An Analysis of the Subplot of The Spanish Tragedy

【Abstract】： The Spanish Tragedy， written by Thomas Kyd， initiated the tradition of the English revenge play. Ghost， death， intrigue， betrayal， even violence pervade the whole play. The main plot reveals how the main character， Hieronimo， struggled to revenge his murdered son and obtained justice when the normal channels of legal indictment refused his request. However， the subplot involves how a Portuguese nobleman was wronged by another subject but received justice in the end. The paper aims to give analysis of the subplot from two aspects： function for the play itself， and influence on the readers.

【Key words】： The Spanish Tragedy； revenge play； subplot； function

1.The Plot and Subplot in The Spanish Tragedy

1.1The Main Plot

The main plot of The Spanish Tragedy involves the revenge of Hieronimo. Hieronimo was Marshal of Spain， so it meant that he could help every citizen get their justice. However， he could not find justice for his murdered son. As an aged father， he lost his son and figured out the murderers with great difficulties， let alone that the murderers are a prince Balthazar of the neighboring country and the nephew of the king， Lorenzo. He did tell the truth to the king and ask for justice， but the king was deceived by the cunning Lorenzo. Hieronimo then， made up his mind to find another way to make his enemies punished--- pretending into madness. It seems that he had forgotten his revenge plan， so his wife was saddened to kill herself. However， Hieronimo did not forget his revenge. He got the help of Bel-imperia and assigned roles to Lorenzo and Balthazar， in doing so， the two villains were killed by Hieronimo and Bel-imperia without any chance to resist because their roles were planned to be killed. After the murderers were dead， Hieronimo killed himself.

Aristotle put forward in his Poetics： the soul of tragedy， is the plot. So if the plot is well-organized， there is no doubt that the tragedy is a good one. Plot has two elements： peripeteia and revealment. In The Spanish Tragedy， these two elements were presented by Hieronimo's action. This play is suspenseful， action-packed， and theatrically shocking， so it is clear that the main plot is well-devised.

1.2 The Subplot

The subplot of The Spanish Tragedy was set in the Portugal court， and it only accounted for a number of interpretive scenes. It reveals Alexander， a Portuguese knight’s destiny. After the war between Spain and Portugal， the Portuguese prince Balthazar was captured by a knight Horatio of Spain. When the Portuguese army returned to Portugal， a villain named Villuppo spoke ill of the brave Alexander so that he could get reward. Villuppo told the Portuguese king that Alexander discharged his pistol at the Prince’s back. After hearing this， the king was outrageous， so he ordered his guards to put Alexander into prison， ready to be sentenced. On the very moment to put Alexander to death， the ambassador for Spain came back with the Spanish king’s letter which proved that their prince was still alive. Until that time， it was clear that Alexander was innocent while Villuppo was evil. King of Portugal was angry about the vicious Villuppo， so he punished Villuppo and awarded Alexander.

2.Function of the Subplot

Since the main plot is so exciting， suspenseful， and reasonable， why did the playwright try hard to give some scenes to devise the subplot？ Now， let’s have a discussion about this matter from two aspects： function for the play itself and readers/audiences.

2.1Function for the Play Itself

2.1.1Pavestone for the Development of Main Plot

After the defeat of Portuguese army and the capture of the prince， no one in Portugal knew whether the prince was alive or not. The king of Portugal sent ambassador to Spain so as to confirm if his son was safe and sound. In order to show that the Spanish people were polite and hospitable， the king of Spain asked Hieronimo to prepare a play for entertainment. And Hieronimo got his work done with great excellence. It is obvious that Hieronimo was good at play.

As the main plot presented， Hieronimo finished his revenge by a play-in-a-play. In the subplot， the readers/audiences got an idea that Hieronimo was much experienced in playing， so we could say that the subplot works as the pavestone for the development of the main plot.

2.1.2Comparison

Aristotle once said that tragedy is to arouse people’s pity and fear， so the playwrights admitted to make the tragedy tragic. If the antagonist suffered what common people could not suffered， and came to a terrible end， people would show great pity for him/her. And the pity was aroused from the action of the antagonist， not from the language used to describe the actions. In this sense， when the subplot gives a comparison on the destiny of the two wronged person， Alexander and Hieronimo. Both of them urged their justice in the face of death and struggle. In the subplot， almost all the noblemen in the court chose to believe that Alexander was innocent except Villuppo and the king. However， in the main plot， it was difficult for Hieronimo to find out the murderers. After he knew who the murderers were， he could not get justice in a normal way. Due to this， his wife got suicide. He fought alone， with no one to confide. It is a sharp comparison for almost everyone believed in Alexander while no one supported Hieronimo. In order to revenge， his family fell apart， and he used up all his wits， trying to revenge his son. It is a great pity that he was doomed to be sinned than to sin.

In the same play， two characters were trying to defend justice. One was much more suffering but ended in terrible destiny. By comparison， it is surely that the main character is a misery.

2.2 Influence on Readers/Audiences

In The Art of Poetry， Horace proposed that poetry should be written to teach and delight. The main plot elaborated that justice could not be achieved through a legal way but revenge. The subplot， however， demonstrated that justice found its way sooner or later in accord with the dictates of an ethic moral standard. In the subplot， truth was revealed， lies were exposed， virtue was awarded， and vice was punished.

The literary works are the reflection of a certain period， so is The Spanish Tragedy. As this play presented， vice， ghost， murder， pretense， and revenge were teemed in the royal court. If there was no way for justice， the audiences or the readers would be disappointed at and doubtful of the reality.

3.Conclusion

The Spanish Tragedy， as other critics pointed out， is a prominent play. There are many topics worth being discussed. The paper focuses on the subplot and gives analysis of it. The main plot of this play was well-planned， and the subplot， though short and simple as it was， was of great necessity.

References：

[1]Aristotle， “Poetics”， The Critical Tradition： Classic Texts and Contemporary Trends. Ed. By David H. Richter d. Bedford： St. Martin's. 2006.

[2]Horace， “The Art of Poetry”， The Critical Tradition： Classic Texts and Contemporary Trends. Ed. By David H. Richter. Bedford： St. Martin's. 2006.

[3]Thomas Kyd， The Spanish Tragedy， Book Jungle， 2007.

作者簡介：孔媛（1993-），女，漢族，籍貫：云南楚雄，單位：云南大學外國語學院，研究方向：英美文學。

謝青（1992-），女，漢族，籍貫：湖南永州，單位：云南大學外國語學院，研究方向：美國文學。