[لزيزا]

Questions on ' The Spanish Tragedy ' :


What does the scarf symbolize?

- It's a symbol of memory and love. Bell-imperia's love for Horatio motivated by a feeling of revenge but still she did love him.

(starts off as a symbol of love and memory, becomes a symbol of the memory of a lost loved one, and then a symbol for the desire to avenge that loved one. Before Andrea went off to war, Bell-Imperia gave him a scarf, which he wore into battle something by which to remember her. Initially a symbol of love between Andrea and Bell-Imperia, Horatio takes it off his friend's dying body as a memorial, and it then becomes a symbol of Horatio's remembrance of his friend, a symbol of love between Horatio and Bell-Imperia, and of Bell-Imperia's memory of her lost knight. Of course, Bell-Imperia's love for Horatio is itself a form of revenge against Balthazar, so the scarf begins to take on connotations of vengeance.)

Describe the main theme of ' The Spanish Tragedy '.

In my opinion the main theme is revenge which is acted by several characters such as the ghost of Andrea as introduced at the very beginning, when wanting revenge on Balthazar for killing him in battle. Bell-imperia ( who wants revenge from Balthazar for killing her love lord Andrea and then wants revenge from both Lorenzo and Balthazar for killing her second love Horatio) , Balthazar (who wants revenge on Horatio for taking him prisoner in battle and being an obstacle to Balthazar's attempt to win Bell-Imperia ) and the most important is Hieronimo seeking revenge from both Lorenzo and Balthazar for murdering his son.

Write a note on Kyd's contribution to English drama.

Kyd's contribution to drama is basically as well as historically important. His Spanish Tragedy established itself as a lasting genre in the Elizabethan and Jacobean theatre in the form of revenge tragedy. [The central motive in the drama is the revenge of Hieronimo for the murder of his son, Horatio. The play is a well constructed] He wrote forceful and capable dialogue. He also presented in the hero a new type of vacillating tragic hero.

Write a note on the soliloquies in ' The Spanish Tragedy '.

A soliloquy is a speech in a play made by a character to expresses his thoughts or feelings aloud while alone which made it possible for characters to debate with themselves on moral and philosophical matters and made it easier to interact with the audience to show their thoughts and feelings.

For example as in act 1 scene 3 when bell-imperia discusses her mourning for Andrea and her growing love for Horatio and how she is unsure of love if it was because Horatio was a friend of Andrea and helps her for her revenge and also questions her self of the possibility of loving Horatio before revenging her love and that her love for Horatio makes her unsure for her mourning for Andrea but on the other hand she is certain about her thoughts of revenge, so she decides to unit both her love for Horatio and her need for revenge into one
Pg. 13 bell-imperia speech …

Also another good example would be Hieronimo's soliloquies in speeches that look into his difficult situation and his reaction to it, and explore questions of justice and revenge, life and death and also his mourning for his son as in act 3 scene2
Pg. 32 Hieronimo speech .

State whether Hieronemo's madness is real or fake. Give reasons for your answer.

Hieronimo's madness appears genuine which leads to bloody revenge, such as his thoughts of suicide which he eventually does in the end and his attitude when he encounters the two visitors from Portugal in act 3, scene 11 pg. 54 ( quoting the 2nd Portugal visitor : " doubtless this man is passing lunatike…" , however it shows a desire to escape from a horrible reality, the brutal murder of his son.

Give an appreciation of the style of Kyd in ' The Spanish Tragedy '.

- ' The Spanish Tragedy ' style : in many speeches and dialogs of the play there is a declamatory and flamboyant style. It was necessary for the dramatist of The Elizabethan Period to incorporate a little bit of rant and bombast to satisfy his audience. Kyd's style is a mixture of the elevated, the ciceronian and senecan style. The elevated style is dignified and highly rhetorical. Used in the speeches of Hieronemo, Bell-imperia and the king of Spain.
The style is rhetorical. Kyd used artificial, in flatted or exaggerated language with a view to make it effective and impressive. He has used the ornamental language which was favored by the Elizabethan audience.

Give out the importance of the play within the play " Soliman and Perseda " and its theme.

The importance of the play within the play it is to help trap a murderer taking justice and allowing the revenger to carry out his revenge.
In " Soliman and Perseda " the main theme was revenge and justice which takes place by both Hieronimo stabbing Lorenzo and Bell-imperia stabbing Balthazar and by that act revenge and justice is taken for the murdering of both Andrea and Horatio.

Describe in details the positive and negative points of these characters :
Hieronimo – Bell-imperia – Lorenzo.

Hieronimo:

Night marshal, protagonist and top judge. He is an honorable, intelligent, sharp minded, great planner and a merciful character.
he wants to Justice and revenge for his son's case so decides to take revenge in a form of justice, but found a problem because he had to take revenge against the prince of Portugal and the prince of Spain so there was a physiological complexity.
In the beginning of the play he was a minor character and doesn't appear until the death of his son then he becomes the center of the play. His character then develops over a series of soliloquies, wrestling with several key questions. These questions include: 1.whether to end his misery by suicide instead of waiting to seek revenge, 2. seek revenge in deceitful means 'is it an evil act of revenge Machiavellian –‘deceitful manners’ element’ 3. leave revenge to God.


Bell-imperia:

"Too cool-too calculated" and that her thoughts focus too much on revenge .A girl of a strong opinion, strong desire, great motivation, headstrong, strong will power and she was an impassionate planner.
The word 'too' is a negative word was used as an objection by some criticizes but she was only cool and calculated. Her transformation into a Machiavellian villain is not as dramatic as Hieronimo's.

Lorenzo:

Villain, manipulated people for his own good and persuade them for his own evil intentions, liar, harsh he was considered as a Machiavellian character and was the opposite of Hieronimo.
He was manipulating people in the beginning but at the end he was manipulated by Hieronimo.

He was loyal to the government, because of the status between Portugal and Spain which needed harmony and his uncle and father both wanted him to manipulate
Bell-imperia so there were external factors for his deeds and acts.