The Spanish Tragedy

The freshly edited and annotated text comes with a full introduction and illustrative materials intended for student readers. The Spanish Tragedy was well known to sixteenth-century audiences, and its central elementsa play-within-a-play and a ghost bent on revengeare widely believed to have influenced Shakespeares Hamlet. This volume includes a generous selection of supporting materials, among them Kyds likely sources (Virgil, Jacques Yver, and the anonymous The Earl of Leicester Betrays His Own Servant), Thomas Nashes satiric criticism of Kyd, Michel de Montaigne and Francis Bacon on revenge, and The Ballad of The Spanish Tragedy, which suggests the plays initial reception. Criticism is thematically organized to provide readers with a clear sense of the plays major themes. Contributors include Michael Hattaway, Jonas A. Barish, Donna B. Hamilton, G. K. Hunter, Lorna Hutson, Molly Smith, J. R. Mulryne, T. McAlindon, and Andrew Sofer. A Selected Bibliography is also included.