Date: circa 1606
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The Duke is an old man, although a lecher, who has two sons, Lussurioso (also a lecher) and Spurio (a discontented bastard of the Duke's). The Duke has recently married a younger woman, his Duchess, who has three sons herself, Ambitioso (her eldest), Supervacuo (her middle), and a character listed only as Younger Son in the Dramatis Personae. These stepchildren are discontented and dislike the Duke and Lussurioso. Spurio, the bastard, hates everyone.
Vindice has a brother, Hippolito (sometimes called Carlo), who is a courtier. They have a sister, Castiza, who is a country virgin. Their mother is Gratiana, also a countrywoman. Vindice suggests that he will go to court in disguise.
I.ii Younger Son is tried for raping Antonio's wife, found guilty, but the Duke stays pronouncement of execution, preferring to have Younger Son locked in prison for a while. Younger Son's brothers, Ambitioso and Supervacuo, promise to work for his release. Meanwhile, Antonio's wife has committed suicide for the shame of the rape, and left her husband, the noble Antonio, alone to grieve for her. The Duchess and her stepson Spurio plot an assignation to cuckold the Duke.
I.iii Lussurioso approaches Hippolito to find a panderer for him that he might try the virginity of a young woman he has his eye on. Hippolito sees this as a chance to bring his brother to court so they may conspire against their enemies, the Duke and his family. Vindice comes disguised as Piato the panderer and is surprised to hear that the young virgin to be tempted is none other than his own sister, Castiza. Vindice sees this as an opportunity to test the mettle of his sister.
I.iv Antonio displays his wife's corpse before several lords, Piero, and Hippolito. They swear by Hippolito's sword to see justice done.
II.i In the guise of Piato, Vindice woos Castiza for Lussurioso. Vindice is secretly delighted at Castiza's strong rebuff of the indecent suit, but is surprised when their mother, Gratiana, intercedes to convince Castiza to play up to the heir apparent. Castiza is steadfast, but Gratiana begs "Piato" to give her a little time to work the virgin to Lussurioso's will.
II.ii Meantime, Hippolito overhears Spurio plotting with the Duchess, his stepmother, to cuckold the Duke, his father. Hippolito tells "Piato" of the plan, and "Piato" in turn tells Lussurioso, in hopes of undoing the bastard Spurio.
II.iii "Piato" and Lussurioso steal into the Duke's bedchamber, where they believe the assignation between Spurio and Duchess is taking place, but are surprised to find the Duke in bed with his wife, the assignation not yet having occurred. "Piato" beats a hasty retreat, but Lussurioso is captured and sent to prison for plotting against the life of his father and Duke.
Ambitioso and Supervacuo see this as an opportunity to appear to be good sons and at the same time get rid of Lussurioso. They plead to the Duke for Lussurioso's life, hoping that reverse psychology will make the Duke hasten Lussurioso's execution, but the Duke sees through their plan and agrees to let Lussurioso free. Ambitioso and Supervacuo change at once and try to convince the Duke that Lussurioso is a danger. The Duke pretends to be convinced, and gives them his signet to have Lussurioso executed, but he sends two nobles out right away to have Lussurioso freed--the Duke suspects that Lussurioso's actions were prompted by some mistake, and Ambitioso and Supervacuo's two-faced pleading has convinced him of Lussurioso's innocence.
III.i Supervacuo and Ambitioso gloat over their commission as they make their ways to the prison.
III.ii The nobles retrieve Lussurioso from prison before Ambitioso and Supervacuo arrive.
III.iii When the brothers do arrive, they feign sorrow and deliver the signet to the jailer. They tell him that the Duke has ordered the execution of their brother, and that he must do it at once, that he must not allow a public execution, but behead their brother privately, so as not to stir up the population of the dukedom. Ambitioso and Supervacuo believe they have doomed Lussurioso.
III.iv The Younger Son, being the only "brother" left in prison, is beheaded at once. Though he tries to talk his way out of the execution, the officers will hear no protests or explanation.
