In this study of revenge and the avengers in two Elizabethan revenge tragedies, the two plays I will look at are Hamlet, by William Shakespeare, and The Avenger's Tragedy , by Thomas Middleton. I will first examine the playwrights' treatment of the Avengers characters, and then the treatment of the Avengers by other characters in the plays. Although having similarities in their underlying themes and in their adherence to conventions, these two plays present contrasting images of the figure of the avenger; Hamlet offers a much more complex treatment of its main character, and The Revenger's Tragedy appears, in comparison, limited by the author's social message, and lacking in realistic characterization. Hamlet and Vindex, the two avengers, have their tasks as avengers in common, but they have very different methods of handling situations, their modes of thinking and their instinctive behavior. Middleton's Vindex is largely an allegorical character; his name and the names of other characters in The Revenger's Tragedy (e.g. Spurio, Ambitioso) are derived from medieval morality plays; names that suggest the almost farcical quality of exaggeration that is a hallmark of The Revenger's Tragedy, from the opening scene's remarkable similarity to a procession of the Seven Deadly Sins, to the simplistic association of Vindex's lust with Judas and the Devil. Hamlet, on the other hand, is an individual of depth, who suffers from insecurity and a sense of absurdity. As we see early in the play, he suffers from melancholy, not only because of his father's death, but also from the "moral shock of the sudden, ghostly revelation of his mother's true nature" (Bradley). Hamlet is psychologically real and, in my opinion, middle of paper, tensions in the face of a fanciful providence. Works Cited Bradley, AC, John Russell. Brown and AC Bradley. AC Bradley on Shakespeare's Tragedies: A Concise Edition and Reappraisal. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan, 2007. Print.Garber, Marjorie B. Profiling Shakespeare. New York: Routledge, 2008. Print. Nietzsche, Friedrich Wilhelm and Ian Johnston. On the use and abuse of history for life. Arlington, VA: Richer Resources Publications, 2010. Print.Erlich, Avi. Hamlet's absent father. Princeton, NJ: Princeton UP, 1977. Print. Middleton, Thomas. “The Tragedy of the Avenger”. 1607. Five revenge tragedies. Ed. Emma Smith. London: Penguin Classics, 2012. Print. Shakespeare, William. Hamlet. New York: Bedford Books of St. Martin's Press, 1994. Wilson, J. Dover “What Happens in Hamlet” New York: Cambridge University Press, 1959