In Thomas Kyd’s The Spanish Tragedy, revenge is constantly visible on stage, both as a motif and a character. Kyd attempts to draw the line between justice and revenge in the various subplots that he introduces throughout the play. Revenge is simply the act of getting back at someone for wronging you whereas justice introduces the moral reasoning behind this act. Are all of the characters justified in their pursuit of vengeance? Are some more justified than others?
From the beginning of the play, Andrea seeks revenge against Balthazar, even in death. The audience never sees the actual fight between the two but discovers what happened through various accounts of the event. However, with deception being another prominent theme in this play, it is difficult to trust anyone’s word. It is never made clear if Andrea was in fact unjustly killed by Balthazar making it difficult to determine whether or not seeking revenge against him is justified.
After Horatio is murdered in his own garden, Hieronimo goes out of his way to make sure his pursuit of vengeance against Lorenzo is justified. He even distrusts a letter written in Bel-imperia’s blood and seeks more confirmation. Only after contemplating suicide and learning that the law will not help him does he decide to take matters into his own hands. Through the dialogue and action in the play, Kyd makes it a point that Hieronimo is justified in killing Lorenzo.
In the end it is evident that revenge is God’s job and people who decide to take it upon themselves must pay the ultimate price in doing so.
I’m not sure that the play leaves us with a sense that revenge is God’s job, but your review of Hieronimo’s scrupulous efforts to ensure that he is justified in seeking revenge is well done.
Maybe God attempted to use Hieromino as his vessel for revenge. Since Don Andrea was killed by Don Bathalzar, along with Hieromino’s son Horatio, it was the father’s job to serve justice for his son, his son’s friend, and God, who hates senseless violence and injustice. But your idea is well done, even though the deaths were not justified.
I had certain discomfort with the ending and the development of the play. Although revenge is ultimately carried out throughout the end of the play by Andrea being able to decide every one’s fate, can we really say his death was truly avenged. Just curious because although we know who killed Andrea the question of “why?” still remains. So I do agree that we can’t fully know if seeking revenge against Balthazar is “justified”.
There is a sense of sanction in Andrea’s wish for revenge against Balthazar because he is the observer watching it happen from the ‘underworld’. It gives a sense of old justice – an eye for an eye….even more so there is a sense of justice in his revenge because the play achieves the full extent of it by punishing the king and kingdom who orchestrated the events that led to his ultimate death at the hands of Balthazar.
And I agree with you, Hieronimo’s scrupulousness in finding out who was to blame for his son’s death not only gives his actions a sense of justice but also serves to reinforce his role as the marshal – the justice — and the play’s moral authority.