Revenge in the Public and Private Realms of The Spanish Tragedy

Revenge occurs in two realms: the private and the public. Private revenge occurs in secret with only a few people knowing about it. There is less need for justification because there are fewer people to justify the act to. Public revenge, on the other hand, operates as entertainment or a social event. Many people act as witnesses; this increases the need for justification. It can be assumed that private revenge occurs when one's motives are questionable; public revenge occurs when one's motives are fair. For this reason, Francis Bacon asserts “public revenges are for the most part fortunate...But in private revenges, it is not so.” (Bacon 14). Bacon's idea expresses itself in Thomas Kyd's The Spanish Tragedy, the first example of revenge tragedy on the English stage. Characters carry out both private and public revenges, with the baseless private revenges ending tragically and the public revenges resulting in success. The murder of Horatio by Balthazar and Lorenzo occurs during a private meeting between Horatio and Bellimperia. The two men hang and stab Horatio while Bellimperia screams for Hieronimo's help. While they are temporarily able to achieve some form of revenge, it eventually ends in their downfall. Balthazar and Lorenzo's murder by Hieronimo and Bellimperia, appears on a stage during a play put on for the King, the Duke of Castile, and the Viceroy. Hieronimo stabs Erasto, as played by Lorenzo; Bellimperia stabs Perseda, as played by Balthazar, before stabbing herself. Lorenzo and Horatio's private revenge ends in tragedy for them, while Hierinimo's public revenge gives him both agency and resolution.

Balthazar and Lorenzo's revenge on Horatio stems from their pride; their revenge is not warranting of a public reveng...

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...ath. But death is the only option for Hieronimo. Without the revenge plot, Hieronimo has no purpose left within the play. His wife killed herself, his son is dead, and to live would mean facing the monarchy. Killing himself is the best and only way to display his newfound agency. Dying also allows him to experience the pleasures that Don Andrea assures he will find in heaven, such as once again seeing his son.

Works Cited

"On Revenge" The Essays by Francis Bacon. 14. Web. 27 Feb. 2014. .

Kyd, Thomas. The Spanish Tragedy: Authoritative Text, Sources and Contexts, Criticism. New York: W.W. Norton &, 2014. Print.

Smith, Molly. "The Theater and the Scaffold: Death as Spectacle in The Spanish Tragedy." Studies in English Literature 32.2 (1992): 217-32. JSTOR. Rice University. Web.