Autobiography has often been a response to moments of historical crisis. Diaries such as those of Anne Frank who wrote about the difficulties of life as a Jew in Nazi Germany, the Brontë sisters who wrote about the times in which they lived, and Nelson Mandela who recorded his life in prison on a desk calendar, were published. found and revealed relevant information about these events (Liddy, 2014; Pettinger, 2014). Among these famous chroniclers are the world-renowned writers Samuel Pepys and Daniel Defoe, both of whom wrote about the events of the Great Plague of London that occurred in 1665. Pepys and Defoe approach the plague in contrasting ways. This can be seen through how they recorded the event, why they recorded the event, the authentic details used in their texts, how their text addresses and affects the reader and finally to through their emotional responses to the plague seen. in their texts. These differences in their texts are because Pepys and Defoe have contrasting personalities and backgrounds; thus, their texts were informed by different premises despite the similarities in the historical situation. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on 'Why violent video games should not be banned'? Get the original essay The Great Plague of London was an epidemic that devastated London from 1665 to 1666; Plague is defined as “an infectious disease spread by bacteria and causing fever and delirium, usually accompanied by the formation of buboes and sometimes infection of the lungs” (Oxford Dictionary, 2007). The Great Plague was caused by household and human waste thrown into the streets, which caused poverty, filth and unsanitary conditions, particularly in the poorer and densely populated areas of London. Rats, which thrived in these conditions, contributed to the rapid spread of the disease because they carried the fleas infected with the plague (National Archives, 2008). Symptoms of the plague are characterized by high fever, vomiting, headache, and swellings or buboes in the groin and armpits that eventually spread throughout the body. Death ultimately occurred following a sneeze. Plague victims were often considered delusional due to their affected speech and their actions becoming uncoordinated and unpredictable (Trueman, 2011). The English nursery rhyme “Ring, a-ring, o'rosies /A pocket full of posies/ Atishoo, atishoo/ We all fall down” describes the symptoms of the plague where “ring o' rosies” refers to buboes. , "a pocket full of bouquets" refers to the flowers people carried to mask the miasma of the plague, "Atisho" refers to the sneezing episode that ultimately led to death, "we all fall" ( Firth, 2012, p. Deaths from the plague were recorded and displayed each week in a public space in the form of a mortality report. The plague reached its peak in September 1665, when there was a huge increase in the number of weekly deaths: "7,000 people were dying every week in London alone." (Firth, 2012, p. 14). Although the plague slowly abated in 1666, it was the Great Fire of London in September 1666 that finally put an end to it. The fire sterilized the city, destroying all the filth and rats that had caused the plague to continually reappear (Firth, 2012, p. 14). The events of the plague were recorded in numerous documents such as medical records and personal writings such as those of Samuel Pepys and Daniel Defoe which providesubjective and descriptive interpretations of the plague and its effects. Samuel Pepys, English diarist and politician, lived in London at the time of the Great Plague. Pepys was an educated man who attended Cambridge University and achieved success through his career as a Navy administrator and his position as President of the Royal Society (Stack, M and Griffin, L., 2000; Stevenson, 1909-1917). His education, skills and high position in the Navy and within the Royal Society allowed him to advance rapidly in society and in his private life. Pepys became very wealthy very early in his life and therefore lived luxuriously as an upper-class citizen (Stack, M and Griffin, L., 2000, p. 542). His love of wealth, material goods and social status contributed to Pepys being portrayed as shallow, self-centered, lustful and greedy. Pepys' personality is defined by his pleasure-seeking nature, "the diary is a manifestation of Pepys' character: he was a vain and naturally curious pleasure-seeker" (Cannan, 2006, p. 214). He sought pleasure in all aspects of his life, such as food, theater, people and women, which is reflected in his many affairs. “He likes music, he likes sex, he likes administration, he likes literature. , he is a lover of science. (Timpson, 2010). His desire and pleasure in accumulating money remained strong during the plague, as evidenced by Stevenson's statement: "He defended his affairs well during the dreadful plague of 1666" (1909-1917). This statement also shows how Pepys benefited from the plague while others suffered from it, further justifying his selfishness and self-centeredness. Pepys was a diary for nine years, from 1660 to 1669, and faithfully recorded the details of his personal life, interests and daily activities. This document offers a scientific interpretation of the plague. His diary not only describes the historical events