Introduction to Revenge Tragedy
The revenge tragedy or revenge play is a dramatic genre in which the protagonists seek revenge for an imagined or an actual injury. The term “Revenge Tragedy” was first introduced in 1900 by A.H. Thorndike to label a class of plays in the late Elizabethan and early Jacobean eras. Typically these works possess themes and devices such as wronged revenge seeker, ghosts, madness, delay, multiple murders, a play within play, and bloody violence on the stage.
Early Traditions of Revenge
According to literary historians, the earliest example of a kind of revenge tradition is Oresteia by Aeschylus. During the Renaissance, two main revenge traditions are discernible: the French-Spanish tradition evident in the works of Lope de Vega, Calderon, and Corneille, whose dominant themes are mainly honour and the conflict between duty and love; and the Senecan tradition, contributed by Lucius Annaeus Seneca, the Roman statesman, orator, and dramatist of the first century A.D.
Seneca’s Influence on English Tragedy
English tragedy developed mainly from the classical models of Seneca. Senecan tragedies possessed the essence of horror, exaggerated character types, violent rhetorical language coupled with emotional hyperbole, and a wealth of epigram. Other contributions of Seneca include the five-act structure and one-line exchanges known as stichomythia. While Seneca wrote several kinds of tragedy, Elizabethan playwrights were particularly attracted to his Thyestes, Medea, and Agamemnon. For Renaissance dramatists in Italy, France, and England, classical tragedy meant only the ten Latin plays of Seneca, not Euripides, Aeschylus, or Sophocles.
Seneca in English Universities
Senecan influence was first felt in Latin plays of universities, especially Cambridge, where between 1550 and 1560 the theatres became Senecan. By 1561, Seneca had become the first classical dramatist whose ten Latin tragedies were translated into English. By 1581, all ten plays were published in a single volume.
Features of Elizabethan Revenge Tragedy
During the Elizabethan theatre, plays about tragedy and revenge became very common. In all revenge tragedies, first and foremost, a crime of murder is committed, and for different reasons, laws and justice cannot punish the criminal. The main character is instigated to take revenge. The ghost of the dead person often urges the main character to avenge the crime, which is usually committed against a family member. The revenger places himself outside the moral order, often becoming isolated, which can lead to madness. Initially, hesitation and delay follow the ghost’s urging. The revenge must be exacted by the revenger or his trusted accomplices, who may die in the process.
Kyd and The Spanish Tragedy
Kyd was the lead innovator of revenge tragedy. His work The Spanish Tragedy exemplifies the revenge tradition. The play opens with the ghost of Andrea, and revenge centers on Hieronimo, a Spanish gentleman driven to melancholy by the murder of his son. Between spells of madness, he discovers the murderers, plans his revenge, stages a play in which the murderers take part, and ultimately kills them before taking his own life.
Other Examples of Revenge Tragedy
The influence of The Spanish Tragedy is evident in Shakespeare’s Hamlet and other contemporary plays:
- John Marston’s Antonio’s Revenge: Antonio’s father’s ghost urges him to avenge his murder.
- George Chapman’s Revenge of Bussy d’Ambois: Bussy’s ghost asks his brother Clermont to avenge his death.
- Other examples include Shakespeare’s Titus Andronicus, Henry Chettle’s The Tragedy of Hoffman, Thomas Middleton’s The Revenger’s Tragedy, and Cyril Tourneur’s The Atheist’s Tragedy, which subverts the revenge plot by forbidding vengeance.
Early Criticism and Development
Critics agree that Kyd was the lead innovator, though his plays are coarse and unrefined. Early revenge tragedies such as George Peele’s The Battle of Alcazar and Shakespeare’s Titus Andronicus reflect this undisciplined style. As Elizabethan dramatists mastered the form, they became more sophisticated in character, theme, and motif. Marston’s Antonio’s Revenge is cited as a drama that skillfully fuses all elements of the revenge tradition.
Cultural Context and Popularity
Scholars have examined the theme of revenge tragedy in the Elizabethan and Jacobean eras. Some view its popularity as questioning the morality of revenge and taking justice into one’s own hands. Others argue that the genre expressed public frustrations and desires for justice against oppressive governance.