ABSTRACT
In the context of seventeenth-century plague times, this chapter interrogates the relationship between emotion and place in the navigation of fear within the community. By revisiting visual and written accounts of the plague in the Parish of St Giles, London, the chapter suggests that we might call these representations ‘emotional tools’ in that they could play an active part in suggesting, directing and containing emotions within London society at times of heightened emotional discourse – in this instance, overwhelming anxiety of the plague. The chapter further argues that it was not always necessary for these ‘emotional tools’ to be accurate representations of city space, rather they could be distorted or composite representations incorporating immediately recognizable landmarks to locate places of the plague. Importantly, these representations not only reflected the fear felt among the London community, but also could be used to produce or direct it to particular locations within the city.
