Cassandra Lagunas
Religious influence is not only evident in a general population’s behavior but in the conduct of literary characters, as well. During the sixteenth century, when Thomas Kyd’s The Spanish Tragedy (c. 1587) was written, revenge was forbidden by both the church and the law, and (in theory) just, unbiased judges determined punishments. In The Spanish Tragedy, because Hieronimo must be ethical enough to punish fairly those who have committed crimes, his knowledge of the law and right from wrong causes him to reflect deeply as to whether he should seek revenge for his son’s murder. Although the other characters assume he is mad, Hieronimo is still sane enough to pursue justice through the law before he tries private revenge. However, as the King dismisses Lorenzo’s crime out of nepotism and carelessness, Hieronimo realizes the current monarch’s ineptitude. Because Hieronimo is not taken seriously and sees the likelihood of Lorenzo’s rise to the monarchy, he takes matters into his own hands. To Hieronimo, Lorenzo’s ambition and crimes are reason enough to kill him and Balthazar. Preventing Lorenzo’s rise to power and his chances to ruin other people’s lives changes the narrative from a revenge tragedy to a heroic one. Considering the religious influences during the sixteenth century and the duty of each citizen to their country, Hieronimo’s murders at the end of the play are not exclusively for revenge but also for the integrity of Spain.
Kyd’s version of the revenge play became the blueprint for future playwrights, introducing many plot devices that formed the basic structure of the revenge tragedy, including elements seen in William Shakespeare’s Hamlet (c. 1600) and Thomas Middleton’s The Revenger’s Tragedy (1606). One of the most common elements of the revenge tragedy is the presence of religion, often used to analyze a character’s conscience. Kyd is clever in including Christian belief systems into his play, as they give insight into Hieronimo’s convictions. Gregory Semenza writes, “In theory, then, there was little confusion in the sixteenth century regarding the lawfulness of private revenge. Illegal in the eyes of both God and the monarch, it must be avoided at all costs; if enacted, the perpetrator of the crime must be punished swiftly and severely” (53-54). Revenge is therefore illegal in the eyes of God and the law in Hieronimo’s time, making his vengeful actions at the end of the play inexcusable. Steven Justice explains that English society did not respond well to people who sought revenge, disapproving of it “unanimously” (271). Thus, writers including revenge in their stories had to tread carefully when there was a possibility of offending Christian audiences. After Seneca (c. 4 B.C.E. – 65 A.D.), few writers created plays centered on revenge, and Thomas Kyd’s The Spanish Tragedy became the pioneer for the revenge tragedy during the Elizabethan era (Hacht 284). Kyd’s main character performs questionable acts against the law and God yet manages to bring the audience to excuse his actions. Kyd’s inclusion of religion, corruption, incest, and moral contemplation in Hieronimo’s story allows readers to understand the characters’ legal and religious wrongdoings.
When The Spanish Tragedy was first performed in 1587, the play was “new and shocking on the largest scale” (Lamb 309). Although familiar plays at the time were Tudor or Latin comedies (Lamb 309), those not remotely similar to revenge tragedies, Kyd’s play became one of the most popular of its time. Semenza argues that its popularity is due to the audience’s desire to enact revenge themselves because it was forbidden during the sixteenth century: “The suggestion here is that art, like revenge—but unlike the law or even the gods—is capable of satisfying our desire for essential equilibrium” (58). Just as Hieronimo’s play Soliman and Perseda is created to enact justice on behalf of Horatio, The Spanish Tragedy provides the audience the consequences of seeking private revenge through the excuse of injustice (Semenza 59). Hieronimo’s actions result in several gruesome deaths, including his own, demonstrating these consequences of revenge. However, the audience is also provided with an opportunity for satisfaction as they sympathize with Hieronimo because he sacrificed his life for justice, making him a martyr. The inclusion of religion is an acknowledgement to the audience, a way to give them an explanation and excuse for Hieronimo’s indecent acts, and Hieronimo’s contemplation and guilt over his desire for vengeance offer the possibility of forgiveness from the audience.
However, Kyd not only includes Christian elements but pagan ones, as well (those often having to do with Greek Mythology), which put into question Semenza’s argument. Hieronimo is a martyr because he risks his life and eternal damnation for justice. Throughout the play, Christian ideals are referenced by the characters, especially Hieronimo:
Confused and filled with murder and misdeeds!
O sacred heavens, if this unhallowed deed,
If this inhuman and barbarous attempt […]
Shall unrevealed and unrevenged pass,
How should we term your dealings to be just
If you unjustly deal with those that in your justice trust? (3.2.4-6; 9-11)
Hieronimo acknowledges that God must enact revenge, not himself. Even if the King does not provide justice for Horatio’s death, which he does not, Hieronimo must put his faith and trust in God. In this way, Hieronimo’s vengeance is not only a journey of deep contemplation of morality but a rejection of Christianity and God.
