After Kyd had shown the way with The Spanish Tragedy, the revenge play became extremely popular on the Elizabethan stage. John Marston's Antonio's Revenge, Christopher Marlowe's The Jew of Malta, and Shakespeare's Titus Andronicus and Hamlet are some of the most outstanding plays of this type.

The revenge play was adapted from the work of the Roman playwright Seneca (4 b.c. to a.d. 65). Seneca wrote nine tragedies, based on Greek models, but his plays were meant to be recited rather than performed on a stage. They consisted mainly of long speeches, and action was described rather than presented directly. Seneca's theme was revenge and retribution, and his subject matter was lurid; his plays feature crimes such as murder, incest, and adultery, and there is much blood, mutilation, and carnage. Ghosts appear frequently, and the plays end in a horrible catastrophe. Seneca emphasized that man...