented in John Hatcher’s The Black Death: A Personal History.

The black death as an epidemic spread quickly and widely being transferred from one individual to another and across villages. In so doing, the disease is presented as being responsible for wiping out and eradicating fairly large proportions of people a situation that results into the introduction of unfairness in the distribution of economic resources in the society in which the story is set. This resulted in a different way of doing things. Upon its climax, the poor became poorer and class struggles are implicit. Europe thus required rebuilding as the system was essentially broken.

What role do the historical account at the beginning of chapters in The Black Death: A Personal History play?

In this work, the black death epidemic is brought out quite vividly through the writer’s employment of the perception of Master John as well as other characters. However, the writer also includes a historical account and explanation of events as they were, which plays the role of being the backdrop to the unfolding events through the book.