If the English audience is mindful of their Christian values, as Justice and Semenza note, then it can also be assumed that the punishment for revenge, if left unpunished in life, is eternal damnation. According to Eleanor Prosser, the “most frequently cited Scriptural text” against revenge is Romans 12:19-21, including line 19: “Dearly beloved, avenge not your selves, but give place unto wrath: for it is written, Vengeance is mine: I will repay, saith the Lord.” God must therefore pursue revenge, and eternal damnation is expected for Lorenzo, Balthazar, and even Hieronimo, as their crimes are left unpunished in life. However, although audiences might expect Hieronimo to spend the afterlife in hell, Kyd uses pagan ideologies to save him. Revenge, Proserpine, Cerberus, and other Greek mythological beings, the first characters introduced in the play, are mostly on the sidelines until the end. Their presence allows for divine intervention from mythological and supernatural figures, as God is no longer the only higher power able to alter the physical world.
It is Andrea, the ghost who watches the events of the play with Revenge, who determines Hieronimo’s fate and not God: “I’ll lead Hieronimo where Orpheus plays, / Adding sweet pleasure to eternal days” (4.5.23-24). Hieronimo is rewarded for his actions and spends his afterlife in “sweet pleasure.” The central message seems to be that private revenge has benefits without consequences. As noted, revenge would not have been accepted in English society, yet The Spanish Tragedy was popular with audiences. Justice is the dominant theme in the play, and injustice is often caused by corruption, such as when Horatio is murdered, but also in the corruption present in the Spanish court, which is the final spark in Hieronimo’s decision to pursue revenge. Thus, Hieronimo is unpunished and rewarded in the afterlife not because he seeks out private revenge for his son’s death but because he destroys corruption in Spain.
Some readers may argue that the intention to save the Spanish court is not excuse enough for murder. Hieronimo appears to play God, determining who rules Spain and who does not. However, although his judgments seem unasked for, Hieronimo’s profession as a judge revolves entirely around enforcing the law. As Michael H. Levin suggests, “Hieronimo has a preternaturally acute sense of right and wrong; he is Chief Magistrate of Spain, and his life has been devoted to administering the law” (308). Hieronimo internally struggles between responding to impulse and emotion and acting on logic and level-headedness. David Laird proposes that Hieronimo’s madness is the constant fight within himself and not a psychological insanity at all (142-143). Before he learns of Spain’s corruption and partiality, Hieronimo, after much deliberation, chooses to obtain justice the correct way: through the law. Hieronimo’s decision affirms his logical state of mind even though he is grief-stricken.
The scene in which the King ignores Hieronimo’s request for justice is pivotal. Initially, Hieronimo plans to avenge his son’s death, but he makes the difficult choice of asking for justice through the King, a request that goes against the expectations of his wife and Bel-Imperia. When his request is not granted and he is denied justice, his purpose shifts: “But reason abuseth me, and there’s the torment, there’s the hell” (3.12A.162-163). In Bel-Imperia’s eyes, it is a dishonor not to seek vengeance for Horatio’s murder:
From this dishonour and the hate of men,
Thus to neglect the loss and life of him
Whom both my letters and thine own belief
Assure thee to be causeless slaughtered?
Hieronimo, for shame, Hieronimo
Be not a history to aftertimes
Of such ingratitude unto thy son! (4.1 10-16)
Bel-Imperia grows impatient with Hieronimo’s hesitancy and inaction. As Steven Justice writes, “In this world, Hieronimo’s tragedy is not so much that of a man who makes the wrong choice as that of a man to whom the right choice is unavailable” (278). Hieronimo must either be seen as a coward and live knowing that justice does not exist in the Spanish court or sacrifice everything to purify the country of corruption. Thus, the King’s ignorance regarding Hieronimo’s grief and needs is to blame for Lorenzo and Balthazar’s deaths. Hieronimo then becomes the means through which God himself will avenge.
Although Ian McAdam suggests the play centers around “the uncontainable nature of desire,” The Spanish Tragedy demonstrates the consequences of decisions based on desires. These characters’ fates reflect the intentions of their actions (39). If Hieronimo’s actions could be excused by considering Spain’s best interests, then Lorenzo’s actions could be, too. As Heather J. Murray proposes, “The court of Spain is an aristocracy, not a meritocracy, and the liaison Horatio is entering into could prevent a dynastic marriage that will unite his country […] with Portugal” (47). Horatio’s courtship with Bel-Imperia jeopardizes conciliation between Spain and Portugal, a union that would benefit both countries. Lorenzo decides to take matters into his own hands, like Hieronimo, and kill the person who is preventing the beneficial union: “And better ‘tis that base companions die / Than by their life to hazard our good haps” (3.2 115-116). In action, Hieronimo and Lorenzo are similar, but their intentions are vastly different and therefore their fates are, as well.
