Everand Logo

Welcome to Everand!

  • Discover millions of ebooks, audiobooks, and so much more with a free trial

    From $11.99/month after trial. Cancel anytime.

    A Study Guide for Thomas Kyd's "The Spanish Tragedy"
    A Study Guide for Thomas Kyd's "The Spanish Tragedy"
    A Study Guide for Thomas Kyd's "The Spanish Tragedy"
    Ebook36 pages1 hour

    A Study Guide for Thomas Kyd's "The Spanish Tragedy"

    By Gale and Cengage

    ()

    Read preview

    About this ebook

    A Study Guide for Thomas Kyd's "The Spanish Tragedy," excerpted from Gale's acclaimed Drama For Students. This concise study guide includes plot summary; character analysis; author biography; study questions; historical context; suggestions for further reading; and much more. For any literature project, trust Drama For Students for all of your research needs.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherCengage Learning - Gale
    Release dateAug 3, 2016
    ISBN9781535839747
    A Study Guide for Thomas Kyd's "The Spanish Tragedy"

    Read more from Gale

    Related to A Study Guide for Thomas Kyd's "The Spanish Tragedy"

    Related ebooks

    Literary Criticism For You

    View More
    View More

    Related podcast episodes

    Related categories

    Reviews for A Study Guide for Thomas Kyd's "The Spanish Tragedy"

    0 ratings

    0 ratings0 reviews

    What did you think?

    Tap to rate

    Review must be at least 10 words

      Book preview

      A Study Guide for Thomas Kyd's "The Spanish Tragedy" - Gale

      1

      The Spanish Tragedy

      Thomas Kyd

      1592

      Introduction

      The Spanish Tragedy (New York: W. W. Norton, revised edition, 1989), a play by English dramatist Thomas Kyd, was written between 1582 and 1592, when the first known performance took place. Kyd was a popular dramatist in his day, although most of his plays have been lost. The Spanish Tragedy is one of very few extant plays that can with certainty be attributed to him. The play is important not only for its own merits but also because it is the first example of a revenge tragedy, a type of play that was to become extremely popular on the Elizabethan stage during the last decade of the sixteenth century and beyond. The most famous of all revenge tragedies is Shakespeare's Hamlet, and some of the plot devices in The Spanish Tragedy, such as the protagonist's hesitation in carrying out his revenge, are echoed in Shakespeare's play.

      Kyd based The Spanish Tragedy on the tragedies written by the Roman playwright Seneca, whose plays focused on murder and revenge. The emphasis was on a malignant fate that led inevitably to a bloody and horrific catastrophe.

      Although The Spanish Tragedy is not performed in the early 2000s, its intricate plot, full of intrigue and even containing comic incidents, its swift-moving and sensational action, the questions it poses about the nature of justice and retribution, and the well-developed character of the revenger, Hieronimo, make it a rewarding play to read.

      Author Biography

      The exact date on which Thomas Kyd was born is unknown, but he was baptized on November 6, 1558, at a church in London. His father, Francis Kyd, was a successful scrivener, that is, a man who copied documents. Kyd's father was sufficiently well off to send his son to the Merchant Taylors' School, which had a reputation for high academic standards. Kyd entered the Merchant Taylors' School when he was seven years old, in 1565.

      Enjoying the preview?
      Page 1 of 1