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
The Ghost of Andrea is pleased with the end of Hieronimo’s play. Horatio is dead, Andrea says to Revenge, as are Serberine and Pedringano. Isabella, is dead too, and so is Balthazar, the Duke of Castile, and Lorenzo. Bel-Imperia has killed herself, Andrea says, and so has Hieronimo. Andrea promises to lead Isabella, Hieronimo, Horatio, and Bel-Imperia to the afterlife, but he asks Revenge what will happen to the others. Revenge claims he will send them to the “deepest hell,” where the Furies will torture them for all eternity and “begin their endless tragedy.”
Naming off all the characters who have been killed underscores just how bloody the play really is. Revenge only breeds more killing, Kyd implies, and this is reflected in Andrea’s long list of murders and suicides. Hieronimo and Bel-Imperia are not punished in death, but Revenge punishes those who were involved with Horatio’s death. Revenge’s punishment, however, would have occurred without Hieronimo and Bel-Imperia’s vengeance, which again implies that revenge is not the responsibility of mortal man.
Themes
