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Thomas Kyd (1558-94) was an English playwright, about whose life and works little is now known. Kyd was a contemporary of Spenser and a friend of Marlowe. He was criticized by the court poets for his lack of formal education but enjoyed great popularity as a dramatist. None of his early work having survived, he is chiefly remembered for The Spanish Tragedy (c. 1589), the first English revenge tragedy. This violent and bloody play proved extremely popular and was revived after the Restoration in a production remarked upon by Samuel Pepys. Its influence can be seen in English tragedy throughout the 17th century, most notably in Shakespeare's Hamlet, which employs not only the revenge theme but also the use of a play-within-a-play to reveal the identity of the murderer. Largely because of this, Kyd has often been suggested as the most likely author of the so-called 'ur-Hamlet' (c. 1594), a lost play that is known to have supplied many of the basic plot elements of Shakespeare's masterpiece. In recent years much attention has been paid to Kyd's possible role in the events leading to the death of his friend Christopher Marlowe. In May 1593 Kyd was arrested for possession of a 'heretical' treatise denying the divinity of Christ. Under severe torture he stated that the document had been given him by Marlowe, a noted freethinker who seems to have been the authorities' real target. Kyd's evidence led to an arrest warrant being issued against Marlowe, who was killed in murky circumstances a few weeks later. Kyd himself never recovered from his treatment in prison and died the following year. Janet Clare is Emeritus Professor of Renaissance Literature at the University of Hull, UK, and is currently Research Professor in English at the University of Bristol, UK, and Research Fellow at the Institute of English Studies, University of London, UK. John Ford (1586-1639) was an English playwright whose works have often been cited as examples of the 'decadence' of Caroline Drama. In the 19th century he was admired by Charles Lamb but attacked by William Hazlitt and others, who accused him of lacking a sense of morality. However, many 20th-century critics have praised his insight into character and his skill in writing dialogue
His best known play is the bloody tragedy 'Tis Pity She's a Whore (1627). Other works inlcude Love's Sacrifice (1627), the tragicomedy The Lover's Melancholy (1628), and Perkin Warbeck (1634), described by T. S. Eliot as "one of the very best historical plays in the whole of Elizabethan and Jacobean drama". John Webster was born in c. 1580 to a London coachmaker, and appears to have studied law at the Middle Temple. Although he is recorded as the author of several other works, including a history play, Lady Jane, his only surviving works are Westward Ho! and Northward Ho! (1604-05), written in collaboration with Thomas Dekker, the comedy The Devil's Law Case (1620), and two tragic masterpieces, The White Devil (1612) and The Duchess of Malfi (1614). Janet Clare is Emeritus Professor of Renaissance Literature at the University of Hull, UK, and is currently Research Professor in English at the University of Bristol, UK, and Research Fellow at the Institute of English Studies, University of London, UK. Janet Clare is Emeritus Professor of Renaissance Literature at the University of Hull, UK, and is currently Research Professor in English at the University of Bristol, UK, and Research Fellow at the Institute of English Studies, University of London, UK. |
