The Spanish Tragedy

The Spanish Tragedy is an Elizabethan tragedy produced by Thomas Kyd sometime in the last two decades of the sixteenth century. It was widely acclaimed in the English theatre, recapitulating the model of the revenge tragedy. The play includes a number of violent murders, looked on partly by a character who personifies Revenge. The novel was later referred to, both directly and implicitly, by other Elizabethan playwrights, including Ben Jonson, Christopher Marlowe, and William Shakespeare. Its similarity to Shakespeare’s Hamlet has led some scholars to believe that Shakespeare used Kyd’s play as a template for his work.

The play is backgrounded in the war between the Viceroy of Portugal and the ruling Spanish nation, particularly a famous battle in which the Portuguese lost. In combat, the Viceroy’s son Balthazar killed the leading Spanish officer, Andrea, and was consequently taken hostage. The ghost of Andrea and the ghost of Revenge are on the stage throughout the entire play, their voices comprising a chorus that responds to the main characters.

The play begins as the King’s nephew Lorenzo argues with Andrea’s friend Horatio over who took Balthazar hostage. Though it is obvious that Horatio beat Balthazar and that Lorenzo is trying to wrongly claim the credit, the King puts Lorenzo in charge of Balthazar and divides the spoils of war between them. Horatio consoles Bel-imperia, Lorenzo’s sister, who had been in love with Andrea despite her family’s opposition. Bel-imperia soon moves on from Andrea and falls in love with Horatio. She says that part of the reason she loves Horatio is a desire for revenge, knowing that she can leverage the relationship to torment Balthazar, Andrea’s murderer.



At the same time, Balthazar is falling for Bel-imperia. The king of Spain proclaims that Balthazar and Bel-imperia should get married in order to restore peace between Spain and Portugal. Hieronimo, Horatio’s father and a prominent marshal, sets up a party for the ambassador from Portugal. Lorenzo suspects that Bel-imperia has found a lover and coerces her servant, Pedringano, to reveal Horatio’s identity. Hieronimo and Isabella come upon their son’s body hanged and pierced, which drives Isabella mad.

Lorenzo imprisons Bel-imperia, but she still manages to send a message to Hieronimo by writing with her blood. It tells him that Lorenzo and Balthazar killed Horatio. Hieronimo tries to visit her in prison, causing Lorenzo to suspect that he knows who killed Horatio. Suspicious that Seberine, Balthazar’s servant, leaked the information, he gets Pedringano to murder Seberine, cleverly setting up Pedringano’s arrest so that he will be unable to speak about the crime. Hieronimo is appointed a judge and gives Pedringano a death sentence. Pedringano anticipates that Lorenzo will pardon him, having seen a fake pardon letter drafted by Lorenzo. Lorenzo betrays him and Pedringano is hanged.

Lorenzo successfully stops Hieronimo from sorting out the crimes by telling the King that Horatio remains alive. He also prevents Hieronimo from seeing the king by pretending that he is too busy. When his wife commits suicide, Hieronimo goes insane, saying incoherent sentences and gouging at the ground with his dagger. Lorenzo goes to his uncle and tells him that Hieronimo is acting strangely because he is jealous of his son Horatio’s huge wealth obtained from the Viceroy at the end of the battle. Hieronimo returns to his full faculties and, joining up with Bel-imperia, strategically pretends to reconcile with the murderers. He invites them to help him stage a play called Soliman and Perseda as entertainment for the royal court.



The play is put on and Hieronimo replaces the prop daggers with real ones, intending for Lorenzo and Balthazar to die in the view of the King, the Viceroy, and the Duke, who is the father of Lorenzo and Bel-imperia. His plan also results in Bel-imperia’s character inadvertently committing suicide when she stabs herself at a dramatic moment. The murders and suicides play out as plotted. The crowd is aghast; Hieronimo takes the stage, explaining the purpose behind the murders. He bites off his own tongue to make him unable to reveal any more information under torture, then murders the Duke and commits suicide. In the background, Revenge and Andrea announce that they are content with the outcome of the tragedy. They vow to punish the guilty characters for the rest of eternity, suggesting that one’s moral life continues outside the scope of the story he is embedded in.

A play that contrasts the motivations and moral ills of its characters against the superseding judgments that are levied against them by the audience, The Spanish Tragedy casts the plight of the Spanish and Portuguese as ultimately a product of the individual choices of the protagonists and antagonists. Though one can achieve momentary victory in battle, the force of time erodes these seizures of power and looks at the underlying moral fabric of each story to determine everyone’s fates.