Dec 25, 2009

Danton’s Death | Danton’s Death

At a glance:

Author: Georg Büchner
First Published: 1835
Type of Work: Play
Type of Plot: Tragedy
Time of Work: Spring, 1794
Setting: Paris, France
Genres: Drama, Tragedy
Subjects: Politics, Revolutionaries, France or French people, Revolutions, Antiheroes, Paris, Eighteenth century, Politicians, French Revolution
Locales: Paris, France

Characters Discussed

Georges Danton (zhohrzh dan- TOH[N]), the first passive protagonist in German drama. The author makes it amply clear that Danton might have avoided imprisonment and subsequent death by escaping the Jacobins in time. In contrast to the traditional tragic hero, who comes to see the world as ominous only when he realizes that his own doom is inevitable, Danton has no illusions about the world from the play’s beginning and quietly wills his doom. Tantalizingly and ambiguously, the author never clarifies whether Danton’s failure to save his life is a...

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Danton’s Death | Danton’s Death

At a glance:

Characters Discussed

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