Revenge Tragedy and Classical Philosophy on the Early Modern Stage

Examines the influence of classical philosophy on revenge narratives by Shakespeare and his contemporaries Analyses the twentieth-century development of revenge tragedy as a genre, and diagnoses the roots of modern criticism’s tendency to treat most philosophy as estranged from the violent work of revengeProvides fresh readings of five plays central to the revenge tragedy genre, paying close attention to the conditioning influence of classical philosophy on their narratives of retributionReveals