![Book Cover of The Spanish Tragedy](/image/book/the-spanish-tragedy.webp)
The Spanish Tragedy
by Thomas Kyd
'The Spanish Tragedy ' Summary
Before the play begins, the Viceroy of Portugal rebelled against Spanish rule. A battle took place in which the Portuguese were defeated and their leader, the Viceroy's son Balthazar, killed the Spanish officer Andrea before being taken captive by the Spanish. Andrea's ghost and the personification Revenge itself are present onstage throughout the entirety of the play and serve as chorus. At the end of each act, Andrea bemoans the series of injustices that have taken place and then Revenge reassures him that those deserving will get their comeuppance. The Ghost of Andrea and Revenge open the play in Act 1 and close the play in Act 5 with descriptions of the Classical underworld. There is also a subplot concerning the enmity of two Portuguese noblemen, one of whom attempts to convince the Viceroy that his rival has murdered the missing Balthazar.
The King's nephew Lorenzo and Andrea's best friend Horatio dispute over who captured Balthazar. Though it is made clear early on that Horatio defeated Balthazar and Lorenzo has essentially cheated his way into taking partial credit, the King leaves Balthazar in Lorenzo's charge and splits the spoils of the victory between the two. Horatio comforts Lorenzo's sister, Bel-imperia, who was in love with Andrea against her family's wishes. Despite her former feelings for Andrea, Bel-imperia soon falls for Horatio. She confesses that her love for Horatio is motivated partially by her desire for revenge: Bel-imperia intends to torment Balthazar, who killed her former lover Andrea.
Meanwhile, Balthazar is falling in love with Bel-imperia. The Spanish king decides that a marriage between Balthazar and Bel-imperia would be an excellent way to repair the peace with Portugal. Horatio's father, the Marshal Hieronimo, stages an entertainment for the Portuguese ambassador. Lorenzo, suspecting that Bel-imperia has found a new lover, bribes her servant Pedringano and discovers that Horatio is the man. He persuades Balthazar to help him murder Horatio during an assignation with Bel-imperia. Hieronimo and his wife Isabella find the body of their son hanged and stabbed, and Isabella is driven mad. (Revisions made to the original play supplement the scene with Hieronimo briefly losing his wits as well.)
Lorenzo locks Bel-imperia away, but she succeeds in sending Hieronimo a letter, written in her own blood, informing him that Lorenzo and Balthazar were Horatio's murderers. Hieronimo's questions and attempts to see Bel-imperia convince Lorenzo that he knows something.
Afraid that Balthazar's servant Serberine has revealed the truth, Lorenzo convinces Pedringano to murder Serberine, then arranges for Pedringano's arrest in the hopes of silencing him too. Hieronimo, appointed judge, sentences Pedringano to death. Pedringano expects Lorenzo to procure his pardon, and Lorenzo, having written a fake letter of pardon, lets him believe this right up until the hangman drops Pedringano to his death.
Lorenzo manages to prevent Hieronimo from seeking justice by convincing the King that Horatio is alive and well. Furthermore, Lorenzo does not allow Hieronimo to see the King, claiming that he is too busy. This, combined with his wife Isabella's suicide, pushes Hieronimo past his limit. He rants incoherently and digs at the ground with his dagger. Lorenzo goes on to tell his uncle, the King, that Hieronimo's odd behaviour is due to his inability to deal with his son Horatio's newfound wealth (Balthazar's ransom from the Portuguese Viceroy), and he has gone mad with jealousy. Regaining his senses, Hieronimo, along with Bel-imperia, feigns reconciliation with the murderers, and asks them to join him in putting on a play, Soliman and Perseda, to entertain the court.
When the play is performed, Hieronimo uses real daggers instead of prop daggers, so that Lorenzo and Balthazar are stabbed to death in front of the King, Viceroy, and Duke (Lorenzo and Bel-imperia's father). He cast the play in such a way that both himself and Bel-imperia could exact their own revenge by actually killing the murderers. Bel-imperia chooses to stab herself during the play too, although this was not Hieronimo's intention for her. Hieronimo tells everyone of the motive behind the murders, bites out his own tongue to prevent himself from talking under torture, and kills the Duke of Castille and then himself. Andrea and Revenge are satisfied, and promise to deliver suitable eternal punishments to the guilty parties.
Book Details
Author
![Thomas Kyd image](/thumbs/image/author/thomas-kyd.webp)
Thomas Kyd
England
Thomas Kyd was an English playwright, the author of The Spanish Tragedy, and one of the most important figures in the development of Elizabethan drama. Although well known in his own time, Kyd fell i...
More on Thomas KydDownload eBooks
Listen/Download Audiobook
- Select Speed
Related books
![The Maid's Tragedy Cover image](/thumbs/image/book/the-maids-tragedy.webp)
The Maid's Tragedy by Francis Beaumont
Beaumont and Fletcher's The Maid's Tragedy (first published 1619) is a sensational Jacobean sex tragedy. When gentleman soldier Melantius returns to R...
![Tis Pity She's a Whore Cover image](/thumbs/image/book/tis-pity-shes-a-whore.webp)
Tis Pity She's a Whore by John Ford
'Tis Pity She's a Whore is a tragedy written by John Ford. It was first performed c. 1626 or between 1629 and 1633, by Queen Henrietta's Men at the C...
![The Father Cover image](/thumbs/image/book/the-father.webp)
The Father by August Strindberg
The Father is a naturalistic tragedy by Swedish playwright August Strindberg, written in 1887. It is about the struggle between parents over the futur...
![Adrienne Lecouvreur Cover image](/thumbs/image/book/adrienne-lecouvreur.webp)
Adrienne Lecouvreur by Ernest Legouve
Adrienne Lecouvreur is a French tragic play written by Ernest Legouvé and Eugène Scribe. It portrays the life of the leading French actress of the eig...
![Love and Intrigue Cover image](/thumbs/image/book/love-and-intrigue.webp)
Love and Intrigue by Friedrich Schiller
Intrigue and Love, sometimes Love and Intrigue, Love and Politics or Luise Miller is a five-act play written by the German dramatist Friedrich Schille...
![A Florentine Tragedy and La Sainte Courtisane Cover image](/thumbs/image/book/a-florentine-tragedy-and-la-sainte-courtisane.webp)
A Florentine Tragedy and La Sainte Courtisane by Oscar Wilde
Two short fragments: an unfinished and a lost play. A Florentine Tragedy, left in a taxi (not a handbag), is Wilde’s most successful attempt at traged...
![Iphigenia Cover image](/thumbs/image/book/iphigenia.webp)
Iphigenia by Jean Racine
Racine's version of the time-honored story of Iphigenia was acted for the first time in 1674. The model upon which it is shaped is the "Iphigenia in A...
![Phaedra Cover image](/thumbs/image/book/phaedra.webp)
Phaedra by Jean Racine
In the court of Louis XIV, adaptations of Greek tragedies were very popular. This play, heavily influenced by Euripides' Hippolytus, deals with love t...
![Little Eyolf Cover image](/thumbs/image/book/little-eyolf.webp)
Little Eyolf by Henrik Ibsen
Little Eyolf tells the story of the Allmers family. At the outset of the play, the father, Alfred, has just returned from a trip to the mountains. Whi...
![Julius Caesar Cover image](/thumbs/image/book/julius-caesar.webp)
Julius Caesar by William Shakespeare
The Tragedy of Julius Caesar is a history play and tragedy by William Shakespeare first performed in 1599. Although the play is named Julius Caesar, B...
Reviews for The Spanish Tragedy
No reviews posted or approved, yet...