The Spanish

Tragedy

The Spanish Tragedy, or Hieronimo is

Mad Again[1] is an Elizabethan tragedy
written by Thomas Kyd between 1582
and 1592. Highly popular and influential
in its time, The Spanish Tragedy
established a new genre in English
theatre, the revenge play or revenge
tragedy. The play contains several violent
murders and includes as one of its
characters a personification of Revenge.
The Spanish Tragedy is often considered
to be the first mature Elizabethan drama,
a claim disputed with Christopher
Marlowe's Tamburlaine,[2] and was
parodied by many Elizabethan and
Jacobean playwrights, including
Marlowe, William Shakespeare and Ben
Jonson.

Title page of the 1615 edition

Many elements of The Spanish Tragedy,
such as the play-within-a-play used to
trap a murderer and a ghost intent on
vengeance, appear in Shakespeare's
Hamlet. (Thomas Kyd is frequently
proposed as the author of the
hypothetical Ur-Hamlet that may have
been one of Shakespeare's primary
sources for Hamlet.)

Performance

Early performances

Lord Strange's Men staged a play that the

records call Jeronimo on 23 February
1592 at The Rose for Philip Henslowe,[3]
and repeated it sixteen times to 22
January 1593. It is unlikely, however, that
the performance in February 1592 was
the play's first performance, as Henslowe
did not mark it as 'ne' (new).[3] It is
unclear whether Jeronimo was The
Spanish Tragedy, or The First Part of
Hieronimo (printed in 1604), the
anonymous "prequel" to Kyd's play, or
perhaps either on different days.

The Admiral's Men revived Kyd's original

on 7 January 1597, and performed it
twelve times to 19 July; they staged
another performance conjointly with
Pembroke's Men on 11 October of the
same year. The records of Philip
Henslowe suggest that the play was on
stage again in 1601 and 1602. English
actors performed the play on tour in
Germany (1601), and both German and
Dutch adaptations were made.[4]

Modern performances

The Spanish Tragedy was performed at

London's National Theatre, first in 1982
at the Cottesloe Theatre, with Michael
Bryant in the role of Hieronimo, directed
by Michael Bogdanov.[5] It transferred to
the Lyttelton Theatre in 1984.[6]

The Royal Shakespeare Company

performed The Spanish Tragedy in May
1997 at the Swan Theatre, directed by
Michael Boyd.[7][8] The cast included
Siobhan Redmond as Bel-imperia, Robert
Glenister as Lorenzo, Peter Wright as
Hieronimo, Jeffry Wickham as the King
of Spain. The production later transferred
to The Pit at London's Barbican in
November 1997.[9][10]

An amateur production of The Spanish

Tragedy was performed 2–6 June 2009
by students from Oxford University, in the
second quad of Oriel College, Oxford.[11]
Another amateur production was
presented by the Hyperion Shakespeare
Company 21–30 October 2010 with
students from Harvard University in
Harvard's New College Theatre.[12] In
November 2012, Perchance Theatre in
association with Cambridge University's
Marlowe Society staged a site-specific
production in King's College Chapel,
Cambridge. In October/November 2013,
the Baron's Men of Austin, TX performed
the work in a near-uncut state, with
period costumes and effects, at Richard
Garriott's Curtain Theater, a mini replica
of the Globe Theater. Another amateur
production was presented by the
Experimental Theater Board of Carleton
College 27–29 May 2015.[13]

Other professional performances include

a modern-dress production[14] staged at
the Arcola Theatre in London in October–
November 2009, directed by Mitchell
Moreno,[15] with Dominic Rowan as
Hieronimo, as well as a production in
Belle Époque era costume, staged by
Theatre Pro Rata[16] in Minneapolis in
March 2010, directed by Carin Bratlie.

The play has never been filmed or staged

on television.

