TRADITION OF REVENGE PLAYS Emily Quintanilla Lexi Borrego

TRADITION OF REVENGE PLAYS Emily Quintanilla & Lexi Borrego P. 5

Thesis • Shakespeare’s Hamlet demonstrates that through the tradition of Revenge Plays- a common play preformed in plays such as Hamlet, Bussy d’Ambois, and The Spanish Tragedy- characters are able to successfully stage a play mimicking a vicious murder of individuals around them, in order to see and discover the true murderer. .

Revenge Play In Hamlet ◦ Hamlet plans to discover the true murder of his father, The King. ◦ “Near the circumstance which I have told thee of my father’s death… Even with the very comment of thy soul observe my uncle… Give him heedful note; For I mine eyes will rivet to his face, and after we will both our judgements join in censure of his seeming” (Act 3, Scene 2, Line 72 -83) ◦ Hamlet sets up the Revenge Play after The Ghost of his father tells him that Claudius murdered him by pouring poison into his ear while he was sleeping. ◦ “Hamlet contrives a plan to test the ghost accusation. With a group of visiting actors, Hamlet arranges the performance of a story representing circumstances similar to those described by the ghost, under which Claudius poisoned Hamlet’s father. When the play is presented as planned, the performance clearly unnerves Claudius. ” (Encyclopedia Britannica) ◦ Hamlet’s plan to observe Claudius’ reaction to the play was clearly successful, as Hamlet was able to confirm The Ghosts’ story.

Outcome of Revenge Play in Hamlet ◦ “I like him not; nor stands it safe with u to let his madness range. Therefore prepare you. I your commission will forthwith dispatch, and he to England shall along with you. The terms of our estate may not endure hazard so near us as doth hourly grow out of his brows” (Act 3, Scene 3, Lines 1 -7) ◦ Claudius is suspicious of Hamlets knowledge after observing the play. Claudius believes Hamlet knows too much and begins to plot his murder. ◦ “Hamlet confronts his mother in her chambers… When he hears a man’s voice behind the curtains, Hamlet stabs the person he understandably assumes to be Claudius. The Victim, however, is Polonius… This act of violence persuades Claudius that his own lifei s in danger. He sends Hamlet to England escorted by Rosencrantz and Guildenstern, with Secret orders that Hamlet be executed by the king of England. ” (Encyclopedia Britannica)

Revenge Play in the Revenge of Bussy d’Ambois ◦ Bussy’s Ghost begs Clermont to avenge his Murder. ◦ “Doing those deeds that fit eternity; And those deeds are the perfecting that justice That makes the world last, which proportion is Of punishment and wreak for every wrong, As well as for right a reward as strong. ” ◦ The ghost is telling Clermont that justice is the right thing to do and that there needs to be a punishment to those who have done wrong. ◦ ”Bussy’s ghost begs his introspective brother Clermont to avenge his murder. Clermont hesitates and vacillates but at last complies, then kills himself. ” (Encyclopedia Britannica) ◦ Bussy’s ghost wants him to get revenge/justice for his murder.

Outcome of Revenge Play in the Revenge of Bussy d’Ambois ◦ “No envy, no disjunction, had dissolv’d Or pluck’d out one stick of the golden faggot In which the world of Saturn was compris’d, Had all been held together with the nerves, The genius and th’ ingenuous soul of D’Ambois. ” (Act 2, Scene 1, Lines 103 -107) ◦ As Bussy is dying, they exclaim how there is no guilt in the murderer and how Bussy then ensures that her murder is avenged. ◦ “Bussy's death is a public one--Monsieur and Guise look on from above--and his final speeches demonstrate his concern with his position in the social hierarchy rather than with his private life… Everything about Bussy's death emphasizes its public nature: his concern with fame, the watchers above, the presence of the tangentially involved assassins, the hero's steadfast insistence on dying on his feet (to impress whom if not those watching? ); yet it occurs in a private place, the one in which Tamyra has engaged her lover in intimate acts and her husband in intimate conversations. ”

Revenge Play in The Spanish Tragedy ◦ Hieronimo discovers the Murderers and plots his Revenge. 1. ”Marry, my good lord, thus- and yet, methinks you are too quick with us-When in Toledo there I studied, it was my chance to write a tragedy- see here my Lords- he shows them a book which long forgot, I found this other day. Now would your lordships favor me so much as but to grace me with your acting it-I mean each one of you to play a part- assure you it will prove most passing Strange and wondrous plausible to that assembly. ” ◦ Hieronimo discovers the murderers are Bel-Imperia, Lorenzo, and Balthazar. He fools his lordships into going along with his plan, to act in the Play. The true murderers acting not only die as actors, but die as well. . ◦ “Between spells of madness, he discovers who the murderers are and plans his Ingenious revenge. He stages a play in which the murderers take part, and, while enacting his role, Hieronimo actually kills them, then kills himself. ” (Encyclopedia Britannica)

Outcome of Revenge Play in The Spanish Tragedy ◦ “Vindicta mihi! Ay, heaven will be revenged on every ill, nor will they suffer Murder unrepaid. Then stay, Hieronimo, attend their will, for mortal men may not Appoint their time. Per scelus semper tutum est sceleribus iter. Strike, and strike Home, where wrong is offended thee, for evil unto ills conductors be and death’s The worst of resolution. ” (Act 3, Scene 13, Lines 1 -9) ◦ Although Hieronimo dies after killing the murderers, her successfully Avenges his son’s death after killing the murderers in his play. ◦ “Hieronimo dies after his revenge, but the ghost of Don Andrea and his Revenge, who have come from a pagan Hades to sit on the sidelines and watch revenge unfold in modern, Christian Spain and Portugal, Sort out the bodies at the end and take the revengers to Elysium and their victims to punishment in Hades. Kyd, then, had deflected Christian objections by making the questionable Morality ‘Pagan’ and therefore not to be judged by Christian standards. ” (Questia)

Common Aspects in Revenge Plays

Sources ◦ Shakespeare, William, and Alan Durband. Hamlet. Woodbury, NY: Barron's, 1986. Print. ◦ Kyd, Thomas, and Thomas Wynne Ross. The Spanish Tragedy. Berkeley, CA: U of California, 1968. Print. ◦ Chapman, George, and Nicholas Brooke. Bussy D'Amboise. London: Methuen, 1964. Print. ◦ "Revenge Tragedy. " Encyclopedia Britannica Online. Encyclopedia Britannica, n. d. Web. 14 Oct. 2016. ◦ "Kid, Thomas | World Book Student | Article Page. " World Book Student | Article Page. N. p. , n. d. Web. 17 Oct. 2016. ◦ "Setting the Stage for Revenge: Space, Performance, and Power in Early Modern Revenge Tragedy. " Questia School. Condon, James J. , n. d. Web. 17 Oct. 2016. ◦ "Author and Actor in This Tragedy": The Influence of Apuleius's the Golden Ass on Kyd's the Spanish Tragedy. " Questia School. Ardolino, Frank, n. d. Web. 17 Oct. 2016. ◦ "Hamlet. " Encyclopedia Britannica Online. Encyclopedia Britannica, n. d. Web. 17 Oct. 2016. ◦ "Bodied Forth": Spectator, Stage, and Actor in the Early Modern Theater. " Questia School. Low, Jennifer A. , n. d. Web. 17 Oct. 2016.