Abstract
This essay studies The Revenger’s Tragedy as a ‘Gunpowder play’, a drama that engages with the events and the discourses of the Gunpowder Plot. It documents the sustained resonances of the Powder Plot across the play, and it suggests that these reverberations are enabled by the play’s participation in the popular genre of revenge tragedy. It chronicles the linguistic as well as conceptual connections between conventions, play, and Plot, and it considers the ways in which Middleton’s play rewrites Hamlet for the world after the Powder Treason. Turning to recent scholarship that emphasizes how other early Jacobean plays ‘negotiated’ with the intended treason, it concludes by arguing that The Revenger’s Tragedy’s approach to the Gunpowder Plot is fundamentally parodic, using Plot discourse for metatheatrical effects in ways that both undermine the standard pro-Jacobean and providential tone of most Plot discourse and refuse to endorse clearly either plotter or plotted against.
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a callSimilar Papers
Disclaimer: All third-party content on this website/platform is and will remain the property of their respective owners and is provided on "as is" basis without any warranties, express or implied. Use of third-party content does not indicate any affiliation, sponsorship with or endorsement by them. Any references to third-party content is to identify the corresponding services and shall be considered fair use under The CopyrightLaw.