Publication
In the "Induction" to his play Bartholomew
Fair (1614), Ben Jonson alludes to The
Spanish Tragedy as being "five and
twenty or thirty years" old.[17][18] If taken
literally, this would yield a date range of
1584–1589, a range that agrees with
what else is known about the play. The
exact date of composition is unknown,
though it is speculated that it was written
sometime between 1583 and 1591. Most
evidence points to a completion date
before 1588, noting that the play makes
no reference to the Spanish Armada, and
because of possible allusions to the play
in Nashe's Preface to Greene's Menaphon
from 1589 and The Anatomie of Absurdity
from 1588–1589. Due to this evidence,
the year 1587 remains the most likely
year for completion of the play.[19]

Kyd's play was entered into the

Stationers' Register on 6 October 1592
by the bookseller Abel Jeffes. The play
was published in an undated quarto,
almost certainly before the end of 1592;
this first quarto was printed by Edward
Allde—and published not by the copyright
holder Jeffes, but by another bookseller,
Edward White. On 18 December that year,
the Stationers Company ruled that both
Jeffes and White had broken the guild's
rules by printing works that belonged to
the other; both men were fined 10
shillings, and the offending books were
destroyed so that Q1 of The Spanish
Tragedy survives in only a single copy.
Yet the Q1 title page refers to an even
earlier edition; this was probably by
Jeffes, and no known copy exists.[20]
The popular play was reprinted in 1594.
In an apparent compromise between the
competing booksellers, the title page of
Q2 credits the edition to "Abell Jeffes, to
be sold by Edward White". On 13 August
1599, Jeffes transferred his copyright to
William White, who issued the third
edition that year. White in turn transferred
the copyright to Thomas Pavier on 14
August 1600 and Pavier issued the fourth
edition (printed for him by William White)
in 1602. This 1602 Q4 contains five
additions to the preexisting text. Q4 was
reprinted in 1610, 1615 (two issues),
1618, 1623 (two issues), and 1633.[4]
Authorship
All of the early editions are anonymous.
The first indication that the author of the
play was Kyd was in 1773 when Thomas
Hawkins, the editor of a three-volume
play-collection, cited a brief quotation
from The Spanish Tragedy in Thomas
Heywood's Apology for Actors (1612),
which Heywood attributes to "M.
Kid".[3][21] The style of The Spanish
Tragedy is considered such a good
match with Kyd's style in his other extant
play, Cornelia (1593), that scholars and
critics have universally recognised Kyd's
authorship.[22]
In 2013, scholar Douglas Bruster
theorised that some awkward wordings
in the "Additional Passages" of the 1602
fourth edition resulted from printers'
errors in setting type from the (now lost)
original manuscript. Furthermore, after
examining the "Hand D" manuscript
(widely accepted as in Shakespeare's
handwriting) from the play Sir Thomas
More, Bruster argued that the speculated
printers' errors resulted from reading a
manuscript written by someone with
Shakespeare's "messy" handwriting, thus
bolstering the likelihood that
Shakespeare wrote the Additional
Passages.[23]
Characters
Figures in the Frame
The ghost of Don Andrea
An embodiment of Revenge
Spain
The Spanish King
Don Cyprian, Duke of Castile, the King's
brother
Don Lorenzo, the Duke of Castile's son
Bel-imperia, the Duke of Castile's
daughter
Pedringano, Bel-imperia's servant
Christophil, Don Lorenzo's servant
Don Lorenzo's page boy
Don Hieronimo, Knight Marshal of
Spain
Isabella, his wife
Don Horatio, their son
A servant to Don Hieronimo
A maid to Isabella
Don Bazulto, an elderly man
General of the Spanish army
Three watchmen
A deputy
A hangman
A messenger
Three citizens
Portugal
The Portuguese Viceroy
Prince Balthazar, his son
Don Pedro, the Viceroy's brother
Alexandro and Villuppo, Portuguese
noblemen
The Portuguese Ambassador
Serberine, Balthazar's serving-man
Two noblemen of Portugal
Two Portuguese citizens (Portingales)
In Hieronimo's play
Soliman, Sultan of Turkey (played by
Balthazar)
Erasto ("Erastus"), Knight of Rhodes
(played by Lorenzo)
Bashaw (played by Hieronimo)
Perseda (played by Bel-imperia)
Plot
Before the play begins, the Viceroy of
Portugal rebelled against Spanish rule. A
battle took place in which the Portuguese
were defeated and their leader, the
Viceroy's son Balthazar, killed the
Spanish officer Andrea before being
taken captive by the Spanish. Andrea's
ghost and the personification Revenge
itself are present onstage throughout the
entirety of the play and serve as chorus.
At the end of each act, Andrea bemoans
the series of injustices that have taken
place and then Revenge reassures him
that those deserving will get their
comeuppance. The Ghost of Andrea and
Revenge open the play in Act 1 and close
the play in Act 5 with descriptions of the
Classical underworld. There is also a
subplot concerning the enmity of two
Portuguese noblemen, one of whom
attempts to convince the Viceroy that his
rival has murdered the missing Balthazar.

