Theatre
The Spanish Tragedy
Thomas Kyd · 1587
Synopsis
The ghost of Andrea, a Spanish courtier killed in battle against Portugal, returns accompanied by Revenge; the two sit down to watch. At the Spanish court, Horatio, son of the marshal Hieronimo, secretly loves Bel-Imperia, the king's niece. Surprised one evening in the garden arbour by the young woman's brother, a Portuguese prince and two disguised servants, he is hanged and stabbed. His father rushes to the cries, takes down the body and recognises his son; he keeps the bloodstained cloth and demands justice from the king, but is turned away.
Context
The play appeared anonymously and remained so: none of the early editions bears an author's name. The name was recovered in 1773 by an editor, Thomas Hawkins, who noticed in a 1612 treatise defending actors a passing mention naming Mr Kid as the man who had written it. The theatre manager Philip Henslowe paid Ben Jonson in 1601 and in 1602 for additions; the 1602 edition contains five, whose attribution remains disputed.
Who it is for
A tragedy in four acts, built on a revenge; in French, the most recent translation appears in the Pléiade.
Prizes and reception
Reprinted nine times up to 1633, it influenced Hamlet: ghost, hesitant avenger, madness and play within the play.
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