#39 The Spanish Tragedy

I have finally read a play I had intended to read years ago, The Spanish Tragedy (Hieronimo) by Thomas Kyd.  A playwright whose name occasionally pops up in Shakespearean studies.  And now I have read his finest play, and though his style of writing is extremely enjoyable to read, I did have some problems with certain characters and scenes.  At one point in the play I had to write in the margin, "Are these characters retarded!"  I rarely do that.  Here is hat led me to such a point...

The character Viluppo and his sub-plot.

The main plot: Hieronimo loses his son through treachery and does not have the power to prosecute, so performs revenge himself.

The sub-plot: The Portuguese Viceroy is told his son died through treachery, and condemns the supposed villain to being burned.

These two plots show the difference of the the fathers and having and not-having power.  It is a nice foil, only it feels really forced in this play, thanks to the uber-retard that is Viluppo.

Here is how his villainous plan works.  He tells the Portuguese Viceroy that his son has been treacherously slain by another Portuguese nobleman.  The king accepts the report as true and imprisons the nobleman.  Viluppo, being the solid idiot that he is, did not think out his plan.  He knew the son had been captured by the Spanish, and any day now a messenger would be along to demand a ransom.  Or to let the Viceroy know that his son was alive and well.  So what happens, a messenger does indeed show up, the nobleman is released and Viluppo is beheaded.  I can't say it was much of a loss for him, as his brain was mostly non-functioning.  This is one of the most forced sub-plots I have read in Renaissance drama.  The villainous plan was so poorly thought out, at its first mention the audience had to realize it was going to fail easily.

Despite the poor sub-plot, the main plot was for the most part engaging, though at times it too suffered from some forced situations and actions.  But this doesn't matter, I enjoy the language that Kyd uses, and his references and the thoughts he puts into his otherwise incompetent characters.  Even after this, I have to admit that I enjoyed reading the play.  (I know, I'm confused too.)