The King's nephew Lorenzo and Andrea's

best friend Horatio dispute over who
captured Balthazar. Though it is made
clear early on that Horatio defeated
Balthazar and Lorenzo has essentially
cheated his way into taking partial credit,
the King leaves Balthazar in Lorenzo's
charge and splits the spoils of the victory
between the two. Horatio comforts
Lorenzo's sister, Bel-imperia, who was in
love with Andrea against her family's
wishes. Despite her former feelings for
Andrea, Bel-imperia soon falls for
Horatio. She confesses that her love for
Horatio is motivated partially by her
desire for revenge: Bel-imperia intends to
torment Balthazar, who killed her former
lover Andrea.

Meanwhile, Balthazar is falling in love

with Bel-imperia. The Spanish king
decides that a marriage between
Balthazar and Bel-imperia would be an
excellent way to repair the peace with
Portugal. Horatio's father, the Marshal
Hieronimo, stages an entertainment for
the Portuguese ambassador. Lorenzo,
suspecting that Bel-imperia has found a
new lover, bribes her servant Pedringano
and discovers that Horatio is the man. He
persuades Balthazar to help him murder
Horatio during an assignation with Bel-
imperia. Hieronimo and his wife Isabella
find the body of their son hanged and
stabbed, and Isabella is driven mad.
(Revisions made to the original play
supplement the scene with Hieronimo
briefly losing his wits as well.)

Lorenzo locks Bel-imperia away, but she

succeeds in sending Hieronimo a letter,
written in her own blood, informing him
that Lorenzo and Balthazar were
Horatio's murderers. Hieronimo's
questions and attempts to see Bel-
imperia convince Lorenzo that he knows
something. Afraid that Balthazar's
servant Serberine has revealed the truth,
Lorenzo convinces Pedringano to murder
Serberine, then arranges for Pedringano's
arrest in the hopes of silencing him too.
Hieronimo, appointed judge, sentences
Pedringano to death. Pedringano expects
Lorenzo to procure his pardon, and
Lorenzo, having written a fake letter of
pardon, lets him believe this right up until
the hangman drops Pedringano to his
death.
Lorenzo manages to prevent Hieronimo
from seeking justice by convincing the
King that Horatio is alive and well.
Furthermore, Lorenzo does not allow
Hieronimo to see the King, claiming that
he is too busy. This, combined with his
wife Isabella's suicide, pushes Hieronimo
past his limit. He rants incoherently and
digs at the ground with his dagger.
Lorenzo goes on to tell his uncle, the
King, that Hieronimo's odd behaviour is
due to his inability to deal with his son
Horatio's newfound wealth (Balthazar's
ransom from the Portuguese Viceroy),
and he has gone mad with jealousy.
Regaining his senses, Hieronimo, along
with Bel-imperia, feigns reconciliation
with the murderers, and asks them to join
him in putting on a play, Soliman and
Perseda, to entertain the court.

When the play is performed, Hieronimo

uses real daggers instead of prop
daggers, so that Lorenzo and Balthazar
are stabbed to death in front of the King,
Viceroy, and Duke (Lorenzo and Bel-
imperia's father). He cast the play in such
a way that both himself and Bel-imperia
could exact their own revenge by actually
killing the murderers. Bel-imperia
chooses to stab herself during the play
too, although this was not Hieronimo's
intention for her. Hieronimo tells
everyone of the motive behind the
murders, bites out his own tongue to
prevent himself from talking under
torture, and kills the Duke of Castille and
then himself. Andrea and Revenge are
satisfied, and promise to deliver suitable
eternal punishments to the guilty parties.

