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How Does The Bubonic Plague Affected London

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The Bubonic Plague also known as the Black Death first appeared in England around 1347 AD. This horrible plague was spread by mainly by fleas. These fleas would live on animals such as sheep, cows, horses, and rats. The Black Death even impacted well known poet and playwright William Shakespeare. Due to this disease, Shakespeare lost his sisters, brothers, and his one and only son. The Bubonic Plague had a profound impact on William Shakespeare because it took away from him what was most important, his family.

Once a human gets infected with the bacteria of the Bubonic Plauge, the bacteria quickly spreads throughout the body. After a couple of days, the victim will see lymph nodes called buboes appear throughout the body. Buboes is also where …show more content…

Firstly, there were no sewers and all waste was dumped either on the streets or in the rivers. To make matters even worse, London had lots of ports which allowed rats with infected fleas the ability to get into London. Because of all the factors that made London so unsanitary, the Black Plague spread very quickly. Within weeks of the first victim in London getting infected, it was dangerous to even stand outside. The only people outside were plague physicians. The Black Plague was so widespread that it even directly affected famous author, playwright, and poet William Shakespeare. Due to the Plague he lost two baby sisters Margaret and Joan; he also lost his seven year old sister. Additionally his brother who was twenty-seven years old was killed by the Black Death. Even more so, his one and only son Hamnet tragically died tragically at eleven years old. His remembrance of the plague even inspired some of his works like the Merchant of Venice, Cymbeline and All's Well that Ends Well. Even though the Bubonic Plague scared Shakespeare for his entire life, it did inspire some incredible pieces of

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