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As well as the text of the play, this new edition includes a number of passages, added in 1602, thought to be by Ben Jonson, its prequel, The First Part of Jeronimo, written to cash in on its success, a ballad version of the story and a range of allusions and parodies in later works, showing how Kyd's play haunted the imagination of a generation. ... Read more

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The SpanishTragedy, highly influential and popular in its time, establishedanew genre in English theatre - the revengeplayorrevengetragedy. The plotof ""The Spanish Tragedy"" contains several violent murdersandincludesasoneofitscharactersa personification of Revenge. This workwasoftenreferencedin works written by other Elizabethan playwrights,includingWilliamShakespeare, Ben Jonson, and Christopher Marlowe. Many elements ofTheSpanishTragedy, such as the play-within-a-play appear in Shakespeare's Hamlet. Thomas Kydis also frequently proposed as the author of the lost Ur-Hamlet play that was one ofShakespeare'sprimary sources for Hamlet) ... Read more

Customer Reviews (7)

The Classic Revenge Tragedy
There have been great controversies over whether The Spanish Tragedy is the greatest English play to have ever been composed, or rather a fantastic counterfeit of past playwrights.Either way, this revenge tragedy delves into the realm of human suffering and selfishness while searching for answers in the heavens or in the wicked wheel of Fortune.While some characters are a bit melodramatic, one must be aware that melodrama was one of the few ways to properly express emotion on the Elizabethan stage.It's a quick read, but not for the light of heart or mind when dealing with the fanciful language and tranfers between long and even-redundant soliloquies and sporadic stichomythia.Don't expect this to be any sort of heart-warming play; there's a reason it's called a tragedy.

New Mermaidsfootnotes are very helpful - Updated review February, 2008
The Spanish Tragedy (1592) was a remarkably popular Elizabethan revenge play that substantially influenced other Elizabethan playwrights including Shakespeare. The gruesome, neo-Senecan melodrama, Titus Andronicus, dates from 1594; Hamlet was first performed in 1602.

I knew little about The Spanish Tragedy at the time of my first reading (and review) in 2003. In retrospect I failed to appreciate fully Thomas Kyd's Senecan framework, especially the significance of the prologue by the ghost of Andrea, the role of the supernatural Revenge, and the varied scenes in the underworld of Roman mythology - all found in the first act. I am not certain whether I even realized that the ghost Andrea and Revenge remained on stage throughout the play, invisible to the actors, but clearly visible to the audience.

I wrote that although I was confused with intervention of pagan gods and that the numerous murders seemed excessive, I still considered Kyd's tragedy warranted four stars. Having recently returned to The Spanish Tragedy (as part of a collection of Elizabethan revenge tragedies), I am now much more enthusiastic (a solid five stars).

I no longer find the two intertwined plots to be puzzling.I now see the thoughtless injustice suffered by Hieronimo in the Spanish court as mirrored in the random, capricious behavior of the gods: the confusion the deceased Andrea encountered upon entering the underworld, Proserpine's arbitrary, even frivolous suggestion for Revenge to aid Andrea, and the gods's uneven punishments meted out to the murderers of Horatio (and to others only marginally involved with crime).This disturbing parallel reflects Kyd's nihilistic and pessimistic view of life: not even the intervention of the gods offers any assurance of rational justice.

New Mermaids edition: The footnotes come in two forms. The first provides definitions for unfamiliar or archaic words, or words whose meanings have changed significantly. The second offers explanations of plot subtleties, differences in interpretations by experts, and possible influences on later plays by Shakespeare ans others. Also, translations are provided for Kyd's frequent quotations in Latin, many from Seneca's writings.

peter kline is full ...
Hey everyone! Don't even bother paying ANY attention to the ...peter kline spouted in his horrendous review of The Spanish Tragedy. Shakespeare wrote Kyd's masterpiece? Give me a break! And I suppose you're also going to say that Shakespeare secretly wrote Marlowe's plays as well, right? Kudos to Mr. Richard for being a well-informed reader of the English Classics! And as for Mr. Kline, you should do some research ...