Influences
Many writers influenced The Spanish
Tragedy, notably Seneca and those from
the Medieval tradition. The play is
ostensibly Senecan with its bloody
tragedy, rhetoric of the horrible, the
character of the Ghost and typical
revenge themes.[24]: 27  The characters of
the Ghost of Andrea and Revenge form a
chorus similar to that of Tantalus and
Fury in Seneca's Thyestes.[24]: 27  The
Ghost describes his journey into the
underworld and calls for punishment at
the end of the play that has influences
from Thyestes, Agamemnon and
Phaedra.[24]: 33  The use of onomastic
rhetoric is also Senecan, with characters
playing upon their names, as Hieronimo
does repeatedly.[25] Hieronimo also
references the Senecan plays,
Agamemnon and Troades, in his
monologue in Act 3, scene 13. The
character of the Old Man, Senex, is seen
as a direct reference to Seneca.[26]

The play also subverts typically Senecan

qualities such as the use of a ghost
character. For Kyd, the Ghost is part of
the chorus, unlike in Thyestes where the
Ghost leaves after the prologue. Also, the
Ghost is not a functioning prologue as he
does not give the audience information
about the major action on stage nor its
conclusion.[24]: 33  The Ghost is similar to
those in metrical medieval plays who
return from the dead to talk about their
downfall and offer commentary on the
action. Revenge is akin to a medieval
character that acts as a guide for those
on a journey.[24]

Allusions
The Spanish Tragedy was enormously
influential, and references and allusions
to it abound in the literature of its era.
Ben Jonson mentions "Hieronimo" in the
Induction to his Cynthia's Revels (1600),
has a character disguise himself in
"Hieronimo's old cloak, ruff, and hat" in
The Alchemist (1610), and quotes from
the play in Every Man in His Humour
(1598), Act I, scene iv. In Satiromastix
(1601), Thomas Dekker suggests that
Jonson, in his early days as an actor,
himself played Hieronimo.

Allusions continue for decades after the

play's origin, including references in
Thomas Tomkis's Albumazar (1615),
Thomas May's The Heir (1620), and as
late as Thomas Rawlins's The Rebellion
(c. 1638).[27]

In modern times, T. S. Eliot quoted the

title and the play in his poem The Waste
Land.[28] The play also appears in Orhan
Pamuk's 2002 novel Snow.

1602 additions
The White/Pavier Q4 of 1602 added five
passages, totalling 320 lines, to the
existing text of the prior three quartos.
The most substantial of these five is an
entire scene, usually called the painter
scene since it is dominated by
Hieronimo's conversation with a painter;
it is often designated III, xiia, falling as it
does between scenes III, xii and III, xiii of
the original text.

Henslowe's diary records two payments

to Ben Jonson, dated 25 September 1601
and 22 June 1602, for additions to The
Spanish Tragedy. Yet most scholars
reject the view that Jonson is the author
of the 1602 additions. The literary style
of the additions is judged to be un-
Jonsonian; Henslowe paid Jonson
several pounds for his additions, which
has seemed an excessive sum for 320
lines. And John Marston appears to
parody the painter scene in his 1599 play
Antonio and Mellida, indicating that the
scene must have been in existence and
known to audiences by that time. The five
additions in the 1602 text may have been
made for the 1597 revival by the
Admiral's Men. Scholars have proposed
various identities for the author of the
revisions, including Dekker, John
Webster, and Shakespeare
—"Shakespeare has perhaps been the
favorite in the continuing search..."[29]

(It can seem surprising to find

Shakespeare, house playwright for the
Lord Chamberlain's Men, as a putative
reviser of a play associated with their
rival company the Admiral's Men. Yet Sir
Thomas More provides a precedent of
Shakespeare working as a reviser in a
surprising context. It is also quite
possible that the play remained, in
different versions, in the repertoire of
more than one company, and that the
Jonson additions for Henslowe refer to
the adaptation of one script while the
additions in the 1602 Quarto represent
those to another version, not for
Henslowe but for the Chamberlain's Men.
It is notable that Richard Burbage, the
Chamberlain's lead actor, was a
celebrated player of Hieronimo's part.)
Themes and Motifs

Revenge

The morality of revenge has been a

source of discourse for years, and as
revenge is one of the key themes of the
play, a lot of debate has been made over
it.[30] Hieronimo's pursuit for revenge and
subsequent scheme is open to moral
based judgement, but the question many
scholars face is whether the
responsibility and fault of Hieronimo's
desire for revenge belongs solely to him.
In one theory, Steven Justice proposes
that the fault lies not in Hieronimo, but
rather in the society at the time.[30] It is
argued that Kyd used the revenge tragedy
to give body to popular images of
Catholic Spain.[30] Kyd tries to make
Spain the villain in that he shows how the
Spanish court gives Hieronimo no
acceptable choice. The court turns
Hieronimo to revenge in pursuit of
justice, when in reality it is quite different.

Some critics claim that Hieronimo's

attitude is what central Christian tradition
calls the Old Law,[30] the Biblical notion of
an "eye for an eye". Hieronimo's passion
for justice in society is revealed when he
says, "For blood with blood shall, while I
sit as judge, / Be satisfied, and the law
discharg'd" (III.vi.35–36).
Murder and Death

The nature of murder and death,

performed and as natural phenomena, is
also questioned. Smith considers how
the decade in which the play is set, is
relevant to its mentionings of hangings,
murders, and near deaths throughout.[31]
Multiple characters are killed or nearly
killed throughout the play. Horatio is
hanged, Pedringano is hanged, Alexandro
is nearly burnt at the stake, and Villuppo
is assumed tortured and hanged. Kyd
consistently refers to mutilation, torture,
and death, beginning early in the play
when the ghost of Don Andrea describes
his stay in the underworld: "And
murderers groan with never killing
wounds, / And perjured wights scalded in
boiling lead, / And all foul sins with
torments overwhelmed" (I.i.68–70). He
vividly describes in these lines as well as
others the frequency of murder and
torture in the underworld. Murder and
death make up the tragedy theme that
holds true through the last scene of the
play.

Social mobility

Another theme is social mobility—

characters such as Lorenzo and
Pedringano are driven by their ambition
and desire for more power. Pedringano
especially so as he is a servant,
belonging in the lowest rank of the
hierarchy. His efforts to curry favor (and
go beyond his 'place') with Lorenzo leads
to his resulting downfall as he is barred
from social mobility, a mere tool in the
end.

In addition to that, Hieronimo and his

family are labeled as a "middling sort" by
many scholars.[32] Essentially the 'middle
class,' Kyd establishes a situation in
which conflict between Hieronimo's
household and the nobility is inevitable
as the middle class is seen as a threat,
one that is pressing up on the
aristocrats.[32] This is evident in scenes
such as the resulting competition from
the 'middling sort' Horatio and Lorenzo,
the King's nephew.

Scholars cite oeconomia as the

philosophy Kyd is adhering to in the
play.[32]

Structure
The structure in essence is a "play within
a play". The play begins with a
background of why Hieronimo wants to
seek revenge. He is seen as a minor
character and eventually becomes the
protagonist to add to the revenge plot.
When he becomes the main character,
the plot begins to unfold and become the
revenge story that it is. Kyd incorporates
the buildup to the revenge as a way to
show the internal and external struggles
of the characters. The actual revenge
takes place during the play that
Hieronimo stages, making this the climax
of the play.[33] The resolution is the
explanation to the king of what has
happened. The play within the play is not
described until the actual play is
performed, intensifying the climax, and
the resolution is short due to the
explanations that have already occurred.

Critics say that The Spanish Tragedy

resembles a Senecan Tragedy. The
separation of acts, the emphasized
bloody climax, and the revenge itself,
make this play resemble some of the
most famous ancient plays.[34] Kyd does
acknowledge his relations to Senecan
Tragedies by using Latin directly in the
play but also causes Christianity to
conflict with pagan ideals. We also see
Kyd's use of Seneca through his
referencing three Senecan plays in The
Spanish Tragedy. It is said that this play
was the initiator of the style for many
"Elizabethan revenge tragedies, most
notably Hamlet".[34]

References
1. Kyd, Thomas; Schick, Josef (20 October
1898). "The Spanish tragedy, a play" (http
 s://archive.org/details/spanishtragedya00
kydgoog) . London, J.M. Dent and co. –
via Internet Archive.

2. Rist, Thomas (2016). The Spanish

Tragedy: A Critical Reader. University of
Wales, Bangor, UK: Bloomsbury. p. 114.
ISBN 978-1-4725-2773-8.

3. J. R. Mulryne, ‘Kyd, Thomas (bap. 1558, d.

1594)’, Oxford Dictionary of National
Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004
accessed 4 Nov 2013 (http://www.oxford
dnb.com/view/article/15816,)

4. Chambers, Vol. 3, pp. 395–397.

5. "The Spanish Tragedy – National Theatre
1982" (http://www2.warwick.ac.uk/fac/ar
ts/ren/elizabethan_jacobean_drama/kyd/
spanishtragedy/performancehistory/profe
ssional_productions/1982cottesloe) .
www2.warwick.ac.uk.

6. "National Theatre 1982 – Rehearsal

Photographs" (http://www2.warwick.ac.u
k/fac/arts/ren/projects/elizabethan_jaco
bean_drama/kyd/spanishtragedy/perform
ancehistory/1982rehearsal) .
www2.warwick.ac.uk. Archived (https://w
eb.archive.org/web/20160304205649/htt
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2016.
7. "More matter, less art" (https://www.indep
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original on 18 June 2022. Retrieved
3 September 2018.

8. Michael Boyd (http://www.rsc.org.uk/dow

nloads/pdfs/press_Michael_Boyd.pdf)

9. "The Spanish Tragedy – Professional

Productions" (http://www2.warwick.ac.u
k/fac/arts/ren/elizabethan_jacobean_dra
ma/kyd/spanishtragedy/performancehist
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www2.warwick.ac.uk.
10. "The Spanish Tragedy – Professional
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k/fac/arts/ren/projects/elizabethan_jaco
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www2.warwick.ac.uk. Archived (https://w
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11. "The Spanish Tragedie" (http://www.dailyi
nfo.co.uk/reviews/feature/4046/The_Spa
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the original on 27 May 2011.

12. "The Spanish Tragedy" (http://www.thecri

mson.com/article/2010/10/19/spanish-tr
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13. "The Spanish Tragedy" (https://apps.carlet
on.edu/campus/campact/events/?event_i
d=1262748&date=2015-05-28) .
apps.carleton.edu. Student Activities –
Carleton College. Archived (https://web.ar
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apps.carleton.edu/campus/campact/eve
nts/?event_id=1262748&date=2015-05-2
8) from the original on 28 May 2015.

14. "Theatre review: The Spanish Tragedy at

Arcola Theatre" (http://www.britishtheatre
guide.info/reviews/spanishtragedy-rev.ht
m) . www.britishtheatreguide.info.
Archived (https://web.archive.org/web/20
110610015155/http://www.britishtheatre
guide.info/reviews/spanishtragedy-rev.ht
m) from the original on 10 June 2011.
15. "The Spanish Tragedy: Arcola Theatre" (htt
ps://web.archive.org/web/200911241906
51/http://www.thespanishtragedy.co.u
k/) . Archived from the original (http://ww
w.thespanishtragedy.co.uk/) on 24
November 2009. Retrieved 24 November
2009.

16. "Theatre Pro Rata" (http://www.theatrepro

rata.org) . Theatre Pro Rata. Archived (htt
ps://web.archive.org/web/200902031958
12/http://theatreprorata.org/) from the
original on 3 February 2009.

17. "The Holloway Pages: Ben Jonson: Works

(1692 Folio): Bartholomew Fair" (http://ho
llowaypages.com/jonson1692bartholme
w.htm) . hollowaypages.com. Retrieved
3 September 2018.
18. Corrigan, Brian. "Benjamin Jonson –
Bartholomew Fair" (http://cord.ung.edu/b
f.html) . University of North Georgia.

19. Mulryne, J. R. (2004). "Kyd, Thomas (bap.

1558, d. 1594), playwright and translator".
Oxford Dictionary of National Biography
(online ed.). Oxford University Press.
doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/15816 (https://doi.o
rg/10.1093%2Fref%3Aodnb%2F15816) .
(Subscription or UK public library
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elp/subscribe#public) required.)

20. Edwards, pp. xxvii–xxix.

21. Heywood, Thomas (1841 report). An
Apology for Actors in Three Books (http
s://archive.org/details/bub_gb_N5ZMAAA
AcAAJ) , pp. 45, 65. F. Shoberl, Jr.
Retrieved 4 May 2014.
22. Erne, Lukas (2001). Beyond "The Spanish
tragedy" : a study of the works of Thomas
Kyd. Manchester, U.K.: Manchester
University Press. pp. 7, 8. ISBN 0-7190-
6093-1.

23. Schuessler, Jennifer (12 August 2013).

"Further Proof of Shakespeare's Hand in
'The Spanish Tragedy' " (https://www.nyti
mes.com/2013/08/13/arts/further-proof-
of-shakespeares-hand-in-the-spanish-trag
edy.html) . The New York Times. Archived
(https://web.archive.org/web/201612201
35848/http://www.nytimes.com/2013/0
8/13/arts/further-proof-of-shakespeares-
hand-in-the-spanish-tragedy.html) from
the original on 20 December 2016.
24. Baker, Howard (August 1935). "Ghosts
and Guides: Kyd's 'Spanish Tragedy' and
the Medieval Tragedy". Modern Philology.
33 (1): 27–35. doi:10.1086/388170 (http
s://doi.org/10.1086%2F388170) .
S2CID 161554721 (https://api.semanticsc
holar.org/CorpusID:161554721) .

25. Kyd, Thomas. The Spanish Tragedy. J.R.

Mulryne, ed. London: A&C Black, 1989.

26. McMillin, Scott (1974). "The Book of

Seneca in The Spanish Tragedy". SEL:
Studies in English Literature 1500–1900.
14 (2): 201–208. doi:10.2307/450049 (htt
ps://doi.org/10.2307%2F450049) .
JSTOR 450049 (https://www.jstor.org/sta
ble/450049) .

27. Edwards, pp. lxvii–lxviii.

28. Eliot, T. S. The Waste Land, line 431: "Why
then Ile fit you. Hieronymo's mad againe."

29. Edwards, p. lxii.

30. Justice, Steven (1985). "Spain, Tragedy,
and The Spanish Tragedy". SEL: Studies in
English Literature 1500–1900. 25 (2):
271–288. doi:10.2307/450723 (https://do
i.org/10.2307%2F450723) .
JSTOR 450723 (https://www.jstor.org/sta
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399817) .
31. Smith, Molly (1992). "The Theater and the
Scaffold: Death as Spectacle in The
Spanish Tragedy". SEL: Studies in English
Literature 1500–1900. 32 (2): 217–232.
doi:10.2307/450733 (https://doi.org/10.2
307%2F450733) . JSTOR 450733 (https://
www.jstor.org/stable/450733) .

32. Crosbie, Christopher (January 2008).

"Oeconomia and the Vegetative Soul:
Rethinking Revenge in The Spanish
Tragedy". English Literary Renaissance.
38 (1): 3–33. doi:10.1111/j.1475-
6757.2008.00115.x (https://doi.org/10.11
11%2Fj.1475-6757.2008.00115.x) .
S2CID 143755501 (https://api.semanticsc
holar.org/CorpusID:143755501) .
33. Kishi, Tetsuo. "The Structure and Meaning
of The Spanish Tragedy" (http://www.uv.e
s/~fores/KishiTetsuo.uk.html) . Archived
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82347/http://www.uv.es/%7Efores/KishiT
etsuo.uk.html) from the original on 3
January 2010. Retrieved 16 April 2009.>

34. Dillon, Janette. The Cambridge

Introduction to Shakespeare's Tragedies.
Cambridge University Press, 2007.

Bibliography
Editions
Kyd, Thomas The Spanish Tragedy
Broadview Edition (Peterborough,
Ontario: Broadview Press, 2016). ISBN
978-1-55481-205-9. Edited by Patrick
McHenry. Includes introduction and
supplementary historical documents.
Kyd, Thomas The Spanish Tragedy
(London: Bloomsbury, 2013) ISBN 978-
1904271604. Edited with an
introduction and notes by Clara Calvo
and Jesús Tronch.
Maus, Katharine Eisamann Four
Revenge Tragedies (Oxford: Oxford
University Press, 1998) ISBN 0-19-
283878-4. Contains The Spanish
Tragedy, The Revenger's Tragedy, The
Revenge of Bussy D'Ambois, and The
Atheist's Tragedy.
Further reading
Broude, Ronald (1971). "Time, Truth,
and Right in 'The Spanish Tragedy' ".
Studies in Philology. 68 (2): 130–145.
JSTOR 4173715 (https://www.jstor.or
g/stable/4173715) .
Kay, Carol McGinnis (1977). "Deception
through Words: A Reading of 'The
Spanish Tragedy' ". Studies in Philology.
74 (1): 20–38. JSTOR 4173925 (http
s://www.jstor.org/stable/4173925) .

External links
The Spanish Tragedie (https://www.gut
enberg.org/ebooks/6043) from
Project Gutenberg
 The Spanish Tragedy (https://archive.or
g/details/The_Spanish_Tragedy_for_a_
Modern_Audience) Shorter version of
the play for a modern audience
The Spanish Tragedy (https://librivox.
org/search?title=The+Spanish+Traged
y&author=KYD&reader=&keywords=&g
enre_id=0&status=all&project_type=eit
her&recorded_language=&sort_order=c
atalog_date&search_page=1&search_f
orm=advanced) public domain
audiobook at LibriVox

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