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Cyprian, Duke of Castile
Hieronimo’s wife and Horatio’s mother. Isabella runs into the garden after Hieronimo the night Horatio is murdered by Lorenzo and Balthazar, and she warns Hieronimo not to be hasty in seeking revenge. “The heavens are just,” Isabella says, “murder cannot be hid.” According to Isabella, revenge is God’s responsibility, not Hieronimo’s, and justice shall be served with His judgement. After Horatio’s death, Isabella is consumed by grief and begins to slip into insanity, and she ultimately commits suicide in the garden in the very place where Horatio was murdered. Before she kills herself, Isabella curses the garden and the tree Horatio was hanged from, so it may never bear fruit again. Isabella’s character underscores Kyd’s primary argument that revenge is not for mortal man to seek, and she highlights the struggle of women in 16th-century society as well. Isabella has no outlet for her grief, and she has no power to exact her own revenge or otherwise get justice for her son. Isabella’s struggle leads directly to her insanity, and she is forced to take matters into her own hands in the only way she can.
Isabella Quotes in The Spanish Tragedy
The The Spanish Tragedy quotes below are all either spoken by Isabella or refer to Isabella. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
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Act 2, Scene 5 Quotes
See’st thou this handkercher besmeared with blood?
It shall not from me till I take revenge.
See’st thou those wounds that yet are bleeding fresh?
I’ll not entomb them till I have revenged.
Then will I joy amidst my discontent,
Till then my sorrow never shall be spent.
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The heavens are just, murder cannot be hid:
Time is the author both of truth and right,
And time will bring this treachery to light.
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Act 3, Scene 13 Quotes
And art thou come, Horatio, from the depth,
To ask for justice in this upper earth?
To tell thy father thou art unrevenged,
To wring more tears from Isabella’s eyes,
Whose lights are dimmed with over-long laments?
Go back my son, complain to Aeacus,
For here’s no justice; gentle boy be gone,
For justice is exiled from the earth;
Hieronimo will bear thee company.
Thy mother cries on righteous Rhadamanth
For just revenge against the murderers.
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Isabella Character Timeline in The Spanish Tragedy
The timeline below shows where the character Isabella appears in The Spanish Tragedy. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.
Act 2, Scene 5
...that it is his son, Horatio. Hieronimo cries over his son’s body, as his wife, Isabella, enters.
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...vows to keep the scarf with him until he gets revenge for Horatio’s murder, but Isabella tells him to be patient. “The heavens are just, murder cannot be hid,” she says....
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Hieronimo and Isabella pick up Horatio’s dead body, and Hieronimo draws his sword, putting it to his chest....
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Act 3, Scene 8
Isabella enters with her maid. The maid has given Isabella herbs to calm her, but she...
(full context)
Act 4, Scene 2
Isabella enters the garden with a knife. “I will revenge myself upon this place / Where...
(full context)
Act 4, Scene 5
...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...
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