The Spanish Tragedy was written in the late 1580s, likely by Thomas Kyd. It was highly influential, spawning many revenge tragedies. The play is set in a corrupt Spanish court and explores themes of revenge, justice, and the conflict between divine and human justice. It leaves ambiguous how Don Andrea was killed and whether the characters can find justice through legal or divine means, as revenge continues to drive the plot. The play helped establish conventions for the new revenge tragedy genre in Elizabethan theatre.

1. The Spanish Tragedy
EN302: European Theatre

3. • Published in 1592 but
probably written and first
performed in the late 1580s; a
play called Jeronimo was
certainly performed at the
Rose theatre in 1592
• Generally attributed to
Thomas Kyd (1558-94),
though there is no
contemporary mention of
Kyd’s authorship of the play
until 1612
• Kyd was imprisoned and
tortured for possession of
heretical papers (which he
claimed belonged to his
room-mate Christopher
Marlowe); he died shortly
after his release.
• He may have written the first
(now lost) play version of
Hamlet.

4. • It was a highly influential
play:
• Printed at least 10 times
between 1592 and 1613;
• Spawned a sequel, The First
Part of Jeronimo, in 1592
(printed 1605);
• Performed a near-record 29
times between 1592 and
1597, according to the
accounts of the Rose theatre
owner Philip Henslowe;
• 1602 additions (possibly by
Jonson, possibly even
Shakespeare) – in which
Hieronimo really does go
mad;
• Easily the most widely-
quoted play in subsequent
Elizabethan and Jacobean
drama.

5. • It set the mould for
subsequent revenge
tragedies, including:
• shady murders,
• ghosts seeking justice,
• a corrupt court,
• a revenger seeking
confirmation,
• extended plotting,
• disguise,
• real and feigned madness,
• multiple bloody deaths,
• a spectacular climax;
• meta-theatrical elements.

6. The Elizabethan stage
• The Spanish Tragedy was written at a key moment in
European theatre history, when the communal and religious
drama of the Middle Ages was giving way to a new
commercial theatre industry.
• Michael Bristol:
• ‘Theatre occupies a marginal space as well as a marginal time.
This is pragmatically true of the earliest Elizabethan playhouses,
which were situated outside the formal jurisdiction of the city
authorities, although they remained de facto an integral part of
the city’s economic activity.’ (1983: 648)

8. Cutaway of the Rose by William Dudley, http://shalt.dmu.ac.uk/locations/rose-1587-1604.html
See also http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EApTZ1QuoHs

9. The Classical World
• A semi-classical setting?
ANDREA. When I was slain, my soul descended straight
To pass the flowing stream of Acheron;
But churlish Charon, only boatman there,
Said that my rites of burial not performed,
I might not sit amongst his passengers. (1.1.18-21)
• Frequent bursts of Latin, most notably as Hieronimo grieves
over Horatio’s body.
• Numerous allusions to Seneca…

10. Seneca (c. 4 BC – 65 AD)
• Recent translations of
Seneca into English (e.g.
1581)
• Seneca’s Thyestes begins
with a prologue in which a
Fury brings the ghost of
Tantalus back to the mortal
world to observe the
events of the play (though
here the Fury is punishing
rather than appeasing the
dead mortal).
• The Spanish Tragedy also
features direct quotations
(in Latin) from Seneca’s
Agamemnon, Oedipus and
Troades.

11. Seneca (c. 4 BC – 65 AD)
• ‘Enter Hieronimo with a book in his hand’(3.13.1 s.d.) –
the Bible, or Seneca?
• “Vindicta mihi!” (3.13.1)
• “Vengeance is mine; I will repay, saith the Lord.” (Romans
12:19, King James Bible, 1611)
• “Per scelus semper tutum est sceleribus iter.” (3.13.6)
[“The safest way for crime is always through crime.”]
• This is borrowed from a line spoken by Clytemnestra in
Seneca’s Agamemnon (l. 115).

