Response Paper No I

HIERONIMO’S SOLILOQUY FROM THE SPANISH TRAGEDY

This soliloquy is a lament of a man, who lost his only son because of the intrigues on the Spanish court. At the beginning Hieronimo describes his woes, saying that they are powerful enough to make both earth and air heavy, shake the leafless trees, rip the meadows of their flowers, turn the mountains into marshes. His words even managed to reach the gates of hell and the windows of heavens. Still it is not enough for his soul to be calm. He has not received the thing he wished for the most – justice and revenge. His words were denied the entrance to heavens. “Countermur’d walls of diamond” would not let them through.1 During this monologue Hieronimo is standing alone, which is logical, however, it also points his isolation. He is left all alone with his grief, not knowing who to turn to. He can not trust anyone, as at that moment he does not know for sure, who to blame for his son’s death (he has already received a note from Bell-imperia, in which the murderers are pointed directly, however, he is not sure, if it is not a trap). He believed that heavens could grant him his wish of justice and revenge, but his words failed him. His belief in the divine justice was ruined and he was left with nothing, feeling disappointed and completely helpless. McMillan points another way of describing Hieronimo as an isolated character. He is a figure of law, supposed to make sure that everyone is equal. Still, he is not able to put an end to his own misery because the people that he suspects of being the murderers, are of more noble state than he is. Horatio’s death was not only Lorenzo’s whim, later it gained political matter, as removing Bell-imperia’s lover opened the way of joining two kingdoms through Balthazar’s and Bell-imperia’s marriage.2 Hieronimo is a desperate character, even despite him being devastated after his son’s death. In his soliloquy he distinguishes justice and revenge as two separated things, suggesting that vengeance may be just only if it is divine. However, he is not patient enough to wait for it, especially if it would mean waiting until Lorenzo’s or Balthazar’s death. McMillin suggests that by the time Hieronimo is finally ready to act, his motive has changed from feeling of justice into a desire to take revenge, his own, personal one.3

1

Five Elizabethan Tragedies (1971), p. 183 S. McMillin, The Figure of Silence in the Spanish Tragedy (1972), p. 41 3 S. McMillin, The Figure of Silence in the Spanish Tragedy (1972), p. 42 2

Bibliography: T. Kyd, The Spanish Tragedy [in:] Five Elizabethan Tragedies, edited by A.K. Mc Ilwraith, Oxford University Press, London – Oxford – New York, 1971 S. McMillin, The Figure of Silence in the Spanish Tragedy [in:] ELH, Vol. 39, No. 1, (Mar., 1972), pp. 27 - 48