The Spanish Tragedy

Isabella enters the bower with a weapon. Pushed to the point of despair due to the lack of justice for Horatio, she attacks the arbor, cutting down plants and trees. She curses the tree on which Horatio was hanged and cuts it down. She bids Hieronimo to hurry up and meet Horatio, whom she thinks she can see in her maddened state. Finally, she turns her weapon on herself, stabbing herself in the breast. She dies.

Cyprian visits Hieronimo as the knight marshal prepares the stage for his play. Cyprian asks why Hieronimo labors alone; Hieronimo replies that it is the author’s duty to ensure all aspects of the play are set up correctly. He asks Cyprian to toss him a key once the audience is seated, and he gives Cyprian a copy of the play for the king. Cyprian agrees and leaves.

Balthazar enters, with his costume beard half-on. Hieronimo chastises him for not being prepared, and Balthazar leaves. Alone, Hieronimo reminds himself that the stage is set for his revenge. All that remains is the act of revenge itself.

The characters assemble for the play. The king, the viceroy, Cyprian, and various nobles form the audience. The king gives the viceroy his copy of the play, and they settle in to watch the entertainment. 

The text of The Spanish Tragedy notes that though Hieronimo wrote the play in Greek, Latin, Italian, and French, it is transcribed in English for wider comprehension. 

The actors assemble onstage. Balthazar, as Soliman, praises Mahomet (the Prophet Mohammad) for the Turkish victory over Rhodes and describes his love for Perseda. The king praises Balthazar’s acting to the viceroy. The viceroy and Cyprian agree that his passionate performance comes from his love for Bel-Imperia. 

Hieronimo, as the bashaw, suggests that Soliman have Perseda attend on him. Soliman is conflicted: Perseda loves Erastus, the Rhodian knight, his dear friend. He summons them both. Soliman and the bashaw watch Erastus (Lorenzo) and Perseda (Bel-Imperia) profess their love. Soliman is heartbroken. The bashaw suggests having Erastus killed. Soliman quickly gives into the idea, despite his love for Erastus. The bashaw approaches Erastus and stabs him to death. Soliman tries to comfort Perseda, but she refuses his advances. She stabs him, then stabs herself. 

The king and the viceroy applaud the production. The king asks what happens next to Hieronimo. Hieronimo says that they surely expect that the deaths onstage are feigned, but he and Bel-Imperia used real daggers—Hieronimo is the only one left alive. He shows them his motive, pulling back the curtain and revealing Horatio’s corpse on the stage. He explains how his hopes and his future died with Horatio. He reveals how Balthazar’s love for Bel-Imperia begat Lorenzo’s hatred for Horatio, and how the two acted together to murder him. He tells the viceroy he knows how he feels, seeing a son murdered. He asks Cyprian, who has now lost both of his children, how he can withstand the catastrophic outcome of the play. 

He shows the audience the handkerchief stained by Horatio’s blood, glad he has held onto it all this time as a reminder of his vow to avenge his son. Hieronimo is now satisfied. He only regrets Bel-Imperia’s death—he wanted her to live, but he knows the double grief of losing Horatio was too much for her to endure. He tells them that this is the end of his play and rushes off to hang himself, like the bashaw in his play is supposed to do. 

Enraged and confused, the King, the viceroy, and the others break down the door that Hieronimo has barricaded himself behind to prevent him from dying by suicide. The grieving fathers demand to know why he killed their children. Hieronimo explains once again that Lorenzo and Balthazar killed Horatio. 

The 1602 folio has the following addition, from 4.4.168-190.

After confirming that Lorenzo, Balthazar, and Bel-Imperia are dead, Hieronimo offers the king, the viceroy, and Cyprian a noose so the four of them can hang themselves together as friends. Hieronimo says that revenge has made him mightier than anyone who has worn the Spanish crown. This ends the 1602 addition. 

Hieronimo refuses to say anymore. He mocks death itself. Furious, the king has implements of torture brought out. However, Hieronimo bites out his own tongue to prevent even torture from giving them the satisfaction of further answers. The king is horrified, but Cyprian points out that he can still write. They give Hieronimo a pen, and the king threatens to devise a horrible death for Hieronimo if he does not answer their questions. Hieronimo motions for a pen knife to mend his pen, and they give it to him. Hieronimo stabs Cyprian to death and then himself. 

Stunned by the sudden loss of his entire familial line, the king mourns over his brother’s dead body. Spain now has no heir. The viceroy leaves, bearing Balthazar’s body away, wishing to be cast out to sea in a ship with no crew.

Andrea’s ghost is pleased to see his vengeance come to pass, even though the carnage has claimed the lives of Horatio, Isabella, Hieronimo, and Bel-Imperia. He plans to petition Proserpine to allow him to reward his friends, guiding them to peaceful realms of the afterlife. 

Revenge promises to drag Andrea’s enemies to the depths of Hell to receive their just punishments. Andrea requests that Cyprian replace the mythic Tityus in his punishment of being fed upon by vultures, for Lorenzo to replace Ixion on the wheel, for Balthazar to be hung from the neck of a chimera, for Serberine to replace Sisyphus, and for Pedringano to be submerged in the boiling Acheron. Revenge consents, and the two depart to mete out these punishments.