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Five Revenge Tragedies: Kyd, Shakespeare, Marston, Chettle, Middleton
As the Elizabethan era gave way to the reign of James I, England grappled with corruption within the royal court and widespread religious anxiety. Dramatists responded with morally complex plays of dark wit and violent spectacle, exploring the nature of death, the abuse of power and vigilante justice.
In Kyd's The Spanish Tragedy, a father failed by the Spanish court seeks his own bloody retribution for his son's murder. Shakespeare's 1603 version of Hamlet creates an avenging Prince of unique psychological depth, while Chettle's The Tragedy of Hoffman is a fascinating reworking of Hamlet's themes, probably for a rival theatre company. In Marston's Antonio's Revenge, thwarted love leads inexorably to gory reprisals and in Middleton's The Revenger's Tragedy, malcontent Vindice unleashes an escalating orgy of mayhem on a debauched Duke for his bride's murder, in a ferocious satire reflecting the mounting disillusionment of the age.
Emma Smith's introduction considers the political and religious climate behind the plays and the dramatic conventions within them. This edition includes a chronology, playwrights' biographies and suggestions for further reading.
In Kyd's The Spanish Tragedy, a father failed by the Spanish court seeks his own bloody retribution for his son's murder. Shakespeare's 1603 version of Hamlet creates an avenging Prince of unique psychological depth, while Chettle's The Tragedy of Hoffman is a fascinating reworking of Hamlet's themes, probably for a rival theatre company. In Marston's Antonio's Revenge, thwarted love leads inexorably to gory reprisals and in Middleton's The Revenger's Tragedy, malcontent Vindice unleashes an escalating orgy of mayhem on a debauched Duke for his bride's murder, in a ferocious satire reflecting the mounting disillusionment of the age.
Emma Smith's introduction considers the political and religious climate behind the plays and the dramatic conventions within them. This edition includes a chronology, playwrights' biographies and suggestions for further reading.
464 pages, Paperback
First published May 31, 2012
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About the author
Emma Smith
44 books101 followersLibrarian Note: There is more than one author in the GoodReads database with this name. See this thread for more information.
Emma Smith is Professor of Shakespeare Studies at the University of Oxford. She has lectured widely in the UK and beyond on the First Folio and on Shakespeare and early modern drama. Her research interests include the methodology of writing about theatre, and developing analogies between cinema, film theory and early modern performance. Her recent publications include Macbeth: Language and Writing (2013), The Cambridge Shakespeare Guide (Cambridge, 2012) and Shakespeare's First Folio: Four Centuries of an Iconic Book (2016).
Emma Smith is Professor of Shakespeare Studies at the University of Oxford. She has lectured widely in the UK and beyond on the First Folio and on Shakespeare and early modern drama. Her research interests include the methodology of writing about theatre, and developing analogies between cinema, film theory and early modern performance. Her recent publications include Macbeth: Language and Writing (2013), The Cambridge Shakespeare Guide (Cambridge, 2012) and Shakespeare's First Folio: Four Centuries of an Iconic Book (2016).
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Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews
December 1, 2024
Very useful collection of plays and I’m forever indebted to Emma Smith’s brilliant introductions. One choice I didn’t really get though because for some reason Smith decided to use the 1603 ‘bad folio’ version of Hamlet for this?
January 31, 2020
I was reading this for Hamlet, when about a quarter the way through the play, I realized that the editor, Emma Smith, was using the 1603 edition of Hamlet, usually called the "Bad Folio." The Bad Folio was probably not written by Shakespeare, but based off the faulty memory of one of the actors from the play, reciting his lines to a schribner who then put it up for publication to cash in on Shakespeare's growing fame.
Why is it called the Bad Folio? Because it is bad. This edition is not divided into acts, the language is trite. Here's an example from the Bad Folio: "To be or not to be, aye, there's the point. To die, to sleep, is that all? Ay, All." Dogshit.
The Bad Folio is an interesting footnote in history, and it certainly deserves to be published and discussed among specialists. But it is bad form on the part of Emma Smith to dump this into a series of plays presented for the general reader, and even worse form to not warn the reader that you are giving them the text from the Bad Folio. I'm surprised Penguin would allow for this.
Smith may have published a book called "This is Shakespeare," but, this is not Shakespeare. It is inexplicable why Smith would do such a thing and not explained. Frankly, it is the kind of reprehensive scholarly behavior that she should be tarred and feathered for.
Why is it called the Bad Folio? Because it is bad. This edition is not divided into acts, the language is trite. Here's an example from the Bad Folio: "To be or not to be, aye, there's the point. To die, to sleep, is that all? Ay, All." Dogshit.
The Bad Folio is an interesting footnote in history, and it certainly deserves to be published and discussed among specialists. But it is bad form on the part of Emma Smith to dump this into a series of plays presented for the general reader, and even worse form to not warn the reader that you are giving them the text from the Bad Folio. I'm surprised Penguin would allow for this.
