Hamlet and The Revenger's Tragedy Flashcards
Some critics have claimed that Vindici is supposed to have been responsible for his wife’s poisoning…
Some critics have claimed that Vindici is supposed to have been responsible for his wife’s poisoning, though the Duke submits to have poisoned “many a beauty” for rejecting him. This would parallel Hamlet in his rejection of Ophelia, and if Vindici’s father sought vengeance on the Duke (probable) it would imply that the spirits of their respective fathers seek to insure that they do not commit adultery, even by proxy of the possed protagonists.
The parallels in the roles of Vindice, Hamlet and their respective fathers is quite a surprising parallel that caught me off guard…
The parallels in the roles of Vindice, Hamlet and their respective fathers is quite a surprising parallel that caught me off guard. The more apparent concepts that bring the plays together are their focus on the wages of sin and atonement, avarice, revenge, loyalty and treason, incest and adultery. The plays are most significantly different in their class conscienceness and the overtness of magic. The Revenger’s Tragedy is as a dark Christian mythology while Hamlet minces the pagan spiritual world with Christian ideology. At best the plays offer a glimpse at the time period and its trends, while at worst they tell us just a little about the author.
In both plays, major characters who have been killed have not atoned for their sins….
In both plays, major characters who have been killed have not atoned for their sins, but in Middleton’s piece little sympathy is given to the Duke, while King Hamlet’s inability to atone for his sins is a central theme to the justification for revenge.
Hamlet was created – and received – as a tragedy of a nobleman who faces the wrongdoings of others. Conversely…
Hamlet was created – and received – as a tragedy of a nobleman who faces the wrongdoings of others. Conversely, The Revenger’s Tragedy implements the relevent class antagonisms of the time and views the aristocracy from the eyes of the common people, instead of Shakespeare’s internal and slavish depiction of the rulers of the time. Criticism is sparse and tactful, Shakespeare was after all interested chiefly in monetary gain. Middleton’s piece, however, would have set him apart from the aristocracy in a dangerous way, probably costing him his life – so he published it without attribution. While some scholars still contend that Cyril Tourneur, known for his revenge tragedy The Atheist’s Tragedy, is responsible for the piece (citing linguistic nuances), a majority think that Middleton created the piece due to stylistic similarities.
