The Revenger's Tragedy by Thomas MiddletonMy rating: 4 of 5 stars
I'm not generally a fan of tragedy, tbh, and this one is pretty bloody, but it kinda works. I liked it. 4 stars.
Vindice, with the help of his brother Hippolito, wants to get revenge on the duke who killed his fiancé. The play begins with Vindice holding the skull of his poor beloved, reflecting on the terrible duke--who poisoned her because she wouldn't give in to him--and his terrible son, and his terrible bastard son, and his terrible second wife. (Later we learn she has terrible sons of her own. It's a bad family.) He wants to repay them all.
The story is mostly how he gets close enough to trick them and bring them into conflict and place them in compromising positions so they look guilty of crimes they hadn't committed--though they committed plenty of others. They poison the duke back by dressing the skull up with a mask to look almost real, in bad light, anyway, and get him to kiss her. Then they use the duke's body in another trick to catch his heir and some of the corrupt nobles. The plots and schemes and misunderstandings and lies are confusing, getting a bit out of control, and in the end the revenging brothers themselves get caught and pay the price, but not until they've gotten everyone they hated killed. Pretty bloody. But it's also funny, in a way, especially in being so over the top. I think I'd make more of it with a second reading, cuz Elizabethan language and custom is still a bit tricky, IMO, but even just crashing through it is still pretty entertaining.
It isn't light, and it's not a happy ending, but it's not as big a bummer as, say, Othello or Antony and Cleopatra. Vindice didn't win in the way characters do in comedies, but I'd say he broke even.
Worth a look. Recommended for drama types.
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