Smith may have published a book called "This is Shakespeare," but, this is not Shakespeare. It is inexplicable why Smith would do such a thing and not explained. Frankly, it is the kind of reprehensive scholarly behavior that she should be tarred and feathered for.
January 24, 2019
Very best tragedies that once set the canon of Revenge Tragedies with all the characteristic features of this type of plays.
June 20, 2024
This is a very cool collection. Emma Smith's introduction places the revenge tragedy in its context in really smart but brief ways. What's most cool about this edition, though, is the way Smith places these revenge tragedies in order, and so one is able to see quite clearly how they influence one another, and how the theatre industry of the late 16th and early 17th century in English flogged this genre to death. The plays seem spurred on by one another in intriguing ways, and one can more easily see the connections between them and their obvious influences.
The only play in this collection without an Arden or Revels edition is The Tragedy of Hoffman or Revenge of a Father, and so I've come to this collection in order to read that play, especially. Chettle's play is truly perverse. It is filled with so many lies and plots that my head began to swim. By act five I actually began to mistrust what I know happened and even begin to believe the lies these villains told. The perversity of the whole thing lies not necessarily in the methods of murder (we begin the play with a burning crown that tortures a man to death) but in the complete depravity of the revenger. I can sympathize even with as villainous a man as Vindice in The Revengers Tragedy or Gloucester in Richard III, but Chettle's Hoffman, though he is onstage more than anyone else in the play, is unredeemable and, indeed, unlovable. This makes for rough, though not unpleasurable, going. There are many more notable things about The Tragedy of Hoffman, but it is perhaps most intriguing as a clear bridge between Hamlet and The Revengers Tragedy: it so obviously and constantly cites the first play, and Revengers so clearly cites it that this edition makes a chain between the three visible in new ways.
It makes sense, too, that Antonio's Revenge would also appear here—it has been compared to Hamlet many times, and it is, indeed, unclear which play came first. In any case, this is a good read, and I'm glad I looked up this edition.
The only play in this collection without an Arden or Revels edition is The Tragedy of Hoffman or Revenge of a Father, and so I've come to this collection in order to read that play, especially. Chettle's play is truly perverse. It is filled with so many lies and plots that my head began to swim. By act five I actually began to mistrust what I know happened and even begin to believe the lies these villains told. The perversity of the whole thing lies not necessarily in the methods of murder (we begin the play with a burning crown that tortures a man to death) but in the complete depravity of the revenger. I can sympathize even with as villainous a man as Vindice in The Revengers Tragedy or Gloucester in Richard III, but Chettle's Hoffman, though he is onstage more than anyone else in the play, is unredeemable and, indeed, unlovable. This makes for rough, though not unpleasurable, going. There are many more notable things about The Tragedy of Hoffman, but it is perhaps most intriguing as a clear bridge between Hamlet and The Revengers Tragedy: it so obviously and constantly cites the first play, and Revengers so clearly cites it that this edition makes a chain between the three visible in new ways.
It makes sense, too, that Antonio's Revenge would also appear here—it has been compared to Hamlet many times, and it is, indeed, unclear which play came first. In any case, this is a good read, and I'm glad I looked up this edition.
June 16, 2025
Finish date: 16 June 2025
Genre: 5 Revenge Plays
Rating: B
Reading time: 9 years…finally finished!
2016 – The Spanish Tragedy
2016 – The Revenger’s Tragedy
2019 – Hamlet
2025 – Antonio’s Revenge
2025 – The Hoffman Tragedy
Conclusion:
I have been avoiding these play for years
…too difficult, complex plot.
Not actually looking forward to
…another “crazy” revenge play but want to finally
finish.
by
Emma SmithFive Revenge Tragedies: Kyd, Shakespeare, Marston, Chettle,
Middleton (Paperback) (isbn 0141192275)
Published November 27th 2012 by Penguin Classics
Saving the best for last?
Finished reading The Hoffman Tragedy today (16.06.2025)
I’ve been working on this book since 2016!
It was more work than entertainment!
I could not have managed without the play’s summary notes before reading.
Excellent example of a Renaissance Drama Revenge play:
Bodycount: 8
Characters assume disguises to advance the plot, develop character
drove this reader crazy!
If you love drama….this is a play that should be read!
Best play: Hamlet
Worst play: Antonio’s Revenge (…awful!)
Most complicated: The Hoffman Tragedy
Best character studies: The Spanish Tragedy several characters act as foils to highlight contrasting qualities.
Play that made the least impression: The Revenger’s Tragedy (…too many dukes/duchesses in Italian court)
October 16, 2020
A very good, comprehensive look at revenge tragedies.
August 15, 2025
I skipped the Hamlet for now.
I'm amazed at the complexity and weirdness of the plays. It is disorienting but also very satisfying.
Those people had a weird imagination. David Lynch from 1600!
I'm amazed at the complexity and weirdness of the plays. It is disorienting but also very satisfying.
Those people had a weird imagination. David Lynch from 1600!
June 20, 2016
A collection of really great play with an expert, if brief, introduction.
Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews