The Black Death In Europe

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“ravages” of the Black Death in the city (Drabble 113). The Decameron is a collection of tales that were “assembled in their definitive form” sometime between 1349 and 1351 (Drabble 260). In his “The Disease of All Diseases” James Fenton describes his assertions on Boccaccio’ s Decameron. Fenton is astonished at the knowledge that Boccaccio presents about this plague:
“What he does know, although he doesn’t quite put it like this, is that the bacterium mutated in the course of its progress…. The next source of horror was its speed – three days or less between the onset of symptoms and death (48).”
Fenton also asserts that in his work Boccaccio did not care much for the physical aspects of the plague as much as the cultural effects (48). Boccaccio claims that the plague made people indifferent to things they once cherished (Fenton 48). Boccaccio writes of overcrowded coffins and “heartless and immoral women” (Fenton 48).
The Plague of 1665 hit London with fierce impact. ...

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