of the plague; it also reveals the lifestyles lived by the wealthy in London and gives the reader an idea of ​​the social classes that existed in the society (Stack, M and Griffin, L., 2000). Ultimately, it was his myopic, selfish personality and his focus on money, status, and business that influenced the way he viewed the events of the plague and therefore the way he spoke about them. Daniel Defoe, however, is different from Pepys in terms of education, wealth and personality. Although Defoe's parents prevented him from studying at Oxford and Cambridge because they were dissidents, he was still well educated (Stack, M and Griffin, L., 2000). He began his career as a trader and entrepreneur and went from prosperity to bankruptcy to success again (Richetti, 2006, p. 126). Although Defoe was busy in his career and with his service to King William III as a spy, he constantly found time to write and pursue literary studies. His writings have been classified into four important groups: his political and religious writings which got him arrested, his didactic writings, his journalistic writings such as A Journal of the Plague Year and his fictional writings which included his famous book Robinson Crusoe ( Stack, M and Griffin, L., 2000). Defoe was a simple middle-class citizen and has been described as “a practical man, who took an active and significant part in the daily work of the world” (Jokinen, 2006). The quotes: "Defoe belonged by birth to a persecuted minority" and "Socially, his position differed from that of his greatest literary contemporaries", imply that Defoe did not come from a wealthy background and that he did not lead no longer a rich and extravagant lifestyle. He haswent through trials that shaped his personality and his literature: “His experiences could have embittered or deformed him, but on the contrary, he became infinitely versatile, courageous and resilient” (Backscheider, 1989, p. 11). It is clear from his literary works that his personality, social status, difficulties and spirit influenced his writings in terms of the emotion and understanding he describes in them, which differentiates them from Pepys' work. Pepys's and Defoe's accounts of the plague differ radically in many ways. One of the striking features of the difference between the two writers is the form of writing they used to document the events of the plague. Pepys provides a daily account of the Great Plate in the form of a personal journal. A journal is called “A book in which one keeps a daily record of one's experiences” (Oxford Dictionary, 2007). In his diary he recorded the daily events of his life and during the plague years he wrote about the progression of the plague and its effects on his life on an almost daily basis. Unlike Pepys, Defoe wrote about the plague several years after its demise and focused on several main events (Shober, 2014). He did this by writing a diary about the Great Plague. A diary is "a recording of events...by a person who is an eyewitness or participant", and is less intimate and private than a personal diary because it does not necessarily record a person's daily activities and emotions. person (Stack, M and Griffin, L., 2000). Defoe's work, A Journal of the Plague Years, can be described as a "semi-fictional reconstruction of an authentic and contemporary document", in that he obtained the information for his journal from eyewitness accounts eyepieces, pamphlets and official documents such as medical records and doctors' notes which he used to reconstruct the events of the plague for his diary (Stack, M and Griffin, L., 2000). Pepys presents the events of the plague through his own experience; while Defoe presents the events of the plague through the narrator he created called HF or presumably Henry Foe, Defoe's uncle who may have experienced the events of the plague (Stack, M and Griffin, L., 2000 ). Defoe recorded the events of the plague, their responses to those events, and their individual personalities all influenced how and why they wrote about the plague. Indeed, the motivations of each writer when presenting the events of the plague and the didactic nature of their works are very different. Pepys documented the events in his personal diary, thus making his work purely subjective and private. This leads one to believe that his work was written solely to record the events of his personal life and his ideas. This also indicates that he had no intention of others reading his diary and therefore his motivation was not to inform or educate others about the events of the plague. Pepys wrote for his own pleasure and personal reflection, which is clear from his constant reference to his affairs, his trade and the effect the plague had on him, such as "being troubled by sickness and my head also full of other matters. enough, and in particular how to put my affairs and assets in order” (Wortham, 2011). Even though Pepys did not intend to educate others about the plague, his diary remains didactic because it provides information about a historical event from a personal perspective. - testimony and constantly mentions factual information about the plague such as "Over 700 died from the plague this week" and "his servant died of a Bubo in the right groin and two spots on theright