12. Revenge
Like a verbal chime throughout the play: around 60 individual uses!
REVENGE. Then know, Andrea, that thou art arrived
Where thou shalt see the author of thy death,
Don Balthazar, the prince of Portingale,
Deprived of life by Bel-imperia.
Here sit we down to see the mystery,
And serve for Chorus in this tragedy. (1.1.86-91)
BEL-IMPERIA. But how can love find harbour in my breast
Till I revenge the death of my beloved?
Yes, second love shall further my revenge.
I'll love Horatio, my Andrea's friend,
The more to spite the prince that wrought his end. (1.4.64-8)

13. Revenge
BALTHASAR. Glad, that I know on whom to be revenged;
Sad, that she'll fly me, if I take revenge.
Yet must I take revenge, or die myself,
For love resisted grows impatient. (2.1.114-17)
HEIRONIMO. To know the author were some ease of grief,
For in revenge my heart would find relief. (2.5.40-1)
HEIRONIMO. Behoves thee then, Hieronimo, to be revenged!
The plot is laid of dire revenge.
On, then, Hieronimo, pursue revenge,
For nothing wants but acting of revenge. (4.3.27-30)

14. How did Don Andrea die?
• Andrea himself is oblique:
• “…in the late conflict with Portingale
My valour drew me into danger's mouth,
Till life to death made passage through my wounds.” (1.1.15-17)
• The underworld judges are unable to agree on his fate.
• We hear two competing accounts of his death (and might
remember that Andrea’s reactions to each will be visible to
the audience)…

15. GENERAL. In all this turmoil, three long hours
and more,
The victory to neither part inclined,
Till Don Andrea, with his brave lanciers,
In their main battle made so great a breach
That, half dismayed, the multitude retired;
But Bathazar, the Portingales' young
prince,
Brought rescue, and encouraged them to
stay.
Here-hence the fight was eagerly renewed,
And in that conflict was Andrea slain –
Brave man at arms, but weak to Balthazar.
(1.2.63-72)
HORATIO. When both our armies were enjoined in
fight,
Your worthy chevalier amidst the thick’st,
For glorious cause still aiming at the fairest,
Was at the last by young Don Balthazar
Encountered hand to hand. Their fight was long,
Their hearts were great, their clamours menacing,
Their strength alike, their strokes both dangerous.
But wrathful Nemesis, that wicked power,
Envying at Andrea's praise and worth,
Cut short his life to end his praise and worth.
She, she herself, disguised in armour's mask
(As Pallas was before proud Pergamus),
Brought in a fresh supply of halberdiers,
Which paunched his horse and dinged him to the
ground.
Then young Don Balthazar with ruthless rage,
Taking advantage of his foe's distress,
Did finish what his halberdiers begun,
And left not, till Andrea's life was done. (1.4.9-26)
How did Don Andrea die?

16. Legal justice?
• Hieronimo is ‘Knight Marshal’, an officer in the royal
household with judicial functions
HIERONIMO. Thus must we toil in other men's extremes,
That know not how to remedy our own,
And do them justice, when unjustly we,
For all our wrongs, can compass no redress. (3.6.1-4)
HIERONIMO. I will go plain me to my lord the King,
And cry aloud for justice through the court,
Wearing the flints with these my withered feet,
And either purchase justice by entreats
Or tire them all with my revenging threats. (3.7.69-73)

17. Legal justice?
VICEROY. They reck no laws that meditate revenge. (1.3.48)
• Compare Francis Bacon’s famous essay ‘Of Revenge’,
published some years later:
• “Revenge is a kind of wild justice; which the more man’s nature
runs to, the more ought law to weed it out. For as for the first
wrong, it doth but offend the law; but the revenge of that wrong,
putteth the law out of office.” (‘Of Revenge’, 1625)

