Department of English

Term Paper
On
Shakespearean Tragedy
Submitted To:
Shamsul Alam
Lecturer
Department of English
Tejgaon College, Dhaka

Prepared By
Shefali Sarker
Master’s (Final Year)
Class Roll: 1516201
Reg. No:
Session: 2015-2016
Department of English
Tejgaon College, Dhaka

National University, Gazipur.

Date of Submission: 1st April, 2018
 Letter of transmittal
To
Shamsul Alam
Lecturer
Department of English
Tejgaon College, Dhaka

Subject: Letter of Transmittal

Dear Sir,
With deep respect I would like to state that I am Shefali Sarker from Master’s of English,
Session: 2015-16. I want to mention that I am assigned to complete my dissertation under
your supervision. I will be ever grateful to you if you please provide me your expectations
to me.
I am highly interested on Shakespearean Tragedy Reading because it always inspires me
to construct issues critically. I want to submit my term paper with the topic. It will be my
pleasure if you please provide me the chance of working with the topic. I can assure you
saying that I will execute my duties with almost diligence and sincerity.

Thanks for your valuable time.

Sincerely yours

____________________
Shefali Sarker
Master’s (Final Year)
Class Roll: 1516201
Reg. No:
Session: 2015-2016
Department of English
Tejgaon College, Dhaka
 Declaration

I declare that this thesis entitled, Shakespearean Tragedy The term paper has not been
accepted for any degree and is not concurrently submitted in candidature of any other
degree.

_____________________
Shefali Sarker
Master’s (Final Year)
Class Roll: 1516201
Reg. No:
Session: 2015-2016
Department of English
Tejgaon College, Dhaka
 Certification of Supervisor

I am pleased to certify that the dissertation conducted on “Shakespearean Tragedy”

Shefali Sarker from Master’s of English, Session: 2015-16, Department of English,
Tejgaon College, Dhaka has been approved for presentation and viva-voce. He has
completed the dissertation under my supervision.

I also add that the finding presented in this thesis is an authentic attempt of Shefali Sarker.
I strongly recommend this term paper for further academic recommendation, presentation
and publication as well.

______________________
Shamsul Alam
Lecturer
Department of English
Tejgaon College, Dhaka
 Acknowledgement
I am grateful to my term paper supervisor, Shamsul Alam, Lecturer, Department of
English, Tejgaon College, Dhaka, for her patience, being inspirational, and teaching me
the importance of using curiosity as the driving force behind the research. I would like to
thank him for priceless lessons and the freedom she granted me during my work.

I would like to thank all my teachers of the department of English of Tejgaon College,
Dhaka for creating a friendly and supportive environment.

Finally, I thank my parents, family and friends for their supportive behavior.
 Abstract
When the Staatstheater Stuttgart put on The Merchant of Venice in 1956, the reviewer of a
major German newspaper commented on the precariousness of staging the play in
Germany after 1945: “With several million dead, it is difficult to play away without
playing them away.” By taking such a degree of reticence and reflection for granted it is
often assumed that Shakespeare’s problematic comedy was slow in returning to German
stages after National Socialism, the Second World War and the Holocaust, and that, when
it eventually did return, the play was necessarily performed and received in the spirit of a
soul-searching remembrance. In consequence, the first fifteen years of Shylock’s postwar
history in (West) Germany are frequently glossed over. This essay sets out to take a closer
look at the surprisingly lively—and at times surprisingly unrestrained—reception of the
play during the foundational period of the Federal Republic of Germany. The analysis
proceeds from the hypothesis that the play may in fact have been used “to play something
away,” since the appeal of staging Merchant was partly due to its comedic plot line of
psychological shock-absorption and social restoration. However, it can also be shown that
the figure of Shylock necessarily exceeded, or even exploded, such restorative ends, so
that early postwar productions of Merchant performed a revealing dialectic of continuity
and change, compensation and “working through,” forgetting and “remembering.”
Eventually, it proved impossible to simply play the recent past away.
 Table of Contents

Pagen No
Chapter-01: Introductions
1.1 Introduction: 01
1.2 Characteristics of Shakesperean tragedy 02
1.3 The Tragic Flaw 03

Chapter-02: Conceptual Issues

2.1 Tragic Hero 05
2.2 Hamartia 06
2.3 Good vs Evil 07
2.4 Tragic Waste 07
2.5 Conflict 08
2.6 Catharsis 09
2.7 Supernatural Machinery 09
2.8 Critical Essays Shakespeare's Tragedy 12

Chapter-03: Database
3.1 Methodology 14
3.2 Source of data: 14
3.3 Data Analysis 15
3.4 Sampling Method: 15

Chapter-04: Findings of the Study

4.1 Classification 16
4.3 Influences and sources 16
4.4 Contemporary tragedy 17
4.5 The Fatal Flaws of Shakespeare’s Most Famous Tragic Characters 18

Chapter-05: Conclusions
5.1 Conclusions: 23
References 26