Letteratura inglese - The Revenge Tragedy IIIv A Lodge, Middleton - Plot

Middleton: An English Playwright and Poet

Middleton was an English playwright and poet. He was born on April 18, 1580, in London. He attended Queen’s College in Oxford although he didn’t graduate. He started to write in the early 17th century, but unlike Shakespeare, he remained a free agent, able to write for whichever company hired him. This characteristic led him to produce plays for several companies and in several genres, most notably city comedies and revenge tragedies. Middleton died at his home in Newington Butts in 1627 and was buried in St. Mary’s Churchyard.

Middleton's Work

Middleton’s work is diverse even by the standards of his age. His works are characterized by satire and bleak intrigues. Middleton’s plays are characterized by their cynicism about the human race, a cynicism that is often very funny. True heroes are a rarity. Almost every character is selfish, greedy and self-absorbed.

Plot of the Tragedy

In this tragedy, amoral Italian courtiers endlessly plot against each other, resulting in a climactic blood bath. It is the story of how two malcontents destroy a dynasty of noble dukes, earls, and lords.

Vindici, the central character, wants to kill the Duke because he poisoned his beloved Gloriana, as she refused his courtship; the Duke also caused the death of Vindici’s father. So he has a lot to avenge. Vindici finds a way to insinuate himself into the court by disguising himself and gaining employment as a pander for Lussurioso. Lussurioso is trying to seduce Vindici’s own sister, Castiza. Meanwhile, Lussurioso’s stepbrothers are plotting to kill him to secure their brother’s succession, who is however in goal for rape. The Duke’s bastard son, Spurio, is adulterous with the Duchess, while the Duke is pursuing his own fancies, encouraged by the disguised Vindici.

The entire court is deceived and deceiving. The tragedy ends with the death of all the brothers, and Antonio, a lord whose wife was raped and killed herself, takes the dukedom.

Themes

• Justice
• Revenge
• Love
• Lust
• Adultery
• Morality
• Sin and Corruption

IIIv. A Lodge

Vindici is talking with his brother Hippolito and he confesses that the Duke, thinking he was a “pimp”, asked Vindici to find him a girl for a date in a dark and secret place. Vindici organizes the date in the same place where he knows that Spurio is going to meet the Duchess. The girl Vindici has prepared for the Duke is just a puppet with his girlfriend’s skull. When Hippolito asks him if that’s the beautiful girl he has loved, Vindici starts a reflection about life, about all the money that both men and women spend to dress up, but this is vain, because time deletes all these efforts through death.