thigh, which is the plague” (Wortham, 2011). “At the Theatre, and there I saw 'The Contemptuous Lady' and 'Mercer, his wife - Mary, Alice and Su, our maids; and Tom, My Boy” also indicate that Pepys’ diary informed the reader about the different social classes of society in the 17th century as well as the lifestyles of the wealthy (Stack, M and Griffin, L., 2000). Unlike Pepys, Defoe's plague diary is particularly didactic and was written solely for the purpose of teaching his readers about the events of the plague. Defoe used his diary to show how the plague spread and highlights the beliefs and ideas surrounding the plague: "the danger spread insensible, for the sick could only infect those within reach of the plague." sick person” (Stack, M. and Griffin, L., 2000). Defoe's diary informs the reader of how the plague affected ordinary people and their families, rather than himself and businesses, as Pepys' diary shows. Defoe manages to convey the tragedy of the events and allows the reader to understand the events through the use of moving stories such as "Burial Pits and Dead Carts", where the narrator sees a man mourning his dead wife and children (Stack , M and Griffin, L., 2000). Defoe also uses humor in the stories of the piper and the abusive priest to alleviate the dark mood that surrounded the plague, "Defoe uses humor to balance the weight of some of his themes" (Hannis, 2007, p 49). "But I'm not dead, am I?" ” is a statement made by the piper that makes the other characters laugh and in turn reflects to the reader that not all events that occurred during the plague were dark (Stack, M and Griffin, L., 2000). Both Pepys's and Defoe's texts demonstrate didacticism, although for different reasons, which allows the text to relate to the reader in some way. Pepys's diary is purely personal and this influences the way the text relates to and addresses the reader. His Dairy shows no concern for the reader as he did not intend for people to read his Dairy: “There is no sign that he wanted people to read his brutally frank personal thoughts” (Timpson, 2010 ). He addresses the reader in an indirect and distant manner and is not inviting as he makes no effort to include them in the text and the events of the plague, e.g. "Up, and to the desk and there all morning sitting » and “In the evening at home for supper” (Stack, M and Griffin, L., 2000). This is evident as his diary entries are short and to the point and he writes mainly about the progress of his business and the events of the plague in terms of the number of deaths, for example on March 13, 1666 he states: "the plague has increased this number. week from 29 to 28, although the total went from 238 to 207, which I don't like at all” (Wortham, 2011). This way of writing can be useful to the reader in conveying information about the plague; however, this does not allow the text to interact with the reader on a personal and emotional level, like Defoe's text. Defoe's journalistic style allowed him to carefully formulate the stories he told and use certain methods to include the reader in his text. Defoe's diary addresses his readers directly as he uses full sentences and pronouns, which "contributed to the impression that Defoe was speaking directly to his readers" (Hannis, 2007, p. 48) . Examples of this are “I remember a citizen who” and “I know the story tells itself” (Stack, M and Griffin, L., 2000). Quotes from his diary such as "I say, hardlydid he see sight" and "but as John told me, that man was not blind", also indicate that Defoe is conversing with the reader to some extent and directly including in what the narrator was experiencing and thought (Stack, M and Griffin, L., 2000). Ultimately, this brings the reader closer to his text and allows him to better understand the events he presents. Another aspect to consider when looking at the contrast between Pepys and Defoe is the authenticity of their work. Their two accounts of the plague contain elements of truth which reassure the reader because they give the texts a feeling of authenticity. Even though the reader is aware of the truth in Pepys' text since it is his personal journal, there are many other aspects that assure the reader that there is truth in what he wrote . This is first seen through Pepys's constant reference to the Bill of Mortality which “was produced…to reveal patterns of death and disease in early modern London” (Slauter, 2011, p. 1 ). Examples of this in the text are: "sent for the weekly bill and found 8,252 dead in all" and "The death toll, to all our sorrows, is increased by 399 this week" (Stack, M and Griffin , L., 2000). ). Pepys also writes about conversations he has had which indicate to the reader that he is telling the truth, for example: "I met this afternoon with Dr Burnett, who told me..." and "Sir W Batten told me met and told me” (Wortham, 2011). Pepys also creates authenticity in his dairy by mentioning the dates of the days he wrote such as "October 31, 1665" and "April 5, 1666". In Pepys' diary, statements such as "Then I came home late to my letter and therefore went to bed" and "Where, to my great annoyance, I met a corpse of the plague, in the close ally, going down a small staircase" provide detailed descriptions of small and insignificant things