III.v Hippolito and "Piato" arrive at a dark lodge in the Court where they know Spurio and the Duchess have planned to meet and cuckold the Duke. "Piato" has instructed the Duke to meet him at the same lodge with the idea of enjoying a young virgin, but really it is a trap to kill the old Duke. Vindice has brought with him the skull of his love, Gloriana, and has dressed it up to appear a woman. This skull is smeared with a vitriolic poison. When the Duke arrives, he instructs the nobles accompanying him to tell no one where he is, that he went out riding alone. When the nobles leave, "Piato" tricks the Duke into kissing the skull. The caustic poison eats off the Duke's lips, rots his teeth, and burns his tongue. Hippolito and Vindice force the Duke to watch as Spurio and the Duchess meet and cuckold him (they, of course, are not aware of the presence of the Duke, Hippolito, or Vindice). After the Duke has seen this, Hippolito and Vindice stab him and hide the body.
III.vi Meantime, Ambitioso and Supervacuo gloat over their trick on Lussurioso. An officer brings in Younger Son's bleeding head, which they take to be that of Lussurioso. They glory in the officer's description of the deed. But when Lussurioso enters, they learn of the mistake in prison. They are, understandably, upset.
IV.i Lussurioso believes that Piato is responsible for his mishap and asks Hippolito to bring him another fellow to do him service. He suggests that Hippolito bring his brother, Vindice, up from the country.
IV.ii When Vindice comes to Lussurioso, he is hired to kill Piato (who is, of course, only Vindice in disguise). To make matters worse, Lussurioso wants to see Piato meet his doom. Lussurioso idly wonders where his father might be and is told by one of the nobles that he "is rid forth."
Vindice contrives to dress the dead Duke up in Piato's clothes and stab him in the presence of Lussurioso with Lussurioso's order to do so.
IV.iii Meantime, Ambitioso and Supervacuo have realized that their mother is bedding the bastard, Spurio, and contrive to undo their shame by killing Spurio.
IV.iv Vindice and Hippolito go to their mother, Gratiana, and threaten to kill her for her endangering the chastity of Castiza. Gratiana's tears of earnest repentance cause them to put aside their daggers and leave her in her repentance. Castiza comes to Gratiana and tells her she has decided to do as Gratiana wishes and give herself to Lussurioso, but Gratiana begs that Castiza not do so. Castiza finally admits she was only testing Gratiana's earnest repentance, and that she never had any intention of giving up her chastity.
V.i Hippolito and Vindice set up the Duke's corpse as Piato on a couch. Though they planned to kill Lussurioso after the trick with the Duke's corpse, Lussurioso unwittingly comes with several nobles and thus spoils their plan. Lussurioso takes the supine figure of "Piato" to be drunk and orders Vindice and Hippolito to stab him. When the body is stuck through, Lussurioso realizes it is the Duke and surmises that the evil Piato, knowing he was about to be caught, killed the Duke and dressed him in Piato's cloths in order to give himself time to escape.
Lussurioso becomes Duke, orders the mourning of the old Duke, the banishment of the Duchess, and a party to celebrate his new status.
V.ii Vindice plots with Piero, Hippolito, and some lords to assassinate the ruling family at the masque.
V.iii In a dumb show we see Lussurioso made Duke. Music plays and a banquet is brought forth.
All in secret, Spurio plans to kill Lussurioso, Supervacuo plans to kill Spurio, and Ambitioso plans to kill Supervacuo.
At the party honoring the new duke, a blazing star appears, foreboding doom to men of high status. Lussurioso sits at table with three of his nobles. Vindice, Hippolito, and two dissatisfied nobles enter dressed as masquers, dance, produce knives, and kill all at the table. After they leave, Ambitioso, Supervacuo, Spurio, and a Lord, enter also dressed as the masquers, dance, and discover the deed is done just as they are prepared themselves to kill everyone at the table.
