The Motivations for Revenge in Hamlet and the Spanish Tragedy

Breindy Goldring

Professor Grimaldi

3/17/14

English 2601

The Motivations for Revenge in Hamlet and The Spanish Tragedy 

A key element in both Hamlet and Spanish Tragedy is the motivation that the protagonists have behind the revenge that they set out to take on behalf of their loved ones.  In Hamlet, Hamlet sets out to avenge his father’s death, and in The Spanish Tragedy, Heronimo sets out to avenge the murder of his son. In both of these stories the characters set out to take revenge for the people they love, but it becomes clear that their motives are different. In The Spanish Tragedy, Heronimo’s focus is to simply cause the death of his son’s killer, as we can see through the way that he carries out the act quickly and makes it his priority to plan it. In Hamlet the act of revenge becomes a life purpose for Hamlet, as we can see through his prolonged plan to carry out the murder. For Heronimo the goal is the revenge, while for Hamlet it is the process which is most important. The question arises, if the revenge that both Hamlet and Heronimo are carrying out is for the people they love, why is Hamlet’s motivation for selfish reasons while Heronimo’s seem selfless? In order to understand this, it is necessary to analyze the lives of each of the characters before their loved ones were murdered. The most apparent difference between them is that Hamlet had a life that was not worth much and therefore he sought revenge in order to make his life contain meaning, while Heronimo had a fulfilling life that he was content with, and therefore the revenge he took was solely for his son and had nothing to do with himself. This suggests that the lives that both Heronimo and Hamlet led up to the deaths of their loved ones led to different ways of dealing with the aftermaths.

                      We can see from the actions of Heronimo and Hamlet that they have different motives for taking revenge. First it becomes apparent in regards to the way they plan their revenge; Heronimo is quick and hasty to kill the murderers, while Hamlet drags it out. In both The Spanish Tragedy and Hamlet the plays conclude with the implementation of the revenge. However, while in Hamlet from the outset of the play an undercurrent of revenge is felt due to the fact that the King’s death occurred before the start of the play, in The Spanish Tragedy, the play starts out with Horatio still alive, so the need for revenge doesn’t come up until the third act of the play. The revenge theme makes its presence felt at different times in the plays due to the fact that in The Spanish Tragedy as soon as Heronimo hears about the way his son is killed, he wants to take revenge immediately, and the play concludes a mere two acts later, while in Hamlet, the need for revenge comes up in the first act but being that Hamlet takes a while to carry it out the revenge does not occur until five acts later. The protagonists’ completion of revenge at different paces highlights their differing motives. While Heronimo was quick to kill Lorenzo and Balthazar, showing that the revenge was solely for his son’s sake, Hamlet took a long time to carry out his revenge, showing that the revenge was not for his father but rather for himself.