Thomas Kyd's The Spanish Tragedy (1587) helped to establish the popularity of the genre, and it was followed by The Revenger's Tragedy (1606), published anonymously and ascribed first to Cyril Tourneur and then to Thomas Middleton. ... Each of the four plays printed here defines the problems of the revenge genre, often by exploiting its conventions in unexpected directions. ... The conventions of a genre are what make it instantly recognizable. ... A writer like Euripides writing his Medea about a woman, a barbarian at that, taking revenge, is making a point contrary to the prevailin...

• Word Count: 583
• Approx Pages: 2
• Grade Level: Undergraduate