Art of literary criticism: Webinar on 'Revenge Tragedy’

To let students know about the art of literary criticism, a webinar on the topic of 'Revenge Tragedy: New Critical Perspectives' has been organised by the Department of English and Literary Studies, Brainware University. The guest speaker for this webinar was Dr. Piyali Sircar, Assistant Professor, Department of English, Rammohan College. The event was held from 3 pm to 5 pm on August 20, 2022.

Sircar offered some of the highlights from the canonical text which the speaker described as “a tragedy of moral consciousness”. The perpetual inefficacy of the human predicament has helped conceptualize tragedy in The Duchess of Malfi. The speaker deems the inevitable dilapidation of humanity that culminates in “the complete descent of man into beast”, with an inevitable recognition of the important lesson that constitutes the moral imperative for the protagonist—that…life is nothing but a preparation of death.”

Dr. Sircar elaborates on the play’s characterisation as facilitating a meditation on the pervasiveness of evil, that nonetheless does not lose track of the “importance of goodness”.

The session was attended by many students of the department, who engaged in an interactive session with the presenter.