The Spanish Tragedy is characterized by its courtly and ceremonial style, befitting its focus on powerful nobles in the court of the Kingdom of Spain. This style is characterized by its formal, ornate, and often elevated language, as well as its adherence to conventions of etiquette and decorum. Characters often address each other with titles and honorifics, for example, reflecting the hierarchical structure of their society. They also speak in iambic pentameter, a rhythmic pattern of verse that consists of ten syllables per line, imparting a sense of order and dignity to the language. A speech by the General of the Spanish Army early in the play demonstrates this ceremonious style:
Where Spain and Portingale do jointly knit
Their frontiers, leaning on each other's bound,
There met our armies in their proud array,
Both furnished well, both full of hope and fear:
Both menacing alike with daring shows,
Both vaunting sundry colors of device,
Both cheerly sounding trumpets, drums, and fifes
Both raising dreadful clamors to the sky
That valleys, hills and rivers made rebound,
And heaven itself was frightened with the sound.
The General, like other characters in the play, speaks in elaborate language rich with poetic devices. He imagines the border between the two nations as two textiles “jointly knit” together in a metaphor, and employs lush imagery in describing the heraldic banners and costumes in “vaunting sundry colors” worn by the knights. He also wields a demanding parallel structure, with a string of five lines each beginning with “Both” and then extolling the parallel virtues of the two armies.
Throughout the play, characters use elevated vocabulary, metaphors, similes, and rhetorical flourishes that reflect the linguistic sophistication favored in courtly settings. This type of language contributes to the sense of decorum and refinement associated in early modern drama with the nobility.
