Theatrical Revengers
Nov. 5th, 2011 05:46 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
alexxkayI've long thought that what made Hamlet so interesting, compared to his dramatic peers, was that from very early in the play, he recognized the fact that he *was* in a play, and moreover, what genre. This leads directly to the realization that he is doomed/damned, no matter what he does. He delays action as long as he can, because he knows that any actions he takes will, ultimately, destroy him as surely as Claudius.
Vindice, in "The Revenger's Tragedy" is /almost/ as clever as Hamlet. Vindice conceives of himself as in a play -- but in his arrogance, he comes to believe that *he* is the playwright.
The notion that he is in a revenge tragedy is brought up formally in the very first speech of the play:
By Act 2, Vindice is using the language of a playwright, though still ascribing the action of revising the text to others.
By Act 3, he takes responsibility for setting out props and casting roles:
By Act 4, Vindice scolds the special effects team for missing their cue.
In Act 5, the language of theatrical revision comes up again:
In his final act of vengeance, Vindice happily notes that the thunder comes in, literally, on cue this time.
When Vindice, in his arrogance, admits his crimes, he is surprised to find himself no longer in the position of control he had become accustomed to. His theatrical metaphors leave him, with one possible exception.
Vindice, in "The Revenger's Tragedy" is /almost/ as clever as Hamlet. Vindice conceives of himself as in a play -- but in his arrogance, he comes to believe that *he* is the playwright.
The notion that he is in a revenge tragedy is brought up formally in the very first speech of the play:
Vengeance, thou murder's quit-rent, and whereby
Thou shouldst thyself tenant to tragedy, (I.i)
By Act 2, Vindice is using the language of a playwright, though still ascribing the action of revising the text to others.
This their second meeting writes the duke cuckold
With new additions, his horns newly reviv'd. (II.ii)
By Act 3, he takes responsibility for setting out props and casting roles:
Now to my tragic business. Look you, brother,After the Duke's murder, he comments on his successful scene in theatrical terms.
I have not fashion'd this only for show
And useless property; no, it shall bear a part
E'en in its own revenge. (III.v)
When the bad bleeds, then is the tragedy good. (III.v)
By Act 4, Vindice scolds the special effects team for missing their cue.
Is there no thunder left, or is't kept upThe fact that the thunder seemingly responds to his complaint confirms in him the notion that he is in complete control of events; that he has, in some sense, become God.
In stock for heavier vengeance? There it goes! (IV.ii)
In Act 5, the language of theatrical revision comes up again:
I could vary it not so little as thrice over again, 't 'as some eight returns like Michaelmas Term. (V.i)(The second half of this is simultaneously a pun on legal terminology, and a reference to Middleton's earlier popular play "Michaelmas Term", which may well have already been 'varied' in a 'return' by now.)
In his final act of vengeance, Vindice happily notes that the thunder comes in, literally, on cue this time.
Mark thunder?Shortly thereafter, he comments on the thunder as proving the approval of a divine audience:
Dost know thy cue, thou big-voic'd crier?
Dukes' groans are thunder's watchwords.
No power is angry when the lustful die;
When thunder claps, heaven likes the tragedy. (V.iii)
When Vindice, in his arrogance, admits his crimes, he is surprised to find himself no longer in the position of control he had become accustomed to. His theatrical metaphors leave him, with one possible exception.
This work was ours which else might have been slipp'd, (V.iii)"Work" might, with a little stretch of the imagination, be taken to refer to the play itself, "The Revenger's Tragedy".