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Example research essay topic: 14 Th Century Began To Realize - 1,809 words

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The Triumph of Death In 1562 Peter Bruegel the Elder produced his famous painting The Triumph of Death, which was being inspired by the stories about bubonic plague that hit Europe in the middle of 14 th century. This epidemic reduced European population by half, within a few years and almost destroyed Western civilization, as we know it. Therefore, the horrors of bubonic plague remained fresh in the memory of Europeans, well after epidemic was over. The bubonic plague originated in Central Asia, where it killed 25 million people before it made its way into Constantinople in 1347. From there it spread to Mediterranean ports such as Naples and Venice. Trade ships from these Mediterranean ports spread plague to the inhabitants of southern France and Italy.

It had spread to Paris by June of 1348, and London was in the grips of plague several months later. By 1350, all of Europe had been hit by plague. Bruegel's work portrays army of skeletons attacking people. The essence of this image is highly allegorical. Today we are well aware of how bubonic plague was being transmitted.

However, back in the Middle Ages, people did not know plagues biological mechanics, this is why they often considered it to be the Gods punishment. Still, it did not escape their attention that people would become ill after having a physical contact with those affected by this disease, or when handling corpses. Jonathan Jones in his article The end of Innocents points out to the fact that Bruegels artistic style is defined by his ability to make allegorical images to appear as being absolutely real: Bruegel's allure lies exactly in this tension between fantasy and history. The reason his works are unforgettable is that, in their wild fantastic excess, they strike us as real. Especially when he pictures the end of the world (Jones). Peter Bruegel the Elder is undoubtedly a Renaissance artist, because there are almost no Christian motives can be found in his The Triumph of Death.

Only in the upper left corner we can see a group of people in white ropes, who look upon the scene of destruction with calm. Even the name of his work itself sounds little odd. This is because Bruegel did not consider death as something that people must be striving for, in order to attain the kingdom of heaven, as Christian message tells them to. For him, death is ugly.

It is something that is opposite to life, this is why the army of skeletons in his painting appears to be so frightening. This is not because they engage in murder, but because they represent active death. This type of death actively strives to increase its toll, just like bubonic plague. There was something about this plague that made people think of it as some type of entity with its own mind.

It seemed that plague was being designed by a higher intelligence, because of the speed of its spread and because of its murderous effectiveness. In the background we can see skeleton trying to chop down a wooden cross. Of course, we cannot think of this as anything else, but clear indication that Bruegel was much more open minded than it is generally accepted. Artist tried to show that abstract religion has no influence on objective reality. In fact, Christian God often likes to act in absolutely opposite manner from what he is being asked by praying people.

During the Childrens Crusade, ships full of children were being instantly sunk by sudden storm, after they left Genoa. Almost immediately, after the last child had drowned, the storm was over. There are also many stories of churches roofs collapsing on peoples heads during the culmination of their prayers. Therefore, we can say that Bruegel was actually blaming God for his inactiveness. God that does not help is not a God. This is one of the reasons why Bruegel's painting expresses hopelessness.

Even up until now it is not very clear what caused the end of epidemic. However, today we have a good understanding why bubonic plague originated in the East, namely Mongolia. This is because in this region of the world the concept of personal hygiene is basically non-existent. We can say that bubonic plague was the embodiment of Chengiz Khan on microbiological level.

The colors in Bruegel's painting are ranging from bright red to dark brown. When we look at this painting, without concentrating on details, we will subconsciously get the impression of decaying flesh. This was being done by artist on purpose. The symptoms associated with plague are painful swellings of the lymph nodes, which have a very distinctive color: brownish-red. Thus, Bruegel clearly reveals a metaphysical foundation, upon which the idea of his painting is being g based. In the background, there is a deserted land with clouds of smoke flowing over it.

When bubonic plague struck Europe, people tried to deal with it by the mean of prayers. They used to kiss the cross in churches, which helped this disease to spread over even faster. However, after a year or two, people began to realize that prayers do not work and that their survival as race is in their own hands. By that time, the contagious nature of bubonic plague became obvious, this is why, in many instances, the corpses were being piled up and set on fire, rather than buried. Only this practice prevented epidemic of plague from gaining even more momentum. The black smoke over towns and villages used to indicate the presence of plague.

