Essay Questions

What is the connection between Giles Gordon and Peter Ackroyd?

Peter Ackroyd begins his book with a note addressed to one person named Giles Gordon. The reason why Peter Ackroyd wrote a note to Giles Gordon is because he was a literary agent who most likely represented Ackroyd as well. Thus, the note to him is fitted to appear in the beginning of the book.

Why did some people not agree with burying people on Church Grounds?

The Church Grounds are considered by many as being holy grounds, just as the Churches are considered as being holy places. As a result, many people were against having the dead buried in a place they considered as being holly. In many cultures and religions, people who practiced various vices during their lives or who died in unclean ways, such as through suicide, were considered as being unfit to be buried on Church grounds. Because of this reasons, many people believed it would be better not to have anyone buried on church grounds.

What are parish churches?

A parish church is considered the most important church in a region, called a parish. In the last, when the church had a great influence over the everyday lives of the people, the parish church was responsible for distributing help to those who needed it and also to take care of the orphans of the parish. Today, the role of the parish church is less important from a social and political point of view and more important from a religious point of view.

How where the bodies treated during the plague?

The people who died because they were infected by the plague were considered unclean and because so many people died during a plague outbreak, few received a proper funeral. The parish was the one that took care of the bodies in most cases and during the great plague outbreaks the parish officials would arrange for carts to go from one house to another and get the dead. The bodies were then transported to a common pit were the bodies were then buried with other plague victims.