The Spanish Tragedy Society and Class Quotes

This soliloquy occurs directly after the above speech by Lorenzo. As such, Pedringano's ambition to make money and rise in station is haunted by serious dramatic irony (we know he's going to die). Remember, money is not the end-all, be-all as far as social class goes in the 16th century. So, Pedringano's "attempting spirit" (or ambition) to "shift" (or move up the social ladder) by taking aim with his gun is misguided. After Pedringano gets paid, people like Lorenzo would still just see him as a pawn, albeit one with money.

But all of this is really a moot point since Pedringano is as good as dead when his job's done. His misguided assertion that "it is no dream' that he ventures for is perhaps the most ironic statement he makes—his ambitions are just a dream, and he's about to be rudely awakened. Does this make you feel sorry for him? Is he just a hardworking, ambitious guy looking to get ahead in a rigged system? Actually, no, he's still a murderous, opportunistic scumbag. And yet, he's still a pawn in a rigged system. Isn't complexity fun?

Okay, let's start with this. Yeah, this thing is not like the others. Can you see why? Notice how the words aren't in neat little columns. Nope, they just keep going across the page like a regular old book. Sorry, we don't mean to patronize. But what you're noticing is that the page (or messenger) speaks in prose instead of verse. Prose is the way we speak in every day life, while verse has rhythm and meter—or rather, it's poetic. Typographers indicate verse by placing speeches in poetic columns, like stanzas.

So why did Kyd choose to make this speech prose rather than verse? Well, he did this because the page is of very low rank, and poetic speech is a class privilege. You'll see language as a class marker in a lot of Renaissance plays. And you might've also noticed that Pedringano speaks in rhyme a lot. That's because despite his rank he's one of the most pretentious snobs in the play. Keep an eye out for how characters speak in early plays and you'll learn a lot about their stations in life. And remember, poetry is classy.

It's manipulation time. And here's the trick: Lorenzo has just freed Bel-Imperia from captivity just to let her know that he killed her boyfriend and threw her in jail for her own good. Wow thanks, brother. He reasons that she's been slumming with a low-class boy, and that he wanted to spare her the pain of enduring such a trial. And try as he might, he "knew no readier mean" than killing Horatio to make his dad happy.

Ah, now that makes sense. Well, not really. This is a crucial point in the play because it's the only place where Lorenzo ever gives motive to his actions. Does he really murder Horatio because he's not good enough for his sister? Hmmm, could be. But maybe you don't want to trust him because he's clearly being all excusey here.

The choice is yours. At stake is whether or not Lorenzo likes being bad for bad's sake, or his snobbery is so extreme that he has to kill. As you make your decision, keep in mind that if his sister marries Balthazar Lorenzo can't be king. He's likely next in line for the throne as things stand, but the child from the arranged marriage would be king. Would a real snob kill to not become king?