Reconsidering the Early Modern Machiavellian: Illicit Manuscripts and Kyd’s The Spanish Tragedy

Almost from the moment they began to circulate, Machiavelli’s political ideas were met with both praise and scorn. Thomas Kyd’s The Spanish Tragedy (ca. 1585) reflects this complicated reception of Machiavellian ideas, with Kyd depicting both evil and biblical versions of the Machiavel through Lorenzo and Hieronimo, respectively. This reading challenges the critical precedent, which assumes an automatic demonization of all connections with Machiavelli.