A Road To Inevitable Destruction:a Psychoanalytic Interpretation Of The Spanish Tragedy

As a pioneer in the history of English drama, Thomas Kyd opened a brand new era for English revenge play. Widely accepted as the grandfather in the history of English revenge drama, The Spanish Tragedy brought Kyd great reputation, making him an outstanding representative playwright at his time and influencing a lot of great playwrights.In this thesis, the author will do a psychoanalytic study of the two avengers, Bel-imperia and Hieronimo in The Spanish Tragedy, aiming at analyzing their personality structures and how the mental conflicts influence their choices and actions, leading them to the road of final revenge. Destruction caused by revenge is the final denouement of this play, and it is the two avengers’internal anxieties caused by the imbalance of their personalities that intensifies this tragic ending. As the hero and heroine in this play, Hieronimo and Bel-imperia are the two characters of great importance, who scheme and conduct the whole revenge. A Freudian psychoanalytic study of the two avengers is helpful for learning the development of the plot. The thesis intends to probe into the two avengers’psychological world, which objectively and genuinely reflects the mental activities in the two avengers’ minds. It makes an in-depth analysis of the two avengers" personality structures, the anxieties they experience and how they cope with anxieties and finally lose balance, leading to the unavoidable denouement of the revenge. Through psychoanalytic study, this thesis hopes to provide a new perspective to appreciate the play.