Take a story's temperature by studying its tone. Is it hopeful? Cynical? Snarky? Playful?
Grim but Humorous
This play is grim. You can't start with a skull and end with a bloodbath and wind up with a story that strikes a different tone. The Revenger's Tragedy is filled with terrible events, awful experiences, and dreadful moments—think rape, murder, deception, incest—and so characters are constantly plotting, lamenting, fearing, and struggling in general.
But for all its darkness, this play is also strangely funny. You can't start with a skull and end with a bloodbath and not cross over into so-crazy-it's-starting-to-be-funny territory, at least not if you're The Revenger's Tragedy. There's dark humor in the Duke's kissing a poisoned skull, in Vindice's stabbing Lussurioso during a dance number, and in the crazy boy-band-turned-brawl-scene that follows. It's hard not to see this play as having a grim laugh at the world.