18. Legal justice?
ISABELLA. Tell me no more! O monstrous homicides!
Since neither piety nor pity moves
The king to justice or compassion,
I will revenge myself upon this place,
Where thus they murdered my beloved son.
She cuts down the arbour. (4.2.1-5)

19. Machiavellianism
• English revenge tragedy is frequently set in a corrupt court in
which legal justice has become impossible; often in Spain or
Italy.
• Lorenzo lies to and manipulates not just his enemies but also
his allies.
• He is an early example of what will become a recognisable
stage type: the Machiavel. (It’s notable that he frequently
speaks in Italian despite his supposedly Spanish identity.)
LORENZO. Thus must we work that will avoid distrust;
Thus must we practise to prevent mishap;
And thus one ill another must expulse. (3.3.105-7)

20. Niccolò Machiavelli (1469-1527)
• Italian philosopher whose
works, especially The Prince
(1513), had been translated
into English and read widely.
• In 1552, for example, the
scholar Roger Ascham
condemned those who ‘with
consciences confirmed with
Machiavelle’s doctrine …
think, say or do whatsoever
may serve best for profit or
pleasure’ (A Report and
Discourse);
• Marlowe’s The Jew of Malta
has ‘Machevill’ deliver a
prologue in which he declares
‘religion but a childish toy’ (l.
14) and asserts the primacy of
‘might’ over law (l. 20).

21. Niccolò Machiavelli (1469-1527)
• “…those princes who have done
great things have held good faith
of little account, and have known
how to circumvent the intellect
of men by craft, and in the end
have overcome those who have
relied on their word. […] But it is
necessary to know well how to
disguise this characteristic, and
to be a great pretender and
dissembler […] A prince,
especially a new one, cannot
observe all those things for which
men are esteemed, being often
forced, in order to maintain the
state, to act contrary to faith,
friendship, humanity, and
religion.”
(From Machiavelli, The Prince, Chapter 18:
‘Concerning The Way In Which Princes
Should Keep Faith’)

22. Divine justice?
• This seems to be at work in the sub-plots. As he is being
bound to the stake in preparation for his execution, the
innocent Alexandro says:
ALEXANDRO. My guiltless death will be avenged on thee,
On thee, Villuppo, that hath maliced thus,
Or for thy meed hast falsely me accused. (3.1.51-3)
• Just in time, the scheming Villuppo is exposed by the entrance
of the Ambassador.
• But which god, if any, is in control here?

23. Divine justice?
HIERONIMO. Down by the dale that flows with purple gore
Standeth a fiery tower; there sits a judge
Upon a seat of steel and molten brass,
And 'twixt his teeth he holds a firebrand,
That leads onto the lake where hell doth stand.
Away, Hieronimo, to him be gone!
He'll do thee justice for Horatio's death. (3.12.7-13)
HIERONIMO. Vindicta mihi!
Ay, heaven will be revenged of every ill,
Nor will they suffer murder unrepaid.
Then stay, Hieronimo, attend their will,
For mortal men may not appoint their time. (3.13.1-5; note move
from singular to plural)

24. Divine justice?
HIERONIMO. O sacred heavens, if this unhallowed deed,
If this inhuman and barbarous attempt,
If this incomparable murder thus
Of mine, but now no more my son,
Shall unrevealed and unrevenged pass,
How should we term your dealings to be just,
If you unjustly deal with those that in your justice trust? (3.2.5-11)
HIERONIMO. Why then, I see that heaven applies our drift,
And all the saints do sit soliciting
For vengeance on those cursed murderers. (4.1.32-4)

25. Human agency?
• Does Revenge drive, or merely embody, human actions?
REVENGE. Be still, Andrea; ere we go from hence
I'll turn their friendship into fell despite,
Their love to mortal hate, their day to night,
Their hope into despair, their peace to war,
Their joys to pain, their bliss to misery. (1.5.5-9)
REVENGE. Content thyself, Andrea; though I sleep,
Yet is my mood soliciting their souls.
Sufficeth thee that poor Hieronimo
Cannot forget his son Horatio.
Nor dies Revenge, although he sleep awhile,
For in unquiet, quietness is feigned,
And slumb'ring is a common worldly wile. (3.15.19-25)

