Many texts often explore ideas that can be relatable to context and societal mores. A common genre that achieves this and is often discussed through mediums is Revenge Tragedy. Within the Elizabethan and Jacobean eras, it was a favourite form of English Tragedy. Revenge Tragedy commonly incorporates a dominant motive for revenge after a real or imagined offence. Common conventions include elements of plot, setting, characters, language and thematic concerns that help to convey the attitudes of society. Revenge Tragedy can be expressed and identified through Bram Stoker’s Dracula (1879) and Giambattista Basile’s Sun, Moon and Talia where the conventions portray the attitudes of society whilst still distinguishing it as a Revenge Tragedy. One …show more content…
The Thematic Concerns involve ethics, the natural order and the texts societal comment. The two highlighted texts were both written as a fable or folklore. Bram Stoker’s Dracula represents Stokers ideologies of what his attitudes on ethics and the natural order are conveyed throughout the novel. This is identified within Mina Harker’s diary entry “Does not the belief in vampires rest for others - though not, alas! for us - on them? A year ago which of us would have received such a possibility, in the midst of our scientific, matter-of-fact nineteenth century?” where it highlights Stokers perception of the natural progression of technology and the ethics of the behaviour of the women of which Stoker idealises and sues as a warning or fable to his society during that time period. Similarly in Basile’s Sun, Moon and Talia it was written as a fairytale, a story Basile intended for people to learn or achieve greater understanding from. It is important however to recognise the time period of when this story was written, and the difference of the ethical issues of what is seen as right and wrong. Which can be established at the end of the story where it expresses, “He gave a generous reward to the cook, he made him a chamberlain. He married Talia to wife; and she enjoyed a long life with her husband and her children, thus experiencing the truth of the proverb ‘Those whom fortune favours find good luck even in their sleep.’” which highlights how we may feel the ending is wrong or unethical however it is just an example of a societal comment within a different time period. Hence these examples underline the importance of this Revenge Tragedy convention. As it allows the reader to understand more about the society within these times as well as gaining a new perspective on what were acceptable ethics and attitudes represented by authors such as Stoker and