ABSTRACT
The Spanish Tragedy initiated the use of revenge to produce structured causal plots in a way quite distinct from sources such as Seneca or common practice. The redeployment of medieval choric figures to comment on represented action resulted in a pedagogic structure, in which the operation and pleasures of the slow elaboration of causally linked actions were argued to audiences unfamiliar with them. The often-maligned structure of The Spanish Tragedy may be seen in this light to be sophisticated and pivotal to the development of drama as it restructured time, action, and identity.
