The Tragedy of Donohoe (1835; retitled The Bushrangers, a Play in Five Acts in 1853, The Bush-Rangers in 1860 and Stalwart the Bushranger in 1867) is a play by Charles Harpur.

Origins and revisions

Harpur wrote The Tragedy of Donhoe while living in Sydney in the early 1830s. It was originally based on the life of Jack Donahue, a prominent bushranger who had murdered William Clements in 1828.[1] Harpur continually revised the play, however, and in later versions he renamed the protagonist "Stalwart" and his victim "Abel".[2] By the time he died, Harpur had produced at least four distinct versions of the play.[2][3] The play's complex textual history began in 1834, when Harpur presented a manuscript to Edward Smith Hall, the editor of The Sydney Monitor.[4] Hall was impressed with the play,[5] and published substantial extracts in the newspaper the following February.[4] Harpur published the first complete version of the play in 1853, as part of his book The Bushrangers, a Play in Five Acts, and Other Poems. He produced two final versions of the play, The Bush-Rangers in 1860 and Stalwart the Bushranger 1867; these versions remained in manuscript at his death.[6][2]

Literary and dramatic significance

The Tragedy of Donohoe is considered an important example of Gothic literature, nineteenth-century melodrama and Romantic tragedy.[7][8]

References

  1. ↑ Perkins, Elizabeth (1987). "Introduction". In Perkins, Elizabeth (ed.). Stalwart the bushranger ; with, the tragedy of Donohoe. Sydney: Currency Press in association with Australasian Drama Studies, St. Lucia. pp. xxiii–xxix. ISBN 0-86819-184-1. OCLC 21294844.
  2. 1 2 3 Ackland, Michael (1986). "Plot and Counter-Plot in Charles Harpur's 'The Bushrangers'". Australasian Drama Studies (8): 50–53.
  3. ↑ Perkins, Elizabeth (1987). "Introduction". In Perkins, Elizabeth (ed.). Stalwart the bushranger ; with, the tragedy of Donohoe. Sydney: Currency Press in association with Australasian Drama Studies, St. Lucia. pp. xvii. ISBN 0-86819-184-1. OCLC 21294844.
  4. 1 2 Normington-Rawlilng, J (1962). Charles Harpur: An Australian. Sydney: Angus and Robertson. pp. 41–47.
  5. ↑ Hall, Edward Smith (1834-05-10). "Australian Literature". Sydney Monitor. No. 688. p. 2. Retrieved 2022-11-20 – via National Library of Australia.
  6. ↑ Perkins, Elizabeth (1987). "Introduction". In Perkins, Elizabeth (ed.). Stalwart the bushranger ; with, the tragedy of Donohoe. Sydney: Currency Press in association with Australasian Drama Studies, St. Lucia. pp. xlv–li. ISBN 0-86819-184-1. OCLC 21294844.
  7. ↑ Falk, Michael (2020). "Sad Realities: The Romantic Tragedies of Charles Harpur" (PDF). Romantic Textualities: Literature and Print Culture, 1780–1840 (23): 200–217. doi:10.18573/romtext.65. ISSN 1748-0116. S2CID 226888997.
  8. ↑ Kelly, Veronica. "The melodrama of defeat: Political patterns in some colonial and contemporary Australian plays". Southerly. 50 (2): 132–135.
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