Divine Justice in the Portuguese sub-plot in Kyd's The Spanish Tragedy


Abstract in English

This paper is concerned with the theme of divine justice in The Spanish Tragedy (1592) by Thomas Kyd (1558-1594), a famous English Elizabethan dramatist. It first defines the term "didactic", and then moves to discuss the Portuguese playlet in The Spanish Tragedy as a miniature play-within-the-play which reveals the issue of divine judgment. This paper concludes by asserting that this play is a tragedy of divine justice and punishment.

References used

Kyd, Thomas. The Spanish Tragedy. London, New Mermaids, 1592
Beard, Thomas. The Theater of God’s Judgments. London: Reprints of Renaissance Literary Works, 1990
Bowers, Fredson. Elizabethan Revenge Tragedy: 1587-1642. 1940. rpt, Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1971

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