hamlet/revenger's tragedy
Just in case anyone's confused - sure Hamlet and The Revenger's Tragedy were written only about 5 years apart, but they reflect very different social contexts. You can't just lump them both into the 'zenith' of revenge tragedy and expect that they'll have similar contextual influences.
(Your teachers should be giving you info on the context of each text you do - but for Hamlet and other found texts, a quick search on google (or wherever) will give you plenty of background.)
Basically, Hamlet was written in the Elizabethan period, a time of reasonable social stability and entrenched social hierarchies in England. The Revenger's Tragedy was written in the Jacobean period, when there was a widespread public perception that the monarchy and court was corrupt, social mobility was increasing, new scientific discoveries were being made, etc. Essentially this was a time of flux and people were looking back with nostalgia to the 'glory days' (I think someone mentioned this) of the Elizabethan period.
This is important when you consider the contextual influences on the text - Middleton/Tourneur is writing a critique of the ruling class and social conditions of the time. The Duke is a loose metaphor for James I, someone in a position of power who is completely corrupt. Vindice makes a few comments like "wash their hands and come up gentlemen" and "nine coaches waiting - hurry, hurry, hurry" (sorry - too tired to find the exact wordings). This shows the author's dissatisfaction at the present social state, cleverly disguised and removed to Italy so he doesn't appear guilty of treason and get his head chopped off. (Think about shows like 'The Glass House' today - it's used as a vehicle to criticise the government but it's unlikely Wil Anderson would ever be sued for defamation.) By contrast in most of Shakespeare's work, including Hamlet, and Macbeth, and etc, the worst crime/sin someone can commit is to kill the king - Claudius' murder of King Hamlet is the trigger for (Prince) Hamlet's whole journey.
The film version of The Revenger's Tragedy is called Revengers Tragedy (no apostrophe) and was directed by Alex Cox. It's good to see if you don't understand the play, but make sure you know who all the brothers are before you watch it, because it doesn't really explain them very well. Alex Cox has done interviews where he talks about exactly the same things I've been saying here (and which were really useful in shaping my perception - intertextuality not plagiarism!!) and comments on how different the Jacobean period was to the Elizabethan period, and the similarities between the Jacobean period and today, accounting for the play's enduring popularity and film's relevance to a modern audience. Again try google.
Sorry if I sound really ranting and didactic! I just hope this clears things up for anyone who might have been thinking that because the two plays were written 5 years apart they have the same social context. They don't.
