Mantic elements are manifold in the English drama of the Renaissance
period: they are supernatural manifestations and have a prophetic,
future-determining function within the dramatic plot, which can be
difficult to discern. Addressing contemporaries of Shakespeare, this
study interprets a representative number of revenge tragedies, among
them The Spanish Tragedy, The White Devil, and The Revenger's
Tragedy, to draw general conclusions about the use of mantic elements
in this genre. The analysis of the cultural context and the
functionalisation of mantic elements in revenge tragedy of the
Elizabethan, Jacobean, and Caroline era show their essential function in
the construction of the plot. Mantic elements create and stimulate
audience expectations. They are not only rhetoric decorum, but
structural elements, and convey knowledge about the genre, the fate of
which is determined by retaliation. An interpretation of revenge tragedy
is only possible if mantic providentialism is taken into account.