26. Human agency?
• It is a mortal sign (Bel-imperia’s letter, written in her own
blood), and not a supernatural one (though it has the
appearance of one), which announces Lorenzo and Balthazar’s
guilt.
• The play’s speeches emphasise Hieronimo’s moments of
decision-making:
HIERONIMO. This way, or that way? Soft and fair, not so;
For if I hang or kill myself, let's know
Who will revenge Horatio's murder then?
No, no! Fie, no! Pardon me, I'll none of that.
He flings away the dagger and halter. (3.12.16-20)
• Hieronimo describes himself at the end in metatheatrical
terms, both ‘Author and actor in this tragedy’ (4.4.147).

27. • We might return to
the title page to think
about this question
more fully: why is
this moment in
particular depicted?
• Video clip, starting at 2.30:
http://www.youtube.com/wat
ch?v=-PdwrQdcs1Y

28. • Until this moment, the play
has been intensely
patterned (think about the
visual and verbal contrasts
set up between Horatio
and Lorenzo, for example,
or the parallels between
the Spanish and
Portuguese courts); the
presence of Revenge may
suggest that we are in a
pre-ordained, fatalistic
universe.
• At this moment, though,
Hieronimo enters the stage
looking for an interlocutor,
but encounters a drawn-
out moment of anagnorisis
in soliloquy.

29. • In the satirical play the
Return from Parnassus
(1606), we see this speech
enacted by a fictional
version of the actor Richard
Burbage and a student:
BURBAGE. I think your voice
would serve for Hieronimo;
observe me how I act it, and
then imitate me.
STUDIOSO. Who calls Hieronimo
from his naked bed? And &c.
BURBAGE. You will do well after
a while.

30. • The 1602 additions to The
Spanish Tragedy
themselves commemorate
this moment, as Hieronimo
asks a painter to depict it:
HIERONIMO. Well, sir, paint me a
youth, run through and
through with villains' swords,
hanging upon this tree. …
Then, sir, after some violent
noise, bring me forth in my
shirt, and my gown under
mine arm, with my torch in
my hand, and my sword
reared up thus; and with
these words:
What noise is this? Who calls
Hieronimo?
May it be done?
PAINTER. Yea, sir.
(Fourth Addition, ll. 131-45)

31. Human agency?
• Hieronimo was clearly the ‘break-out’ character: the 1602 additions
are dominated by long speeches for him.
• Hieronimo’s speeches are by far the most frequently quoted and
parodied ones. See, for example, Ben Jonson’s Every Man in his
Humour (1601):
MATHEO. Indeed, here are a number of fine speeches in this book: ‘O eyes, no
eyes, but fountains fraught with tears!’; there's a conceit, ‘fountains fraught
with tears’! ‘O life, no life, but lively form of death!’ Is't not excellent? ‘O
world, no world, but mass of public wrongs’ – O, God’s me! – ‘Confused and
filled with murder and misdeeds’. Is't not excellent? Is't not simply the best
that ever you heard? Ha, how do you like it?
BOBADILLA. ’Tis good.
• In many ways, Hieronimo literally takes control of the play, becoming
his own ‘author’, and even takes on a life beyond it.

