“TRAGEDY OF VILLAINY” ON THE SCENES OF THE ENGLISH RENAISSANCE THEATER

Abstract

The article explores the theme of revenge – one of the characteristic topics underlying the English Renaissance dramas. The relationship of the English society of the XVI century to the problem of revenge, the reasons for the attention of playwrights to this topic are analyzed. The authors focus on a subgroup of the so-called “tragedies of villainy”, which were especially popular with the audience. A characteristic feature of the group of tragedies, which were written in the first quarter of the 17th century, is the obligatory presence of scenes with horrific bloody murders, mysterious and nightmarish events and the dark thoughts of the heroes who want to take revenge. These features in the future allowed researchers already 20th century to combine all these tragedies into a subgroup of “tragedies of villainy”. A list of the most notable tragedies is given. Using the example of T. Middleton’s drama “The Revenger’s Tragedy” and J. Webster’s “Duchess of Malfi”, the main artistic features of the “tragedies of villainy” are revealed. The conclusion is drawn about the change in the image of the hero-revenger and the general transformation of the dramatic model of T. Kid, which the creators of the tragedies of revenge were guided by.