Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in The Spanish Tragedy, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Revenge and Justice
Class, Gender, and Society
Love and Madness
Betrayal
Summary
Analysis
Horatio, Bel-Imperia, and Pedringano enter the garden, where Horatio and Bel-Imperia can visit while Pedringano guards the gate. Bel-Imperia fully trusts Pedringano, she says, and he will alert them to anyone else coming into the garden. As Pedringano exits to the gate, he says in a short aside that instead of guarding the gate like Bel-Imperia has asked, he will earn more gold by alerting Lorenzo to their presence in the garden.
This is more evidence of Pedringano’s obvious betrayal of Bel-Imperia. She trusts him explicitly, and she has likely known him for most, if not all, of her life—yet he easily betrays her for money. In this way, Kyd suggests that nobody can be trusted not to betray one another, regardless of the circumstances.
Themes
Literary Devices
Horatio and Bel-Imperia sit in the garden and speak of their love. Horatio kisses her, and Bel-Imperia suddenly hears someone else enter the garden. “Pedringano!” she yells. “We are betrayed!” Lorenzo enters with Balthazar and his servant, Serberine. Pedringano is with them as well, but he wears a disguise. The men quickly push Bel-Imperia aside and hang Horatio from an arbour. Horatio asks if they are there to murder him, and Lorenzo confirms. “[T]hese are the fruits of love,” Lorenzo says, as the men stab Horatio. Bel-Imperia begins to scream and yell for Horatio’s life. She shouts “Murder!” and screams for Horatio’s father, Hieronimo. Lorenzo quiets Bel-Imperia and drags her away, leaving Horatio’s body behind.
Pedringano is obviously wearing a disguise so that Bel-Imperia won’t know that he has betrayed her and Horatio. In a disguise, Pedringano can continue to betray Bel-Imperia without drawing attention to himself and revealing his identity. Lorenzo’s comment that Horatio’s murder is “the fruits of love” refers to Balthazar’s love for Bel-Imperia. Lorenzo implies that Balthazar’s love is why they are murdering Horatio, which suggests that love can push one to do awful and violent things, like murder.
Themes
