A review of The Spanish Tragedy Essay Example

The Spanish tragedy

By Thomas Kyd

The Spanish tragedy revolves in killing of Don Andrea a noble Spanish in a battle in Portugal. Andrea was killed by the prince of Portugal Balthazar in a hand to hand combat for falling in having an affair with Bel-imperia who was the daughter to the Duke of castle.

When the ghost of Andrea appears before the judges who are supposed to assign him his place in the underworld, they fail to make decision and instead they send him to the supreme leaders, king and queen Pluto and Proserpine. Both the rulers hear the side story of Andrea who is then permitted by queen Proserpine to be accompanied by Revenge back to the land of the living to ensure that justice is offered to the slayer.

In the meantime, Andrea returns to the battle field (the site of his death),and finds that the Spanish have won and his slayer Balthazar is captured as a prisoner by Horato, the Marshall of Spain who until the time of Andreas death was his best friend. Meanwhile Balthazar becomes a shared prisoner as Lorenzo the Duke of castle son starts a war citing that it’s him who captured the Prince (Theatre Pro Rata 2010; p 04).

Balthazar’s father, the Portugal ruler rages with madness with the belief that his son is dead. This leads to negotiations between the rulers of both Portugal and Spain to foresee the return of the Prince. After his return to Spain, Balthazar falls in love with Bel-imperia who he later realizes is in love to Horatio through her servant Pedringano.

Horatio however is considered not good enough by Lorenzo for his sister because of his lower rank and chooses Balthazar’s has the best suit and gets the details of Bel-imperia’s meeting with Horatio from Pedringano after bribing him. This makes Balthazar and Lorenzo plan to kill Horatio which they succefully do with the help of Pedringano and another servant named Serberine while Bel-imperia is imprisoned because he was a witness. (Theatre Pro Rata 2010; p 04).

Hieronimo discovers the body of his son and rages with the quest for vengeance, he later discovers through Bel-imperia the killers as Lorenzo and Balthazar but is undecided whether to believe it or not. On the other hand Lorenzo realizes that the their deed is known, tries to eliminate all the evidence that surrounds him by paying Pedringano to kill serberine which is does, but later Pedringano is arrested after the crime and he is executed for murder. A letter is found in Pedringano’s hand revealing all the details of the killings. This leads to Hieronimo strongly believing that he knows the killers of his son.

A marriage between Balthazar and Bel-imperia is set, Hieronimo is given the duty of being in charge of entertainment .He organizes a play to entertain the guests convincing both Lorenzo, Balthazar and Bel-imperia to be characters. Hieronimo then casts himself as a murder with an intention of getting revenge for his son, he fatally stabs character (cited in Edwards, 1959: lxvi) Lorenzo and Bel-imperia character stabs character Balthazar before killing herself.

With all the three characters dead, Hieronimo reveals to the terrified guests that all the stabbing in the play is done with real knives. Hieronimo then tries to kill himself, but the king and Duke of the castle stops him. Amid the confusion. Hieronimo finds the opportunity to stab both the Duke of castle and himself and Revenge and Andrea. (Erne, 2001:p134-5);