that he does or experiences and this gives his text an added sense of truthfulness. Defoe's text, on the other hand, is based on real events but was not written at the time of the events, like Pepys's diary. Defoe is very successful in reconstructing the events of the plague and creating a sense of authenticity in his work through the various techniques and sources he used: "Defoe's reports were true, he was quick to include facts and details to increase their plausibility” (Hannis, 2007). Although he writes about past events, he uses a first person speaker, Henry Foe, who converses with other people in the newspaper, such as the sexton (Stack, M and Griffin, L., 2000). Its narrator provides detailed, personal testimonies and honest first-person accounts of events such as hearing about the man who committed suicide and seeing a man mourn his deceased wife and children. This leads the reader to believe that they actually witnessed the events (Shober, 2014). Defoe also includes dialogue such as "Is he quite dead?" » » And the first replied: “Yes, yes, quite dead; quite dead and cold!' », which makes the situations in the text more credible (Stack, M and Griffin, L., 2000). Defoe also uses street names such as "Bell Alley" and "Aldersgate Street", inn names such as "Angel Inn", "White Horse" and "Pied Bull" and personal names such as "John Hayward » which all existed in London. at the time of the plague, to create authenticity in his diary (Stack, M and Griffin, L., 2000). Defoe uses numerous primary and secondary sources such as The Bill of Mortality, doctors' notes, pamphlets, and eyewitness accounts to piece together his version of the plague years (Shober, 2014).Through the use of these sources, but also through the agreement of scientifically associated people on the facts he mentions, for example "the opinion of doctors agreed with my observations", Defoe provides the reader with a scientific credibility (Hazlitt, 1841). Although the events recorded in his diary are verified, his descriptions of these events are sometimes overly dramatic, for example: "a woman... cried out, 'Oh! Dead, dead, dead!' » (Stack, M and Griffin, L., 2000). This dramatization can lead the reader to believe that the truth of the events could have been distorted to create a certain affect in the newspaper (Stack, M and Griffin, L., 2000). The final and most important difference between Pepys's and Defoe's accounts of the plague is their use of emotion and understanding in their texts. As noted previously, Pepys's diary is more restricted than Defoe's diary (Shober, 2014). Pepys cares little for the other people affected by the plague and expresses no emotion towards them but rather at the closure of the town for example, "and therefore goes to bed sadly on hearing that seven or eight houses of Bazing-hall the streets are closed” and “Lord, how sad it is to see the streets empty of people” (Wortham, 2011). In fact, he seems to only care about his family and business since his diary mainly focuses on himself, his daily events, and how the plague affected him, as evidenced by his diary entries stating: “As for me, I’m doing very well. ” and “Plus, office business is excellent” (Wortham, 2011). Pepys takes an objective approach to the plague and it can be assumed that he does so because of his self-centered personality. He does not care at all about anyone else and especially those who are lower in status than him, as evidenced by his statements such as "the poor who cannot be noticed because of the greatness of the numbers and “Captain Cockes Black.” had died of the plague – which I had heard about before but paid no attention to” (Wortham, 2011). He does not describe any personal or moving events that occurred during the plague, making his text seem unsympathetic and insensitive to the grief experienced by others affected by the plague (Shober, 2014). Pepys's diary evokes little emotion in its readers compared to Defoe's diary, which through its text allows the reader to visualize and understand the true horror experienced by people during the plague. Lewis states that Defoe's text "aims to help his reader form images" and this is done through his use of emotion and the description of people's reactions to their experiences (2004). An example of this is his description of a man who cried with "a kind of masculine sorrow that could not be expressed through tears" and who "screamed aloud, unable to contain himself" (Stack, M and Griffin , L., 2000). This moving story, accompanied by vivid descriptions such as "a woman uttered three frightening screams,... in a most inimitable tone" and "Her clothes were torn off, her jaw dropped, her eyes opened in a most frightening posture", allows Defoe allows readers to visualize and understand how the plague actually affected people on an emotional level. The quote that Defoe, "the strange evocation...of the plague itself, 'dreadfully transported [their readers]'", supports the idea that he was capable of clearly conveying the true horror of the plague to the reader (Lewis, 2004, p. 95). Defoe also gives a broader picture of the plague in relation to Pepys, since he writes not only about himself but also others, such as the man who lost his family and the piper (Stack, M and Griffin,] 22].