The Raft of the Medusa
"The Raft of the Medusa" (1945) is a play written in verse that reverses the ethos of "The Burghers of Calais" in a more pessimistic direction; to avoid bad luck, thirteen children on a life-raft drown the youngest of them. (See the frigate "Méduse" for the historical shipwreck and "The Raft of the Medusa" for its famous depiction in art.)