{"title":"Thomas Kyd","description":"\u003cp\u003eThomas Kyd’s works delve deep into the dark and turbulent world of revenge tragedy, a genre marked by intense emotions, intricate plots, and moral complexity. Readers can expect evocative plays that explore themes of justice, vengeance, and the human condition through gripping narratives and powerful language.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eWith titles such as \u003cem\u003eThe Spanish Tragedy\u003c\/em\u003e, Kyd’s writing offers a compelling journey into Renaissance drama, blending suspense, poetic drama, and a keen reflection on societal norms. These works remain influential staples in \u003cstrong\u003eArts \u0026amp; Culture\u003c\/strong\u003e, captivating audiences with their timeless exploration of ambition and despair.\u003c\/p\u003e","products":[{"product_id":"the-spanish-tragedy-by-thomas-kyd-9781904271604","title":"The Spanish Tragedy","description":"\u003cdiv class=\"book-description\"\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eA major new edition of Thomas Kyd's \u003ci\u003eThe Spanish Tragedy\u003c\/i\u003e, an outstanding landmark of Elizabethan drama. In its time, it quickly became a box office success and probably inspired Shakespeare to write \u003ci\u003eHamlet\u003c\/i\u003e, as it contains a ghost, murders that demand revenge and a hero that hesitates and contemplates suicide.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eAs a revenge tragedy, it set up the salient features of a dramatic genre that would last decades. Its hero, the aged Marshall of Spain, Hieronimo, whose son is murdered at night, soon transcended the play and became the standard stage representation of grief, rhetorical passion, and madness. Hieronimo's main antagonist is one of the first Machiavellian characters of English drama.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eThis edition explores the play in relation to its historical context and contemporary Iberian dynastic policy. It also relates the play, as a literary artefact, to other artistic manifestations of the European Renaissance and offers a fresh assessment of the play's stage history. For the first time in the play's textual history, this edition presents an integrated text inviting a reading of the play as it was published both in 1592 and in 1602.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"Unknown","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":47433047802092,"sku":"9781904271604","price":24.99,"currency_code":"NZD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0705\/7784\/8556\/files\/9781904271604.jpg?v=1774765691"},{"product_id":"five-revenge-tragedies-by-thomas-middleton-9780141192277","title":"Five Revenge Tragedies","description":"\u003cdiv class=\"book-description\"\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eA new and authoritative edition of five seminal revenge tragedies, edited by Emma Smith.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eAs the Elizabethan era gave way to the reign of James I, England grappled with corruption within the royal court and widespread religious anxiety. Dramatists responded with morally complex plays of dark wit and violent spectacle, exploring the nature of death, the abuse of power, and vigilante justice.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eIn Kyd's \u003cem\u003eThe Spanish Tragedy\u003c\/em\u003e, a father failed by the Spanish court seeks his own bloody retribution for his son's murder. Shakespeare's 1603 version of \u003cem\u003eHamlet\u003c\/em\u003e creates an avenging Prince of unique psychological depth, while Chettle's \u003cem\u003eThe Tragedy of Hoffman\u003c\/em\u003e is a fascinating reworking of \u003cem\u003eHamlet\u003c\/em\u003e's themes, probably for a rival theatre company. In Marston's \u003cem\u003eAntonio's Revenge\u003c\/em\u003e, thwarted love leads inexorably to gory reprisals. In Middleton's \u003cem\u003eThe Revenger's Tragedy\u003c\/em\u003e, malcontent Vindice unleashes an escalating orgy of mayhem on a debauched Duke for his bride's murder, in a ferocious satire reflecting the mounting disillusionment of the age.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eEmma Smith's introduction considers the political and religious climate behind the plays and the dramatic conventions within them. This edition includes a chronology, playwrights' biographies, and suggestions for further reading.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"Penguin Random House NZ","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":47596416893164,"sku":"9780141192277","price":38.0,"currency_code":"NZD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0705\/7784\/8556\/files\/9780141192277-five-revenge-tragedies.jpg?v=1777924583"},{"product_id":"four-revenge-tragedies-by-john-webster-9781408159606","title":"Four Revenge Tragedies","description":"\u003cdiv class=\"book-description\"\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eFrancis Bacon described revenge as a ‘kind of wild justice’. Then as now, early modern playwrights and their theatre-going public were fascinated by the anarchic energies that a desire for retribution unleashes. Rather than rehearsing familiar conventions, each of these plays presents a unique social and cultural milieu where dark fantasies of revenge are variously played out.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eIn Kyd’s \u003cem\u003eThe Spanish Tragedy\u003c\/em\u003e, a grieving father seeks public justice for the murder of his son by envious princelings. When his attempts are thwarted, he turns a court spectacle of murder into the ‘real’ thing. Blackly comic in its tone and style, \u003cem\u003eThe Revenger’s Tragedy\u003c\/em\u003e (anon.) presents vengeance as mimetic art, witty and cruel.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eFord’s \u003cem\u003e’Tis Pity She’s a Whore\u003c\/em\u003e represents an innovative re-working of the genre as a brother’s love for his sister leads to his spectacular revenge on his rival, her husband, in a society in which brutal retaliation for perceived wrong is the norm. In Webster’s \u003cem\u003eThe White Devil\u003c\/em\u003e, crimes of passion ignite revenge in the courts of the Italian city-states.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eThis student edition contains fully annotated, modernised texts of each play together with an introduction discussing the dramatic and poetic style of each play, focusing on its action and play of ideas.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"Allen \u0026 Unwin","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":47596433604844,"sku":"9781408159606","price":29.99,"currency_code":"NZD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0705\/7784\/8556\/files\/9781408159606-four-revenge-tragedies.jpg?v=1777925208"}],"url":"https:\/\/bookhero.co.nz\/collections\/thomas-kyd.oembed","provider":"Book Hero","version":"1.0","type":"link"}