Thomas Kyd, one of the most important figures in the development of English drama, was the son of a scrivener. The Spanish Tragedy is a revenge tragedy. Revenge tragedy is the type of tragedy in which vengeance is the overriding
theme.
The Spanish Tragedy is an enactment of a father‟s revenge for the murder of
his son. Duke‟s son and a Machiavellian character, Lorenzo out of selfish interest killed Horatio. Hieronimo the father of Horatio discovered this heinous crime, planned and carried out revenge against those responsible for his son‟s death. One significant departure from the classical model is that Kyd never relied on narration to reveal murder, but puts all the killings on stage since it meets the
Elizabethan‟s taste for blood and violence.
This play is regarded as the first revenge tragedy in the history of the English drama and it provided a model for other Elizabethan playwrights like Christopher Marlowe and William Shakespeare. The study outlines and briefly
discusses the elements of revenge tragedy, which include, among others, Machiavellian scheming, disguise, death, horror, vengeance, play within a
play, and happy ending.