Revenge play: Encyclopedia II - Revenge play - Influence

Revenge play - Influence

A number of plays, from 1587 on, are influenced by certain aspects of revenge tragedy, although they do not fit perfectly into this category.

The plays of Shakespeare that reveal such influence include Titus Andronicus, Julius Caesar, and Macbeth.

Other plays indicating such an influence include

• Christopher Marlowe's The Jew of Malta
• John Marston's The Malcontent, Antonio and Mellida, and Antonio's Revenge; all three of these may be, and the last certainly is, satiric.
• George Chapman's Bussy D'Ambois and Bussy's Revenge.
• Cyril Tourneur's The Atheist's Tragedy.
• Thomas Middleton's The Changeling (coauthored with William Rowley) and Women Beware Women.
• John Webster's The White Devil.
• John Fletcher and Francis Beaumont's The Maid's Tragedy. A well-known but unverifiable anecdote holds that the two playwrights were discussing the plot of this play in a tavern, a servant mistook their literary regicide for a real plot against James I. Even if it is not true, the story suggests some of the political interests associated with the genre.
• John Ford's 'Tis Pity She's a Whore, a kind of reverse revenge in which the audience's sympathy is split between the prospective revenger and his prey, and The Broken Heart.

Adapted from the Wikipedia article "Influence", under the G.N U Free Docmentation License. Please also see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki