Kyd, Thomas

? November 1558 - 1594

Elizabethan playwright whose Spanish Tragedy was apparently the most popular dramatic work of its time. It is a perfect example of that beloved Elizabethan form, the "revenge tragedy," which exerted a considerable influence on Gothic narrative and on the portrayals of Gothic villains. Its inclusion of a ghost doesn't hurt, either. The revenge tragedy is probably most familiar to us today through William Shakespeare's Othello.

Sites:
Biographical essay
[Wikipedia]
Biographical essay
[Imagi-Nation]
Thomas Kyd and the Spanish Tragedy
Substantial discussion of Kyd and the play, w/ a helpful focus on the revenge motif. A must-see site for Kyd fans. [Roy Underwood, U West Alabama]
Biographical note
[TheatreHistory.com]
Biographical note
[Theatre Database]
Brief note about Kyd and THE play
[Shakespeare's Life and Times]
Brief biographical and contextual discussion
From The Cambridge History of English and American Literature in 18 Volumes (1907-21) at Bartleby.com
Brief biographical note
[Columbia Encyclopedia, Encyclopedia.com]
Brief biographical note a LitGothic etext
[John W. Cousins, A Short Biographical Dictionary of English Literature, 1910]
Kyd Hyper-Concordance
Part of the The Victorian Literary Studies Archive, this concordance allows you to search the etext of The Spanish Tragedy.
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Etexts:
The Spanish Tragedy
- at Elizabethan Authors
Includes links to bibliographic info and a glossary.
- at Blackmask (multiple formats)
- at Classic Literature Library
-- synopsis at TheatreHistory.com


Essays and Reviews:
"Perverse Justice in Kyd's Spanish Tragedy"
Brief essay. [John Nettles]
Madness and the Delay of Revenge
Student essay [Marcus Wischik]
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The Spanish Tragedy
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"Thomas Kyd."