Cyril Tourneur was a significant Jacobean poet and dramatist, yet until now there has been now full scale interpretation of his works. Critics have perhaps hesitated to undertake such a study because much of Tourneur's writing has been regarded as neurotic self-expression rather than art, and almost nothing is known of his life. In this penetrating study, however, Peter B. Murray analyzes the art and relates them to the artistic conventions and the thought of their day. Murray finds that Tourneur was not a neurotic but an objective, artistic craftsman. In both techniques and themes, Tourneur emerges as a defender of Elizabethan ideals—a follower of Spenser and Shakespeare and a supporter of the Anglican center against the extremes of Puritanism and atheism. In his study of The Revenger's Tragedy, commonly attributed to Tourneur, Murray turns up new and possibly conclusive linguistic evidence that the play was written by Thomas Middleton and has therefore discussed it apart from Tourneur's work. Murray's examination of The Revenger's Tragedy shows that its author, like Middleton, is a detached ironist and not despairing and obsessed with vice as he has often been supposed to be.

"An intense and horrible view of life."--T. S. Eliot "This drama must now be acknowledged, for dramtic power, for coherence of structure, for astonishing compression and consistency of language, and for superb unity of tone, surpassed in the whole Elizabethan repertory by only the few greatest plays."--Lawrence J. Ross In the family of passions none is more patient than hate. This masterpiece of the Elizabethan stage, first published in 1607, is a study of debauchery, deep offense, and the high cost of revenge. It is often compared to Hamlet for its relentless tension and its lecherous royalty. Its protagonist, Vindice, is one of the most memorable characters in all of Renaissance theater, a murderer who will not let a single enemy remain alive.

This book provides an introductory perspective on its subject together with detailed studies of the major non-Shakespearean tragedies. It assumes that the central and most disturbing insights of the plays were expressed in terms of the thought patterns of the time.