Stevie Simkin collects essays on five plays which are representative of the genre of revenge tragedy: The Spanish Tragedy, The Revenger's Tragedy, The Changeling, The White Devil, and 'Tis Pity She's a Whore. These plays are a rich source of ideas about Renaissance society and politics; recurrent issues include sexuality, the complex relations of gender and power, and the relationship between the individual and the state. The collection demonstrates a variety of recent critical approaches to the genre, including feminist, psychoanalytic, new historicist, and cultural materialist viewpoints.