This is another hint that Bruegel's painting represents artists own vision of bubonic plague and its effects. It is obvious that epidemic caused many people to die in the towns it went through. While looking at painting, we can trace its plagues rout by columns of smoke rising over horizon. Bubonic plague used to spread from town to town and only after that, the rural areas were beginning to be affected by it as well.

Therefore, there is no doubt that Bruegel was aware of plagues dynamics. He lived in time when bubonic plague ceased to pose any immediate danger to Europe. In 16 th century people began to realize the microbiological nature of this disease. It was becoming clear that somehow bubonic plague had found its way into the Europe from some place else and that it could not have possibly been originated locally. This coincided with the rise of anti-Semitic sentiment in Europe. It is well known that, throughout the history, Jews used to play very important role in international trade.

Basically, in Middle Ages, all Jews were merchants. It is also well known that religious Jews take Talmuds commandments literally. Hasidic Jews, for example, do not take shower for years, in order to prove their loyalty to God. Therefore, it was only natural that throughout the ages they were being associated with physiological filth.

People noticed that bubonic plague always accompanied uncleanness. This is why, after epidemic was over, many countries expelled Jews from their territories. Peter Bruegel the Elder also considered them to be the embodiment of evil, this is why a few characters, who do not seem to be horrified, while looking at the army of skeletons, are depicted in his painting as having a typical Semitic features: hooked nose, pointy ears and bulging eyes. There is no doubt that Bruegel's painting carries a political message. Jews have been persecuted throughout the history, but the hatred towards them was not always irrational, as we are made to believe now. In his article Bruegel's The Triumph of Death Reconsidered, Peter Thon suggests that the realistic properties of Bruegel's work can be explained by his personal experience: The morbidity of the subject, the emotionality and acute, nightmare-like realism of Bruegel's scene all suggest some profound personal experience of the artists (Thon, p. 289).

There is no doubt that Bruegel was taking the theme of its own painting close to the heart. The Triumph of Death shows rich and poor being equally affected by the disease. In the lower left corner we can see the depiction of very well dressed man, who holds a bag with money in his hand, as if offering death a bribe to leave him alone. Still, viewer has no doubt that this man is doomed, just like everybody else.

This can be thought of as artists promotion of Christian agenda, which strives towards equality, just as Communism. However, I think that Bruegel was simply able to look beyond the status prejudices of his time. His painting promotes the idea of biological equality, which has nothing to do with the Christian concept of people being equal before God, regardless of their race or the state of their mind. In the bottom right corner we can see two lovers, who seem to not even notice what is going on around them.

Young man plays mandolin, while the lady of his heart is looking at him with love. This would not make any sense if we were not aware of how different social classes of people used to react to the spread of bubonic plague. The fact is that many rich people, after having realized that there is no effective cure for plague, decided to simply indulge in sensual activities, for as long as they could. This is where the famous saying feast during the plague originates from. There were numerous reports of wild sex orgies taking place in the same time when people were dying from disease.

It points out to the fact that, even back in 14 th century, there were many people who did not consider Christian nonsense seriously. They knew that they would cease to exist as individuals, after their deaths, therefore, such people simply wanted to take from life as much as they could, while they were still alive. It is very remarkable that Bruegel depicts two lovers in much greater details than Christians, who gaze upon the scenes of death with barely concealed happiness in their eyes. This proves him as humanist. While artistic value of Bruegel's painting is doubtful, its ideological content is very powerful.

Only by constantly undermining the validity of Christian dogma that artists, poets and scientists were able to weaken this religion to such a degree that scientific progress became possible. This is why The Triumph of Death needs to be discussed in sociological, rather than in artistic context. It is from the time of Renaissance that European civilization began its slow return to the ancient ideals of health, beauty and intellect. Bibliography: Jones, Jonathan The end of Innocents. 17 Jan. 2007. Guardian Unlimited. 31 Mar. 2007. web Thon, Peter Bruegel's The Triumph of Death Reconsidered Renaissance Quarterly, Vol. 21, No. 3. 1968, pp. 289 - 299 The Black Death: Bubonic Plague. 2006.

The Middle Ages. Net. 31 Mar. 2007. web.


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