Hieronimo sacrifices his morality and identity to protect the court of Spain from further injustice. As Chief Magistrate, he must use the law to find the correct punishment for offenders. However, no law in the Spanish court will hold Balthazar and Lorenzo accountable because of their ties to the King. Although Soliman and Perseda contradicts what Hieronimo has worked for his entire life, he is not presented with a “right choice.” Hieronimo declares, “heaven will be revenged of every ill” (3.13 2), suggesting he will act on behalf of God after Lorenzo and Balthazar have cheated the law. Hieronimo himself will not benefit, as he compromises his life for the sake of saving Spain and avenging God. As a Christian, he knows revenge will compromise his afterlife, thus prompting him, at first, to seek justice through the law. Not granted impartiality and fairness, Hieronimo’s dilemma in avenging his son becomes greater than solely pursuing private revenge. The corruption in the Spanish court and the possibility that the offenders will not pay for the consequences of their actions disturbs Hieronimo’s conscience, leading to revenge in this story as a sacrifice for God and Spain.
Lorenzo’s acts of revenge, however, are not as selfless as those of Hieronimo, making the characters complete opposites through similar actions. Although Lorenzo’s actions are for the benefit of Spain, he also will reap the rewards. Being the nephew of the King and a potential future King of Spain, the union between both countries will benefit Lorenzo in the future. Whereas Hieronimo suffers at the brink of insanity in considering revenge, Lorenzo wastes no time in contemplating the effect murder will have on his morality: “Live, heart, to joy at fond Horatio’s fall” (2.2 23). His alliance with Balthazar, the future ruler of Portugal, also proves his loyalty and strengthens the countries’ union. Lorenzo’s every move is calculated, aligning more closely to a king’s behavior. He, too, is thinking of his own future when he acts, whereas Hieronimo considers the future of Spain and its people. Lorenzo’s selfish actions result in his eternal placement on “Ixion’s wheel,” (4.5 33). Hieronimo’s selfless acts result in “sweet pleasures” (4.5 24) for eternity. Furthermore, whether it is God, the pagan gods, or karma, the characters’ fates at the end prove each one of their faults and the price they must pay for them. Lorenzo is a selfish and power-hungry murderer. His fate is in the pagan version of hell. Hieronimo, also a murderer but one who does not kill selfishly, is awarded for his sacrifice with eternal bliss.
Focusing on the Christian belief system on revenge, The Spanish Tragedy provides loopholes for the audience to sympathize with, and even admire, Hieronimo. If his story were only about seeking vengeance for the death of his son, then English society during the sixteenth century might not have identified with the character and the play might not have been as popular. However, Thomas Kyd creates a complex character in Hieronimo, and he provides situational challenges which question morality and the definitive Christian rejection of revenge. Hieronimo does not consider private revenge until he is denied justice from the King, after which his revenge is justified by the corruption in Spain and his moral obligation to God and Spain. He repays the offenders who were never punished. His eternal fate attests to his selflessness, proving he did not succumb to the desire of private revenge, thus making him a hero.
Works Cited
Calvo, Carla, and Jesus Tronch, editors. The Spanish Tragedy by Thomas Kyd. Arden Shakespeare, 2013.
Justice, Steven. “Spain, Tragedy, and The Spanish Tragedy.” Studies in English Literature, 1500-1900, vol. 25, no. 2, 1985, pp. 271–288. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/450723.
Laird, David. “Hieronimo’s Dilemma.” Studies in Philology, vol. 62, no. 2, 1965, pp. 137–146. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/4173485.
Lamb, Margaret. “Beyond Revenge: The Spanish Tragedy.” Literature Criticism from 1400 to 1800, edited by James E. Person, Jr., vol. 22, Gale, 1993. Gale Literature Criticism, https://link-gale-com.proxy.cc.uic.edu/apps/doc/OVSQJS632822589/LCO?u=uic&sid=LCO&xid=a2f6a4c3. Originally published in 1975, pp. 307-311.
Levin, Michael H. “‘Vindicta Mihi!’: Meaning, Morality, and Motivation in The Spanish Tragedy.” Studies in English Literature, 1500-1900, vol. 4, no. 2, 1964, pp. 307. ProQuest, https://proxy.cc.uic.edu/login?url=https://search.proquest.com/docview/1297391501?accountid=14552.
McAdam, Ian. “The Spanish Tragedy and the Politico-Religious Unconscious.” Texas Studies in Literature & Language, vol. 42, no. 1, Spring 2000, p. 33. EBSCOhost, search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=a9h&AN=2915751.
Murray, Heather J. Revenge and Storytelling in English Drama, 1580-1640. Pennsylvania State University, Ann Arbor, 2008. ProQuest, https://proxy.cc.uic.edu/login?url=https://search-proquest-com.proxy.cc.uic.edu/docview/1466148267?accountid=14552.
Prosser, Eleanor. Hamlet and Revenge. 2nd ed., Stanford UP, 1971.
Semenza, Gregory M. Colon. “The Spanish Tragedy and Revenge.” Early Modern English Drama: A Critical Companion, edited by Garrett A. Sullivan, Jr., Patrick Cheney, and Andrew Hadfield, Oxford UP, pp. 50-60.
“The Spanish Tragedy.” Drama for Students, edited by Anne Marie Hacht, vol. 21, Gale, 2005, pp. 277-300. Gale eBooks, https://link-gale-com.ccc.idm.oclc.org/apps/doc/CX3420500024/GVRL?u=chic13716&sid=GVRL&xid=8f762ac7.