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The aim of this thesis is to establish the canon of Thomas Kyd’s plays and to explore Shakespeare’s relationship with that oeuvre. Chapter One begins by examining Shakespeare’s verbal indebtedness to plays that have been attributed to Kyd for over two centuries, including The Spanish Tragedy (1587), Soliman and Perseda (1588), and The True Chronicle History of King Leir (1589). The first chapter argues that Shakespeare’s extensive knowledge of Kyd’s plays contributed towards the development of his dramatic language. The second chapter provides an overview of some of the complex methods for identifying authors utilized throughout the thesis. Chapter Three then seeks to establish a fuller account of Kyd’s dramatic canon through a variety of authorship tests, arguing that in addition to the three plays above Arden of Faversham (1590), Fair Em (1590), and Cornelia (1594) should be attributed to Kyd as sole authored texts. The fourth chapter examines the internal evidence for Kyd’s hand in Shakespeare’s Henry VI Part One (1592). The chapter contends that Shakespeare’s chronicle history play was originally written by Kyd and Thomas Nashe for the Lord Strange’s Men, and that Shakespeare subsequently added three scenes for the Lord Chamberlain’s Men. The fifth chapter argues that Shakespeare and Kyd collaborated on The Reign of King Edward III (1593) and that Kyd should thus be recognized as one of Shakespeare’s earliest co-authors. Finally, Chapter Six, by way of conclusion, outlines other possible links between Kyd’s plays and Shakespeare. The thesis as a whole argues for a reconsideration of Kyd’s authorship of a number of key plays that influenced Shakespeare, and for a reconsideration of the collaboration between these two dramatists.
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