The Spanish Tragedy Revenge Quotes

Remember when Bel-Imperia set her heart on revenge? She decided that having a new boyfriend would help her get what she wanted. Hieronimo takes another direction: blood. It's not that Bel-Imperia isn't thinking of the same outcome (she is), it's just that male and female revenge are characterized very differently in the play.

Hieronimo smears his son's blood on a handkerchief to feed the rage that will fuel his violence. Gross? Maybe. Manly? Well, maybe not to us, necessarily. But maybe the play is trying to investigate revenge from male and female perspectives? If you think about the play this way, be sure to know that Elizabethan's weren't that evolved when it comes to gender equity. One thing is clear, Hieronimo is going to be mad forever, but some killing would sprinkle a small helping of joy on his otherwise overwhelming grief.

So this comes after Andrea gets impatient with Revenge… again.The point here is that repetition is one way that authors establish themes (and sometimes boredom). But what's interesting here is that Revenge obviously thinks of revenge as something natural. And why wouldn't he? He is Revenge, after all.

Look at the metaphor he uses. It's all about harvesting corn. Doesn't sound too deadly, but a sickle is that blade thing the grim reaper uses. Yeah, that thing. And while it's a scary image in the clip, in the play it's all about patience and timing. It's as if waiting will make the corn taste better. As an audience, do we want this to drag on so we better enjoy the 'taste' of the last act?

A letter written with blood for ink? Now that's commitment. Bel-Imperia has been in captivity, so without her little box of school supplies, blood is her only choice for writing a letter. And to speak the truth, blood is all that's on her mind at this point anyway.

Remember how we talked about the differences between male and female revenge in the play? Well, this is a great example in which we see that Bel-Imperia has to literally lose her own blood to even get heard. Because her older brother is controlling her, self-sacrifice is her only means to get revenge. A martyr is someone who has to sacrifice herself for a cause, and here the play is subtly foreshadowing Bel-Imperia's martyrdom. The worst part is that her bloody letter isn't enough to entirely convince Hieronimo to kill Lorenzo and Balthazar. Sometimes, it's hard to be a woman.