Five Revenge Tragedies
KYD, SHAKESPEARE, MARSTON, CHETTLE, MIDDLETON Five Revenge Tragedies The Spanish Tragedy, Hamlet (1603), Antonio’s Revenge, The Tragedy of Hoffman, The Revenger’s Tragedy Edited and with an Introduction by EMMA SMITH PENGUIN BOOKS Contents Chronology Playwrights Introduction Further Reading Note on the Texts FIVE REVENGE TRAGEDIES Thomas Kyd, The Spanish Tragedy William Shakespeare, Hamlet (1603) John Marston, Antonio’s Revenge Henry Chettle, The Tragedy of Hoffman Thomas Middleton, The Revenger’s Tragedy Appendix: Hamlet (or Hamlets) PENGUIN CLASSICS FIVE REVENGE TRAGEDIES EMMA SMITH is Fellow and Tutor in English at Hertford College, Oxford. She has published widely on Shakespeare and on early modern drama, particularly on the plays in print and in performance. She is co-editor of The Elizabethan Top Ten: Defining Print Popularity in Early Modern England and is working on a book on the Shakespeare First Folio. Chronology Dates of performance, usually conjectural, are taken from Alfred Harbage’s Annals of English Drama 975–1700, rev. Sylvia Stoler Wagonheim (1989); ‘c.’ indicates an approximate date; ‘?’ indicates conjectural information. Revenge tragedies T heatrical background Historical background 1567 First purpose-built theatre in London Attacks on Protestants in St 1572 Bartholomew’s Day Massacre in Paris Publication of Seneca his Ten 1581 Tragedies First English colony in America, 1584 Roanoke, founded by Ralegh Execution of Mary Queen of 1587 Scots 1588 Failure of Spanish Armada c. 1590 Marlowe’s Dr Faustus (Admiral’s Men) Kyd’s
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