The Dancing Plague of 1518
Paige Layman
Literature 2nd hour
November 4, 2014
The Dancing Plague
The outbreak began in July 1518, when a woman, Frau Troffea, began to dance fervently in a street in Strasbourg. This lasted somewhere between four to six days. Within a week, 34 others had joined, and within a month, there were around 400 dancers. Some of these people eventually died from heart attacks, strokes, or exhaustion. The Plague started when a woman by the name of Frau Troffea started to dance in the streets of Strasbourge, France in mid-July. She danced for about 4-6 days. At the end of the week, 34 others had joined her. By the end of the month, 400 were dancing in the streets nonstop. This plague lasted to about the end of August with all of these people dancing in the streets, guildhalls, and markets in Strasbourg. Local physicians in Strasbourg looked into this strange breakout. They looked into seeing if it was caused by astrological or supernatural means. However, they concluded that it was purely caused by “hot blood”. The dancing plague didn’t have much of an effect on the course of history, but it is still talked about today. The actual cause is unknown but it is suspected to be MPI due to bad crops and cold winters.
The Crucible is the story of the Salem witch trials that took place in the Province of Massachusetts Bay during 1692 and 1693. Miller wrote the play as an allegory of McCarthyism, when the U.S. government blacklisted accused communists. Miller himself was questioned by the House of Representatives' Committee on Un-American Activities in 1956 and convicted of "contempt of Congress" for refusing to identify others present at meetings he had attended. Another critical theme in The Crucible is the role that hysteria can play in tearing apart a community. Hysteria supplants logic and enables people to believe that their neighbors, whom they have always considered upstanding people, are committing absurd and unbelievable crimes—communing with the devil, killing
Literature 2nd hour
November 4, 2014
The Dancing Plague
The outbreak began in July 1518, when a woman, Frau Troffea, began to dance fervently in a street in Strasbourg. This lasted somewhere between four to six days. Within a week, 34 others had joined, and within a month, there were around 400 dancers. Some of these people eventually died from heart attacks, strokes, or exhaustion. The Plague started when a woman by the name of Frau Troffea started to dance in the streets of Strasbourge, France in mid-July. She danced for about 4-6 days. At the end of the week, 34 others had joined her. By the end of the month, 400 were dancing in the streets nonstop. This plague lasted to about the end of August with all of these people dancing in the streets, guildhalls, and markets in Strasbourg. Local physicians in Strasbourg looked into this strange breakout. They looked into seeing if it was caused by astrological or supernatural means. However, they concluded that it was purely caused by “hot blood”. The dancing plague didn’t have much of an effect on the course of history, but it is still talked about today. The actual cause is unknown but it is suspected to be MPI due to bad crops and cold winters.
The Crucible is the story of the Salem witch trials that took place in the Province of Massachusetts Bay during 1692 and 1693. Miller wrote the play as an allegory of McCarthyism, when the U.S. government blacklisted accused communists. Miller himself was questioned by the House of Representatives' Committee on Un-American Activities in 1956 and convicted of "contempt of Congress" for refusing to identify others present at meetings he had attended. Another critical theme in The Crucible is the role that hysteria can play in tearing apart a community. Hysteria supplants logic and enables people to believe that their neighbors, whom they have always considered upstanding people, are committing absurd and unbelievable crimes—communing with the devil, killing