Excellent edition, excellent play
J.R. Mulryne's edition of *The Spanish Tragedy* is without a doubt the best that may at present be bought: informative, helpful, intelligent and accurate in introducing the text, presenting it, and glossing difficult words and phrases where necessary. The play is among the most exciting and artistic of its period. Kyd writes, and constructs his plot, with a level of skill comparable to that of Shakespeare, who was much influenced by *The Spanish Tragedy*, particularly in writing *Hamlet*, which is possibly yet "richer", but undoubtedly less clear and focused. Kyd shows us in an extremely sophisticated way the workings of revenge, both at an earthly and at a supernatural level. From the beginning the audience knows, in a way that the characters do not, that the supernatural world will insist on revenge. The pain of those who suffer injustice here on earth and clamour for revenge is painful to behold. Ultimately, however, in a baffling way, evildoers are punished: Hieronimo, the main character, manages to take matters into his own hands after exhausting all other possibilities, and thus ironically enacts the wishes of the higher powers. The FORM of Hieronimo's revenge is extraordinarily interesting: under the cloak of art - of a theatrical plot - he manages to kill his evil opponents quite easily. The tension between "art" and "life" is thus handled by Kyd in a very innovative fashion which still shocks modern spectators and readers. The role of language, too, is called into question: much of the play demonstrates that in real life finally action does speak louder than words, which often do not make their point or simply get ignored. Any reader who wants to get a notion of the superb quality of plays written by Shakespeare's contemporaries is certain to admire and enjoy this striking work of art. - Joost Daalder, Professor of English, Flinders University, South Australia

A glimspe into Shakespeare's workshop
There is growing evidence that while this play was attributed to Thomas Kyd on the slimmest possible evidence, it is actually an early play of Shakespeare.It's similarity to Hamlet has so often been noted that Kyd is supposed to have written a hypothetical earlier version of Hamlet that has never been shown to exist.The way to figure out for yourself who wrote this play is to read some of it aloud.You'll find that its speaches have a musical quality that echoes those in Henry V (which may have been written at about the same time).Also, compare one of its early scenes with a very similar one in Macbeth.The more you read this play aloud, considering the music of its poetry rather than just its imagery and thematic strucure (it's very early Shakespeare) the more you're likely to be struck that here is amasterpiee forgotten (except to scholars) that is worthy of frequent theatrical performance.Perhaps you'll be moved to produce it yourself. ... Read more

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This collection of four revenge tragedies is the first in a series of Shakespeare in context volumes, which considers the plays of William Shakespeare as part of the intellectual climate of his day and here presents his Hamlet with Thomas Kyd's The Spanish Tragedy, Cyril Tourneur's The Revenger's Tragedy, and Francis Beaumont and John Fletcher's The Maid's Tragedy.The first part of the general introduction explores Renaissance revenge tragedy's relationship to Seneca's revenge drama and traces the development of the genre; the second part presents the reader with the theatrical climate of the times and gives an overview of the actual stage and its possibilities.The four plays and their playwrights are individually introduced, and all texts are newly edited, annotated, and modernized.A short section of contemporary views on revenge and a glossary at the end of the book should prove helpful for students exploring the revenge tragedy sub-genre. ... Read more

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This is a reproduction of a book published before 1923.This book may have occasional imperfections such as missing or blurred pages, poor pictures, errant marks, etc. that were either part of the original artifact, or were introduced by the scanning process.We believe this work is culturally important, and despite the imperfections, have elected to bring it back into print as part of our continuing commitment to the preservation of printed works worldwide.We appreciate your understanding of the imperfections in the preservation process, and hope you enjoy this valuable book. ... Read more

