The Spanish Tragedy

Revenge tragedies were a popular genre of literature in the 16th and 17th centuries, the principal plot was a quest for vengeance, in which the seeker killed or harmed an individual or individuals. Generally, these tragedies, such as Shakespeare’s Hamlet, displayed themes such as ghosts, hysteria, lag of victory, numerous murders, and much more. Hamlet followed many norms used in revenge tragedies such as the ghost, murders, and hysteria. However, even though Shakespeare’s Hamlet was similar to…

Revenge of The Demon Lover A promise is a promise, in return to a failed promise revenge will always take place. In the short story The Demon Lover, Bowen uses the primary character Mrs. Drover, to depict how far one person will go for revenge and the internal conflict of a memory. Mrs. Drover is murdered by an ex-lover who wants his bitter revenge after a failed promise. Elizabeth Bowen was born in 1899 and died in 1973, she was an upper middle class writer, from Dublin, Ireland. The turn of…

"Revenge tragedy" and "the revenge play" are twentieth-century terms which owe their origin to A. H. Thorndike. Early in this century, Thorndike used the terms to categorize a number of Elizabethan and Jacobean plays, whose leading aim is revenge and whose main actions deal with the progress of this revenge. Fredson Bowers then popularized these terms in his important study entitled “Elizabethan Revenge Tragedy 1587-1642”. The Spanish Tragedy, by Thomas Kyd, is the foundation of Elizabethan…

Revenge tragedy was a popular form of theater among the playwrights and the populace of the Elizabethan and Jacobean period. According to Broude, revenge tragedy is “fundamentally un-Christian, based upon a barbaric ethic derived from Senecan tragedy and the Anglo-Saxon blood feud” (1975: 39). The word revenge in renaissance period had a meaning near to retribution, and revenge plays were concerned mainly with divine retribution (cf. Ibid.: 39). During Jacobean period, some conventions were…

In Ancient Greece, tragedies were seen as the best form of drama and were admired throughout Greece. Tragic heroes were the stars of these tragedies and were the key to an amazing ending that left the audience into a state of catharsis. Aristotle, a famous philosopher, created a guideline that a protagonist in a story MUST follow in order for the protagonist to be considered as a tragic hero. This hero is defined as an Aristotelian hero and must follow the five characteristics;…

Sophocles greatest achievement is his continuing popularity as a dramatist. Sophocles wrote the tragedy “Antigone” along with more than 120 plays, but only seven complete tragedies have survived over time. He also…

Hamlet, a play by William Shakespeare, features a character named Hamlet, the play’s namesake. The play itself is a tragedy, as many of Shakespeare’s plays are. Hamlet, being the main, central character of the play, is regarded as the so-called hero of the story. Aristotle, a renowned Greek philosopher, invented the idea of a tragic hero in his Poetics, a work on literary, dramatic theory. Though the character Hamlet does not originate from Greek literature, he, by Aristotle’s criteria,…

Hamlet’s Story: Sanity and Insanity Hamlet is not just an insane guy. He has goals and achievements just like anyone else in this world. He had heartbreaks and mishappens. He had a love for a woman, Ophelia. He had some strong hatreds. He had a bestfriend, who never told him no. he had a enemy, who became his friend in the end. He had a devastating past. His father, who was king of Denmark, was murdered by his own uncle. His own mother betrayed him. His own love killed herself. He had so many…

Greek Theater Greek drama is said to have its roots from Athenian seasonal festivals honoring Dionysus, the god of wine and fertility. These festivals occurred around 700 B.C.; they were filled with drunkenness and sexuality. Scholars believe there were four festivals during each of the seasonal change periods. The festival related to the Greek people planting, tending the vine, harvesting, and wine-making was in early December. This was called the Festival of Vintage. There was a…

A tragic hero is the main protagonist, a character with the potential to have heroic qualities. The tragic hero has a future of facing some sort of supernatural force or is fated by “the gods” to have a great suffering downfall or potentially a death. The tragic hero will potentially have a “tragic downfall”. The tragic downfall is what creates a relation and interest with the reader and this character. The story is usually set up for a great goal to be accomplished and the character that…