"Here sit we down to see the mystery,
And serve for chorus in this tragedy."
At the beginning of the play, Revenge appears on stage with the ghost of Andrea and invites him to watch the aftermath of his death unfold. Here, Revenge also notes that the two of them will perform the role of chorus in the play. This quotation is significant because it emphasize the novelty of The Spanish Tragedy as a revenge play. The Spanish Tragedy predates most other early modern tragedies (including another revenge play, Hamlet), and therefore more explicitly informs what would have been an unfamiliar audience about the structure of the play. By contrast, later revenge plays eliminated the chorus and personified Revenge altogether.
"But how can love find harbor in my breast
Till I revenge the death of my beloved?
Yes, second love shall further my revenge."
As Bel-Imperia mourns the death of Andrea, her first love, she almost simultaneously decides to give her affections to Horatio in order to get revenge of Andrea's murderer, Balthazar. This quotation reveals Bel-Imperia as the first revenger in the play. Notably, Bel-Imperia decides to use romantic love – a distinctly feminine power in this case – to exact her revenge on Balthazar while other male revengers like Hieronimo must plan more elaborate schemes to succeed in their revenge.
"Ere we go from hence
I'll turn their friendship into fell despite
Their love to mortal hate, their day to night,
Their hope into despair, their peace to war,
Their joys to pain, their bliss to misery."
As Don Andrea and Revenge discuss the point of watching the events of the play unfold, Revenge assure Don Andrea that he will sufficiently ruin the lives of his enemies. Revenge makes this point because Don Andrea has grown impatient and wants to see revenge actually manifest. Don Andrea's impatience and Revenge's response suggest that a successful revenge plot will likely be a slow-moving one, a reality that Hieronimo himself faces as he grapples with bringing his vengeance to fruition.
"See'st thou this handkerchief besmeared with blood?
It shall not from me till I take revenge.
See'st thou those wounds that yet are bleeding fresh?
I'll not entomb them till I have revenged.
Then will I joy amidst my discontent;
Till then my sorrow never shall be spent."
When Hieronimo declares his own need for revenge, he approaches it from a vastly different perspective than Bel-Imperia. While Bel-Imperia schemes subtly and uses the emotions of romantic love to her benefit, Hieronimo becomes obsessed with blood and violence. Looking at the body of his dead son, Hieronimo implies that his version of revenge will involve still more blood, emphasizing the difference between how male and female revenge manifests in the play.
"Turn down this path, thou shalt be with him straight,
Or this and then thou need'st not take thy breath.
This way, or that way? Soft and fair, not so;
For if I hang or kill myself, let's know
Who will revenge Horatio's murder then?"
In this quotation, Hieronimo contemplates suicide as he holds a dagger in one hand and hangman's noose in the other. He knows that suicide ("this path") will allow him to be with his son once again, but remembers that if he is gone, there will be nobody left to avenge Horatio's murder. The play links the "choices" of suicide and revenge to showcase the power of grief and how it affects the mind. Furthermore, many believe Hieronimo's "this way, or that way?" speech was the inspiration behind Hamlet's "to be, or not to be?" speech many years later.
"Content, thyself, Andrea. Though I sleep,
Yet is my mood soliciting their souls."
In a moment of dark comedy, Revenge falls asleep on stage and is roused by the impatient Don Andrea, who demands to know why the exacting of revenge is taking so long. Revenge once again reminds Don Andrea that the process is a slow but effective one, ultimately suggesting that justice, though often delayed, is always served to those who deserve it.
"My soul has silver wings,
That mounts me up unto the highest heavens,
To Heaven; ay, there sits my Horatio,
Backed with a troop of fiery cherubins
Dancing about his newly healed wounds,
Signing sweet hymns and chanting heavenly notes—"
When Isabella begins acting mad, her maid asks whether her soul is tormented, and Isabella responds with this quotation. She swears she can see her son in Heaven, surrounded by angels who dance around his wounds. Isabella's description might be interpreted as a further indication of her evolving lunacy. However, this moment also suggests that Isabella's madness is precisely what protects her (temporarily) from the onslaught of her grief, helping her convince herself that Horatio is safe and well in the afterlife.
"Hieronimo, for shame, Hieronimo,
Be not a history to aftertimes
Of such ingratitude unto thy son."
In this quotation, Bel-Imperia reminds Hieronimo of his responsibility as an avenger, encouraging him to continue his revenge plot so that he is not remembered as ungracious toward his son's memory. This quotation supports the argument that Bel-Imperia, rather than Hieronimo, is the primary avenger in the play (she is, after all, the first to declare revenge on Balthazar). This quotation also suggests that the characters are concerned with memory, their legacies, and how they themselves will be remembered in history.
"Down with these branches and these loathsome boughs
Of this unfortunate and fatal pine!
Down with them, Isabella, rend them up,
And burn the roots from whence the rest is sprung!
I will not leave a root, a stalk, a tree,
a bough, a branch, a blossom, nor a leaf,
No, not an herb within this garden plot."
For Isabella's version of revenge, she decides to cut down the arbor where her son was hanged. As she attacks the arbor, she becomes determined to obliterate it completely, destroying all signs of life. While her behavior might seem somewhat pointless, it is significant on a symbolic scale: Isabella's destruction of the arbor – which she later connects to her own "cursed" womb – emphasizes the fact that women have the ability to produce life. Men, by contrast, are the ones in the play who take lives. Isabella's actions showcase her need, as a woman, to turn inward for revenge while men like her husband can act outwardly by seeking blood.
"Bethink thyself, Hieronimo;
Recall thy wits, recount thy former wrongs
Thou hast received by murder of thy son..."
In Act Four, Hieronimo has to talk himself into continuing his revenge plot. He does this by giving himself a rousing pep talk in which he refers to himself in the third person and remembers all the terrible things that have happened to him (namely the murder of his son and the recent suicide of his wife Isabella). This quotation emphasizes the notion that revenge is a duty that must be upheld in order to honor the dead.
