Form of Elizabethan and Jacobean drama in which revenge provides the mainspring of the action. It is usually characterized by bloody deeds, intrigue, and high melodrama. It was pioneered by Thomas Kyd with
The Spanish Tragedy (
c. 1588), Shakespeare's
Titus Andronicus (
c. 1593), and Cyril Tourneur's
The Revenger's Tragedy (1607). Its influence is apparent in tragedies such as Shakespeare's
Hamlet and
Macbeth.
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