Antonio's Revenge

"Antonio's Revenge" is a late Elizabethan play written by John Marston ca. 1599–1600, and performed by the Children of Paul's, one of the troupes of boy actors popular at the time.

"Antonio's Revenge" was entered into the Stationers' Register on Oct. 24, 1601, at the same time as "Antonio and Mellida", and was first published in quarto in 1602 by the bookseller Thomas Fisher.

This play is a sequel to the romantic comedy "Antonio and Mellida". Unlike its predecessor, however, "Antonio's Revenge" is a revenge tragedy. "Antonio and Mellida" ended with a scene in which the two lovers were reconciled, with the villain, Mellida's father, Duke Piero, apparently repenting his attempts to keep them apart. "Antonio's Revenge" begins where the previous play ended. It is revealed that Piero has not really reformed: he still hates Antonio, and is determined to prevent his daughter's marriage to him. Piero murders and imprisons various characters, driving Mellida herself to die of grief, before Antonio teams up with other wronged individuals to carry out a revenge on the wicked Duke, which they do through a masque in the play's last act.

This play, like "Antonio and Mellida", is heavily indebted to earlier Elizabethan drama, recalling and parodying many scenes and devices.

References

* Caputi, Antony. "John Marston, Satirist." Ithaca, NY, Cornell University Press, 1961.
* Chambers, E. K. "The Elizabethan Stage." 4 Volumes, Oxford, Clarendon Press, 1923.
* Finkelpearl, Philip J. "John Marston of the Middle Temple". Cambridge, MA, Harvard University Press, 1969.