Venice Preserved: A Tragedy in Five Acts

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Otway's Venice Preserved (1682) is the greatest English tragedy of the Restoration period: Jaffeir, a Venetian gentleman ruined by his father-in-law, joins a conspiracy against the state organized by his friend Pierre — then betrays the conspirators to save his wife Belvidera, who begged him to. The play's central tension — between love and friendship, private loyalty and public action — generates genuine tragic complexity that most Restoration drama avoids. Its emotional scenes between Jaffeir and Belvidera were rated by contemporaries among the most affecting in the English stage.