32. ‘Where words prevail not…?’
HIERONIMO. But wherefore waste I mine unfruitful words,
When naught but blood will satisfy my woes? (3.7.67-8)
• Hieronimo singularly fails to communicate the facts of
Horatio’s murder to the King.
• His line ‘And to conclude, I will revenge his death!’ seems to
be an illogical conclusion to the speech opening 3.13.
• Dissembling / false fronts: Lorenzo throughout, and Hieronimo
chooses to in Act 3:
HIERONIMO. Thus therefore will I rest me in unrest,
Dissembling quiet in unquietness,
Not seeming that I know their villainies… (3.13.29-31)

33. HIERONIMO. Each one of us must act his part
In unknown languages,
That it may breed the more variety,
As you, my lord, in Latin, I in Greek,
You in Italian; and for because I know
That Bel-imperia hath practised the French,
In courtly French shall all her phrases be. […]
BALTHAZAR. But this will be a mere confusion,
And hardly shall we all be understood. (4.1.172-81)
HIERONIMO. Now shall I see the fall of Babylon,
Wrought by the heavens in this confusion. (4.1.195-6)
• David Bevington notes that the English Bibles of the
Renaissance tended to confuse “Babylon” with “Babel” (p.
117). (Presumably the play-within-the-play was really
performed in English, despite the printed text’s insistence that
it was not.)
• The failure of language reaches its violent climax in the final
scene, of course, culminating in the highly symbolic moment
when Hieronimo bites out his own tongue.

34. What is the appeal of a revenge narrative?
• A vicarious rebellion against social authority? Blood-lust?
• “…if you will learn to rebel against princes, to commit treasons […], if
you will learn to contemn God and all His laws, to care neither for
Heaven nor Hell, and to commit all kind of sin and mischief, you need
to go to no other school, for all these good examples may you see
painted before your eyes in interludes and plays.” (Philip Stubbes,
The Anatomie of Abuses, 1583)
• A moral warning? Vengefulness as hamartia?
• “Plays are writ with this aim, and carried with this method, to teach
the subjects obedience to their King, to shew the people the
untimely ends of such as have moved tumults, commotions, and
insurrections […] If we present a Tragedy, we include the fatal and
abortive ends of such as commit notorious murders, which is
aggravated and acted with all the Art that may be, to terrify men
from the like abhorred practises.” (Thomas Heywood, An Apology for
Actors, 1612)
• A fantasy of human agency?
• “Revenge triumphs over death…” (Francis Bacon, ‘Of Death’, Essays,
1612)

35. Metatheatrical revenge
• Is it significant that the audience is presented with numerous
onstage spectators of revenge tragedy?
• Andrea and Revenge
• Lorenzo and Balthazar
• The court audience of Soliman and Perseda
• Gregory Semenza:
• “…the play offers multiple fictional counterparts for the real
persons involved in its performances, thereby establishing an
identificatory dynamic similar to that provided by a mirror”
(Semenza 2010: 154)
• There is a kind of demonic humour in Hieronimo’s line “But
Bel-imperia plays Perseda well” (4.4.69), as she, Lorenzo and
Balthazar lie dead or dying, and the court remain under the
impression that they are watching fiction.

36. Howare wepositionedin relationtotheending?
• Bel-imperia’s suicide?
• Castile’s murder?
Then he makes signs for a knife to mend his pen.
CASTILE. O, he would have a knife to mend his pen.
VICEROY. Here, and advise thee that thou write the truth. (4.4.199-
200)
• Castile is punished in the afterlife by vultures permanently tearing at
his liver (4.5.31-2). Is this simply because he opposed Bel-imperia’s
engagement to Don Andrea?
• What are we to make of Andrea’s gloating over the ending?
ANDREA. Ay, now my hopes have end in their effects,
When blood and sorrow finish my desires:
[…] Ay, these were spectacles to please my soul. (4.5.1-2, 12)

37. References
• Bristol, Michael D. (1983) ‘Carnival and the Institutions of
Theatre in Elizabethan England’, ELH, 50: 4, 637-654.
• Semenza, Gregory M. C. (2010) ‘The Spanish Tragedy and
Metatheatre’, in Emma Smith and Garrett J. Sullivan [eds.] The
Cambridge Companion to English Renaissance Tragedy,
Cambridge University Press, 153-62.
• Thank you!
• Marcelo Gomes Freire