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
Hieronimo enters, followed by two men from Portugal. They ask Hieronimo where they might find the Duke of Castile’s house, and when Hieronimo points it out, they ask if they might find Castile’s son there. Hieronimo asks if they are looking for Lorenzo, and when they say that they indeed are, Hieronimo tells them that he knows just where to find him. He tells the men that there is a path just to the left, which leads “from a guilty conscience / Unto a forest of distrust and fear.” The path is a dark and dangerous, Hieronimo says, and it is full of sad thoughts that harken to “despair and death.”
The men from Portugal are presumably there for the wedding between Bel-Imperia and Balthazar. At the mention of Lorenzo’s name, Hieronimo is clearly upset. His descriptive, and quite imaginative, directions are obviously evidence of his worsening insanity as a grieving father, but they also reflect Lorenzo’s guilt. Furthermore, Hieronimo’s language reflects his identity as a poet and playwright, which will come into play when he finally exacts his revenge.
Themes
Just up the path, Hieronimo tells the Portuguese men, is where the murderers have constructed the dwelling for their wretched souls. At this dwelling is a “brazen cauldron, fixed by Jove,” and there, Hieronimo says, is where they will find Lorenzo, bathing himself in “boiling lead and blood of innocents.” The men laugh, and Hieronimo laughs as well, bidding them farewell as he exits. “Doubtless this man is passing lunatic,” the men say as they exit.
Again, Hieronimo seems to be going insane, although he later implies that his insanity is just a ruse to get his revenge. To the men, Hieronimo’s words seem like complete nonsense, but they clearly illustrate Lorenzo’s guilt in murdering Horatio, an innocent man. Jove, or Jupiter, is the king of the gods in Roman mythology, which further reflects Kyd’s classical influence. Jove is often associated with suffering, and Hieronimo hopes that this will be the fate that awaits Lorenzo.
Themes
