The Spanish Tragedy
Comments(2) The last act of “The Spanish Tragedy” really solidified that Kyd was not joking around when he titled his play. (Spoiler alert: most of the cast dies.) At the very least, the play’s title is modest, as it could be titled “The Very Gruesome Spanish Tragedy.” Revenge is by far the most prevalent and recurring theme in the play. In fact, the character Revenge literally had the last word in the play. As if the content of the last act was not cruel enough, Revenge ends the play by stating that an endless tragedy has just begun (for Don Andrea’s foes).
Looking back at all the death of this final act, I feel that the deaths of Lorenzo and Balthazar were the most expected. After all, Andrea has been sitting on the side of the stage for four Acts waiting to be avenged. Not to mention that Hieronimo has stated that his only reason for living was to get revenge for Horatio’s murder.
The hardest death for me was definitely the suicide of Isabella. I kind of saw it coming as she did seem suicidal to me back in Act Three, Scene Eight, “No, there’s no medicine left for my disease,/ Nor any physic to recure the dead.” It is really sad that in her dying speech she thinks that Hieronimo was going about life as normal, not grieving for Horatio’s death. I do not really understand why Hieronimo could not tell Isabella of his plans to seek revenge. I think she would encourage him to do so or at least not tell anyone of his plans. Instead she died thinking that no one cared about Horatio’s death. I would also like to mention how she cuts down the tree where Horatio had been hung and burns the roots to make it so nothing could ever grow in its place. She compares the tree’s fate to her own before she takes her own life, “And as I curse this tree from further fruit,/ So shall my womb be cursed for his sake.” I find it interesting that her grief is so strong that she makes sure that she and the garden are fruitless forever.
Now that I have read the entire play, it is no wonder why the play could be titled “Hieronimo is Mad Again.” Hieronimo’s grief has certainly gotten the best of him. His grief has probably gotten the worst of him too because dare I say that you must have a certain determination to bite off your own tongue (which is possible, I googled it). Not to mention that Don Cyprian did nothing to deserve being stabbed by Hieronimo, as Cyprian was kind to Hieronimo throughout the play. I guess I could understand that grief and vengeance had gotten the best of him, but maybe by today’s standards Hieronimo should have had padded walls (and a mouth guard)?
In my opinion, I think that the last act of the play is what made it such a hit. The play ends, but to the audience there is no ending. They can go home and imagine the horrible life that the characters are living in the after life. This is the first time that I think, the audience is allowed or encouraged to use their imagination. The reader/ audience gets so involved in the whole story that in a way the last act allows you to get your revenge.
Moreover, what contributed to the popularity of the play were all the death scenes that the audience gets to experience. As we discussed in class, during that time, when prisoners got sentence to death it was a form of entertainment to the rest of the population. The prisoners had speeches and spoke to the whole city. This play gave the audience a lot of scenes where someone was murdered, hanged or died at war. The tragic scenes just kept coming back and the audience enjoyed every minute of it.
I think if you look at the entertainment world today, it has not changed. Yes, the actors are not all men but the audience still to this day enjoys drama. There are so many movies that give us murders, wars and fights, and we enjoy every minute of it, just the same as the theater goers in England. We enjoy watching drama or tragedy that is on stage but we never want this in our lives. In plays like “The Spanish Tragedy”, the audience gets to experience it all, but once the play is done, they/we get to go home to our average lives.
For me, Isabellas death was not such a shock. I can see, as a Mother, why she’d be so distraught.. and even if Hieronimo expressed his plot of revenge to her, it wouldn’t of changed the fact that her son was murdered. Not that her suicide is justified for it, but I can relate to such pain.
As for Hieronimos maddness, which I do agree, is the base of the play- I feel it to be completely justified. No padded walls for him. His son was killed, and someones son before that. In the eyes of a parent, your child is the most important thing in your world. If someone takes that away from you, the effects can make you crazy!
Whose to say if Hieronimo didn’t have his revenge on Balthazar he wouldn’t continue to murder innocent men? Balthazar was a bad seed.. his power controlled his morality, and in the end, him and his followers got what they deserved. The ending of The Spanish Tragedy, the play within the play, is climatic, and really draws the audience out of reality and into theatre. That’s what these writers wanted, an escape for those who come.