THOMAS KYD AND THE EVOLUTION OF REVENGE TRAGEDY IN ENGLISH DRAMA

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De Casibus Tragedy

De Casibus tragedy is the type of tragedy that deals with the fall of kings, queens, princes, and princesses. This specie of tragedy exploits the notion of fortune wheel in detail. As we have discussed in unit one, fortune wheel is a metaphor of the rise and fall of man in an uncertain and unknowable world. According to Alan S. Downer (1950: 128):

In its later development, de casibus tragedy is the vehicle not simply for medieval theme of the vagaries of fortune, but the universal theme of the human dilemma: to live is to make choices, decisions, but such choices and decisions must be made in ignorance of their own outcome and are determined for every man by his own peculiarities, his temper, his shortcomings, his virtues and his fault. Only in the consequences of such devices can man come to full knowledge of himself, and in the drama such knowledge comes only through suffering the consequences of ignorance.

De Casibus tragedy is, therefore, a moral play; and according to Downer, “the audience expected from both the action and the overt statements of the play examples of the teachings which it had inherited from the past and could hear expounded regularly from the pulpit”. Shakespeare’s Macbeth is a good example of this type of tragedy.

Revenge Tragedy

Revenge tragedy is the type of tragedy in which vengeance is the overriding theme. The desire to pay back for an injury that one suffered is the principal idea that controls the plotting of the play’s action. Revenge tragedy is, usually, crafted in three sequences; someone is killed and somebody close to the deceased discovers the deed and plans revenge, the revenge is carried out with trails of horror following; though it may cost the avenging team a lot, the villain and his tools are usually defeated in the end. Revenge tragedy subscribed to the dictum, “an eye for an eye”.

Elements of revenge tragedy

The elements of revenge tragedy include, but not limited to the following.

Machiavellian scheming

Every revenge tragedy has a Machiavellian character, usually a villain who leaves no stone unturned until he gets what he wants. He achieves his goal through all manner of scheming. No tool is too small or too big for him. He is extremely selfish, and for him, the end justifies the means.

Disguise

Disguise is a major element of revenge tragedy. People dissemble a lot. They present a picture of the opposite of their intention to anyone they seek to destroy. This technique features prominently in the revenge plays of Christopher Marlowe.

Death

Death is an element of any average tragedy. In fact, death is, usually, that major injury to be avenged. The killing of someone in order to dispossess him of his position or stop rivalry is usually what initiates the process of vengeance.

Horror

Revenge tragedy is, usually, a play of great passion and violent activities. It is filled with appalling and monstrous deed that human imagination can fathom.

Principle of vengeance

Revenge tragedy is a play on vendetta. It is anti-Christian in morality. In fact, in a revenge tragedy, vengeance is imposed on the hero as duty.

Play-within-a-play

Revenge tragedy inaugurates the tradition of play-within-a-play. This technique is, usually, a miniature play within the play itself, in which there is a flashback of the first murder that must be avenged. It reveals the action of the past that asks for revenge.

Happy ending

Revenge tragedy exploits the melodramatic technique of poetic justice and this enables the play to end on a happy note. The villain and his agents are, usually defeated though at a very terrible cost. In fact, it is because of the causalities inherent in the play that Downer argues that revenge tragedy is a “peg on which to hang the picture of a decedent world”.

Thomas Kyd’s Contribution: The Spanish Tragedy

Thomas Kyd is regarded as a pace-setter, inventor and leader, in English drama. As indicated in New World Encyclopedia:

For centuries, the writers belonging to the community of the so-called university wits – had attempted to translate the style of Latin drama for the English stage; Kyd was the first to do it successfully. Kyd was the first to revitalise classical tragic form, with all its violence, tension, using English that was neither obscure nor melodramatic, but penetratingly real.

The evolution of revenge tragedy is Kyd’s legacy to English drama and theatre history. As a talented writer, with an eye for the stage, Thomas Kyd was never hunted by the classical spirit. He was only interested in creating plays that work, plays that catered for the taste of his audience. As we have pointed out earlier, his approach to playwriting was slashed by the university wits “who were deeply imbued with the classical spirit” (Vargas 1960). Kyd’s lack of university education did not affect his talent as such.

The effectiveness of his play, The Spanish Tragedy kept the ‘University wits’ unsettled, for it was not only popular in England but also in Holland and Germany. Its fame went beyond the height attained by the works of those who thought that they were the repository of knowledge. In fact, The Spanish Tragedy left its stamp on the English theatre as its first revenge tragedy.

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