Product Description
This is a reproduction of a book published before 1923.This book may have occasional imperfections such as missing or blurred pages, poor pictures, errant marks, etc. that were either part of the original artifact, or were introduced by the scanning process.We believe this work is culturally important, and despite the imperfections, have elected to bring it back into print as part of our continuing commitment to the preservation of printed works worldwide.We appreciate your understanding of the imperfections in the preservation process, and hope you enjoy this valuable book. ... Read more

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This Book Is In German. ... Read more

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Purchase of this book includes free trial access to www.million-books.com where you can read more than a million books for free.This is an OCR edition with typos.Excerpt from book:SUPPLEMENTCORRECTIONS AND ADDITIONS 1902-54 AbbreviationsT. K. = Thomas Kyd. M.L.N. = Modern LanguageNotes.N. and Q. — Notes ami Queries. R.E.S. = Review of English Studies. T.L.S, = Times Literary Supplement. Sp. Trag. = The Spanish Tra- gedit. Y. W.E.S. = The Year's Work in English Studies. .II GeneralIn the Cambridge History of English Literature, vol. v, chap, vii (1910), G. Gregory Smith wrote on Marlowe and Kyd. Among the points in his section on Kyd were the rejection of his authorship of the First Part of leronimo ; his acceptance as ' more than a plausible inference ' of Kyd's authorship of the early Hamlet; and his doubt whether Soliman and Perseda should be assigned to him. Gregory Smith summed up : ' Kyd is the first to discover the bearing of episode and of the " movement " of the story on characterization, and the first to give the audience and reader the hint of the development of character which follows from this interaction. In other words he is the first English dramatist who writes dramatically.'Charles Crawford contributed a Concordance to the Works of T. K. to W. Bang's Materialen (1906-7).Signs of the growing interest in Kyd's work on the Continent were J. de Smet's Thomas Kyd: I'homme, I'auvre, le milieu, followed by a translation of Sp. Trag. into French prose (Brussels, 1925); and F. Carrere's Le theatre de Thomas Kyd (Toulouse,'950.Biographical—Francis KydBernard M. Wagner in N. and Q., Dec. 15, 1928, showed from the records of the Scriveners' Company (Bodl. MS. Rawlinson D. 51) that the dramatist's father, Francis Kyd, was admitted tothe freedom of the Company in 1557, and in 1580 became one of its two Wardens. There are entries concerning his apprentices in iS57, 1578, and 1591.Kyd's Letter... ... Read more

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This one-volume edition of the two most influential pre-Shakespearean tragedies in English. "Gorboduc" (1561) has claims to be the earliest English tragedy and was written jointly by Thomas Norton and Thomas Sackville. "The Spanish Tragedy" is of extraordinary interest, not only in its own right, but as as the central precusor to "Hamlet". ... Read more

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The text of this edition is based on the undated first quarto with the additions taken from the quarto of 1602. The beginning and end of each of the five passages, and of the additions, are clearly indicated in this volume, edited by Charles T. Prouty. Also included are an introduction, a list of principal dates in the life of Thomas Kyd, and a selected bibliography. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

The revenge starts here.
This is the play which first introduced to the Elizabethean audience the sub-genre of the revenge play. It was in fact so popular, that it was soon immitated. The play is a typical renaissance play, and so it has both mainplot, and sub-plot. Both of these deal with revenge, and the character ofrevenge is actually present on the stage. It is very inventive play, andshould be a required reading for anyone seriously studying Elizabetheantheater, as it provides context, and most likely inspiration for the betterknown plays of Shakespeare. Thomas Kyd happened upon a formula with thisplay, which was emulated until the closing of the theaters some 40 yearslater. This play started a trend, which is still going strong today, asrevenge is a powerfull, and popular topic, which transcends time. ... Read more

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The book may have numerous typos or missing text. It is not illustrated or indexed. However, purchasers can download a free scanned copy of the original rare book from the publisher's website. You can also preview the book there.Purchasers are also entitled to a trial membership in the publisher's book club where they can select from more than a million books for free.Original Publisher: Clarendon Press Publication date: 1901Subjects: English drama ... Read more