Author Archives: kc133573

Thomas Kyd’s play, The Spanish Tragedy, portrays an immense amount of revenge and justice. These two themes harbor an intense desire within a majority of Kyd’s characters. Firstly and importantly, the audience is immediately introduced to Don Andrea, and the character of Revenge. Don Andrea relies primarily on Revenge to vindicate his murder. Bel-Imperia, the play’s strong willed female character, seeks a form of revenge and justice for the wrongs that have been done to her. She has loved and lost both Andrea and Horatio at the hands of a murderous act and therefore seeks revenge on Balthazaar that ultimately backfires. Kyd’s Act II opens up a new realm for revenge and justice upon the discovery of Horatio’s murder and lifeless body by his father, Hieronomo. Hieronomo vows to seek revenge on the person who committed this heinous crime and seek justice in the name of his son. At one point in time, Hieronomo considers joining his son in death and committing suicide, but ultimately decides against it in the name of revenge and justice.

Kyd portrays revenge and the act of justice as two pivotal themes in his play, but also in life. Elizabethans, and the readers of the twenty- first century, are both enraptured and familiar with these feelings of revenge and the urge for justice that so easily can harbor within ourselves.