SOURCE: “Cyril Tourneur,” in The Review of English Studies, Vol. 17, No. 65, January, 1941, pp. 21-36.

In the following essay, Jenkins argues that Tourneur's two major works, The Revenger's Tragedy and The Atheist's Tragedy, are reflections of his intellectual and artistic interests and personal circumstances at different periods of his life, and that The Revenger's Tragedy was written in a fevered burst of passion while The Atheist's Tragedy was more carefully pondered.

Cyril Tourneur is known as the author of two tragedies: The Revenger's Tragedy, published in 1607, and The Atheist's Tragedy, published in 1611. They reveal one of the most fiery and energetic imaginations possessed by any Elizabethan writer; yet the personality of their author is also one of the most mysterious. Recent biographical discoveries have served to enlarge our knowledge of his soldiering exploits, but these are totally irrelevant to the remarkable mind which illumines the tragedies. Not only do...