Supervacuo proclaims himself new Duke and is stabbed by Ambitioso. Spurio stabs Ambitioso. The Lord stabs Spurio. When everyone comes in, Antonio, Vindice, Hippolito, et al, only the Lord is left living. Antonio is proclaimed new duke, and the Lord is sent to execution for the murder of the ducal family. Lussurioso is not quite dead, and Vindice whispers to him how it was he who undid Lussurioso. Vindice cannot contain himself and proudly boasts how he and Hippolito have brought about this glad change from the old Duke to Antonio. Antonio, acting the just man that he is, sentences Vindice and Hippolito to execution for the assassinations. Vindice comforts himself that he has served his purpose, avenged his father and sweetheart, seen his mother converted to honesty, and been assured of his sister's chastity. He has also thrown down a lecherous ruler and his evil family. He is content to die.
Hippolito is cardboard and more ill developed than is Hamlet's Horatio, filling the position of confidant only to allow the audience to overhear Vindice's plans.
Other ill-developed characters include Spurio, the bastard, who lives to hate. The Duke, who is simple a lecher (as is Lussurioso). Ambitioso, Supervacuo, and Younger Son, who merely try to advance their own positions. Antonio, who is merely noble. Castiza, who is merely pure.
Gratiana has some character dynamic, and represents repentant wantonness, giving the play some moral vision. She seems to represent that the world can indeed repent its sinful ways. But even she must repent at knife-point, so the moral vision is not terribly strong and in the final analysis characters are either wholly corrupt (as are the members of the ducal family), corruptible (as are Vindice and Hippolito), or purely good (as are Antonio and Castiza). Gratiana demonstrates that one can shake off corruption in the world only through compulsion.
Gloriana, who appears only as a skull in the play, is perhaps among the most interesting of characters. She represents the purity of a former time, but, interestingly, her purity, like Castiza's, seems to inspire only the worst in men (viz.lust and the urge to murder). As a dead virgin, Gloriana might represent the glory of the Elizabethan rule, which was expanded to legendary proportions immediately after her death in 1603. If so, is it not too long a stretch to suggest that the Duke might represent James I?
Antonio's wife, who appears only as a corpse in I.iv, is the woman who was raped by Younger Son. She has taken her life for the shame of the violation--very like the reaction of Lucrecia at Tarquin's rape of her. Here again is an image of chastity inspiring only evil in men. Purely good women seem to be, according to this play, the curse of mankind. Gloriana inspired lust in the Duke, who killed her with poison and created the catalyst for events in the play. Antonio's wife was ravaged by Younger Son, which sets up the main tension between the members of the ducal family and between the ducal family and the good nobles of the court. Castiza's beauty is responsible for Lussurioso's lust for her, which in turn brings the revenger, Vindice/Piato, into the court to do his avenging. This in turn causes the deaths of everyone who dies after Act I in the play.
A second important image is the tongue-it is generally referred to as a seductive instrument even to the point of being phallic itself. See the following:
The Memento Mori is an important image in the play. Gloriana's skull is used as St. Ignatius Loyola enjoined: to-wit, man must meditate on death in order to bolster spiritual awareness. Although the characters do not do so, they thus admonish the audience, cf.
This play was almost certainly written by Thomas Middleton rather than Tourneur. One play we know that is Middleton's, A Mad World My Masters, could well be this play's alter-piece. Compare the following: Characterization:
Vindice, a name which means "A revenger of wrongs", is the perfect example of the malcontent/revenger corrupted by his righteous cause. In taking on the tools of evil, he is tainted and doomed to die. The connection between Vindice and Hamlet is very close:
Notes of interest:
Economic imagery, and the tension between having land or having money for wealth, runs throughout The Revenger's Tragedy. See especially:
The evidence seems to point clearly to Middleton's authorship. Thus, rather than The Atheist's Tragedy providing the alter-piece to this (tainted revenger v. untainted revenger dichotomy) a Middletonian authorship falls into the established mode of comic first half/tragic second half of alter-pieces (cf. Spanish Tragedy 1 & 2, Antonio and Mellida/Antonio's Revenge, etc.)