Classic to Modern English Literature

Venice Preserv'd is an English Restoration play written by Thomas Otway, and the most significant tragedy of the English stage in the 1680s. It was first premiered in 1682, with Thomas Betterton as Jaffeir and Elizabeth Barry as Belvidera. The play was soon printed and enjoyed many revivals through to the 1830s. It tells the story of Jaffeir, who becomes embroiled in a conspiracy to overthrow the corrupt Senate of Venice. This decision leads to conflicts with his lover Belvidera and his friend Pierre's complicated relationship with a courtesan. In 2019, the Royal Shakespeare Company staged a modern adaptation, Venice Preserved, at the Swan Theatre, Stratford-upon-Avon. The story of "Venice Preserved" is partly founded upon St. Real's History of the Conspiracy of the Spaniards against the Republic of Venice, in 1618. Thomas Otway's Restoration revenge tragedy draws on motifs of sexual perversion and political corruption. In Prasanna Puwanarajah's fast-paced

* Tragic Hero:  tragic hero heroes are the protagonists of tragedies, an old drama genre that originated in Ancient Greece. Tragedies contemplate the deeds and inevitable downfall of great individuals, typically caused by a significant flaw in that great individual. As a result, the tragic hero is the essential element of any classic tragedy. *A tragic hero is a type of character in a tragedy , and is usually the protagonist . Tragic heroes typically have heroic traits that earn them the sympathy of the audience, but also have flaws or make mistakes that ultimately lead to their own downfall. *The ancient Greek philosopher Aristotle was the first to define a “tragic hero .” *The idea of the tragic hero was first defined by the ancient Greek philosopher Aristotle based on his study of Greek drama. *Despite the term “ tragic hero ,” it’s sometimes the case that tragic heroes are not really heroes at all in the typical sense—and in a few cases, antagonists may even be des