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fate tragedy
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Also called:
fate drama
German,:
Schicksalstragödie
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fate tragedy

dramatic literature
Also known as: Schicksalstragödie, fate drama
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‱History

fate tragedy, a type of play especially popular in early 19th-century Germany in which a malignant destiny drives the protagonist to commit a horrible crime, often unsuspectingly. Adolf Mullner’s Der neunundzwanzigste Februar (1812; “February 29”) and Die Schuld (1813; “The Debt”) and Zacharias Werner’s Der vierundzwanzigste Februar (1806; “February 24”) are among the best-known examples.