The Spanish Tragedy: Character Mind Map & Summary
Thomas Kyd’s The Spanish Tragedy: the key characters, the revenge plot, who dies and how, famous lines and the exam facts.
The Character Mind Map
Tap any name to open the details.
Hieronimo
The Knight Marshal of Spain, a loyal servant of the king. When his son Horatio is murdered and hanged in his own garden, Hieronimo finds that the killers are royal. Unable to get justice, he wavers on the edge of madness, then takes terrible revenge through a court play.
Vindicta mihi! (Vengeance is mine!)Fate: bites out his tongue and kills himself
💔 The Victims
Hieronimo’s family & loveHoratioHieronimo’s son
Role: A brave young soldier who captures the Portuguese prince Balthazar and loves Bel-imperia.
Stabbed and hanged in the garden arbourBel-imperiaLorenzo’s sister · Horatio’s love
Role: A spirited woman who first loved Don Andrea, then Horatio. She urges Hieronimo to revenge.
Stabs Balthazar in the play, then herselfIsabellaHieronimo’s wife
Role: Driven mad by grief, she cuts down the tree where Horatio was hanged.
Suicide🗡️ The Villains
Royal murderersLorenzoNephew of the King of Spain
Role: A cold, Machiavellian schemer who plots Horatio’s murder and silences his accomplices.
Killed by Hieronimo in the playBalthazarPrince of Portugal
Role: Wants Bel-imperia and helps Lorenzo murder his rival Horatio.
Killed by Bel-imperia in the playPedringanoLorenzo’s servant
Role: Kills another servant for Lorenzo; he is hanged, trusting a box he believes holds his pardon, which is empty.
Hanged👻 The Frame
The chorusGhost of Don Andrea & RevengeThe watching chorus
Role: Andrea, killed in battle by Balthazar, watches the whole play with the figure of Revenge, waiting for his death to be avenged.
Memory Hook: Revenge Tragedy Checklist
Kyd created the pattern later used in Hamlet. Look for these features.
Who Dies & How
The final play, Soliman and Perseda, is performed in several languages and becomes a real massacre.
Famous Lines & Links
What examiners usually ask about.
Act-by-Act Summary
The plot in four acts, plus the frame.
Act 1After the Battle
- Andrea’s ghost and Revenge watch. Horatio captures Balthazar; Bel-imperia turns her love to Horatio.
Act 2The Murder
- Lorenzo and Balthazar catch Horatio with Bel-imperia, stab him and hang him in the arbour. Hieronimo finds the body.
Act 3Grief & Delay
- Hieronimo learns the truth from a letter written in blood, but cannot reach the King. Isabella goes mad.
Act 4The Play
- Hieronimo stages Soliman and Perseda; the play’s killings are real. He kills himself; Andrea’s ghost is satisfied.
Must-Know Exam Facts
Quick points for UGC NET, SET and PGT.
Date & Text
Written c. 1587; printed anonymously in 1592. A later edition added “Hieronimo is mad again” to the title.
Authorship
Known to be Kyd’s only because Thomas Heywood named him in An Apology for Actors (1612).
Additions
The 1602 edition included new passages (such as the “painter scene”), sometimes linked to Ben Jonson.
Influence
Founded the Elizabethan revenge tragedy, based on Seneca. Kyd is also thought to have written the lost Ur-Hamlet.
Key Themes
Revenge vs justice, madness, grief, Machiavellian villainy, and theatre as a weapon.
100+ Key Works of English Literature
All the character mind maps in one printed book.
