One of the most
influential plays of the
English Renaissance, it is one of, if not the pioneering work in its genre, the
revenge tragedy. Its playwright,
Thomas Kyd, not only roomed with fellow
renaissance playwright
Christopher Marlowe, but also penned a version of the
Hamlet story that preceded that of
Shakespeare, and which Shakespeare's is believed to be based upon.
"The Spanish Tragedy" is a very complex play, and as such, difficult to summarize. However, a few
highlights include the fact that, despite the fact that the play begins with the death of Andreas, a
courtier of the Spanish court, and ends with his
ghost's proclamation of his grand
revenge being completed, Andreas appears only in the
framing dialogue, next to the
narcoleptic spectre of Revenge and occasional references; most of the action surrounding an entirely different group of characters, and, my
girlfriend's favorite, an incidence of revenge pursued against a location in which a
murder was committed, rather than the murderer.
"The Spanish Tragedy" was published in
1589, was performed throughout the
Elizabethan period, and was considerably more popular than Shakespeare's contemporary plays. It was also
referenced in
Ben Jonson's "
Every Man In His Humour". A later reference may be found in the final stanza, third line to the last, of
T.S. Eliot's
The Waste Land.