“The Spanish tragedy” was written between 1582 and 1592 by Thomas Kyd. The story contains a series of violent murders. In addition, the author of the tragedy has personified revenge and used it as one of the characters. Like other authors, the author of “the Spanish tragedy” has explored various types of themes. For instance, the author has analyzed the theme of revenge and justice. This is evidenced by Elizabeth attitude towards revenge.
Elizabeth thinks that human beings should not carry out revenge, but they should leave it to God. Also, the author has analyzed the theme of love and memory. This is shown by revenge in the story. Revenge is considered a kind of justice and love. Lastly, the author analyzes the theme of fortune. There are various types of conflicts that are found in the story. That is personal conflicts, familial conflict, political and spiritual conflicts. This paper analyzes the conflicts and compares them to the conflicts in the Shakespeare’s “Hamlet”.
Comparing conflicts in the Spanish tragedy and Hamlet
The “Hamlet” is a tragedy written by William Shakespeare. The play revolves around prince hamlet. Prince Hamlet carries out revenge on his uncle Claudius for killing king hamlet, his brothers and father. The author explores various themes like revenge, moral corruption etc. In addition, the author has analyzed various conflicts like personal conflicts, familial conflicts etc. The Spanish tragedy revolves around the killing of Don Andrea in a war with Portugal. Like William Shakespeare, Thomas analyzes various types of conflicts. A conflict is a disagreement between two parties. Conflict can result from differences in interests.
A conflict also refers to opposition of forces etc. There are different types of conflicts in the “Spanish tragedy”. That is political conflict, personal conflict, familial conflict and spiritual conflict (Gurr, Kyd &Mulryne 2009, and p34.)First, the author has explored political conflict in the “Spanish tragedy”. The political conflict involves differences between two countries. Different countries have different interests and needs and this makes it hard for the countries to agree. The difference in interest’s results to chaos as each country tries to satisfy its interests. The political conflict in the play is due to differences between Spanish and Portugal. This is shown by the killing of Don Andrea.
Don Andrea is murdered in a battle with Portugal. This is shown by the comments below “the play frame is the story of the ghost dons Andrea, a Spanish nobleman killed in the war between Spain and Portugal…” (Gurr, Kyd &Mulryne 2009, p7). In the play, Don Andrea tells how he was killed after falling in love with the prince. Don Andrea was killed while fighting with b the Portuguese prince Balthazar. Don had fallen in love with the prince and had an affair with the prince. The political conflict in the country results to the death of don Andréa. The heirs to the two countries are destroyed through killing. Spain manages to win the war.
Diplomatic negotiations start after the king’s son is killed. The Portuguese ambassador and the Spanish king hold several meetings to ensure Balthazar comes back. The meetings are also aimed at bringing peace in Spain and Portugal. Like Thomas, William has also examined political conflicts in his work. England and Poland have different interest and this results to war. Hamlet is send to England on a diplomatic mission. On his way, he encounters troops of prince Fortinbras who are prepared to fight in Poland. At the end of the story, Hamlet chooses prince Fortinbras of Norway as the heir. The conflict between the two states is evidenced by the comments below “…the imperial join tress to this warlike state…”(Shakespeare 2007, p 32 , Act 1 scene 11 line 9 ).
Apart from the political conflict, Thomas has also analyzed spiritual conflicts and personal conflicts. Personal conflicts occur due to opposing views or forces. Most of the characters in the play experience personal conflicts and this makes it hard for the characters to make ethical decisions. For instance, Hieronimo experiences personal conflicts after his son dies. After his son dies, he receives a letter from Bel- imperia.The letter indicates who killded Horatio. After receiving the letter, Hieronimo decides not to carry out revenge, but he asks for assistance from the king. After sometime, Hieronimo gets a second letter indicating who killed her wife.
This makes it hard for Hieronimo to make the right decision. After getting the second letter, Heromino finds it hard to choose whether to revenge or not. This is evidenced by the quotation below “Faced with his own desire for revenge, he balances two opposite views” (Gurr, Kyd &Mulryne 2009, p7) .After weighing the two options; Hieronomino decides to carry out revenge and kills Lorenzo .Moreover, Bel imperia finds it hard to decide whether to revenge after Don Andrea is killed or not. Later in the story Bel imperia decides to revenge (Gurr, Kyd &Mulryne 2009, p8.)The personal conflict in the Spanish tragedy is similar to personal conflict in Hamlet.
Some of the characters in the Hamlet play experience personal conflicts as they have different views. For instance, Hamlet doubts the ghost. At first, he thinks the ghost is reliable after telling the truth. Later, he starts to doubt the ghost and sees it to be unreliable and dishonest. He also doubts the nature of the ghost (Shakespeare 2007, p54).Another type of conflict examined in the play is spiritual conflict. Most of the characters in the play have different views on revenge. Revenge is supposed to be carried out by God only, but not human beings. It should also be carried out by the state after being given powers by God. Most of the preachers during the Elizabethan times advised the community to leave revenge to God as God would take severe revenge on sinners.
Some of the characters including the king find it hard to avoid revenge even if they aware that only God is supposed to revenge. Some of the characters like Hieronimo have spiritual conflicts and doubt the role of God in executing revenge. Hieronomino does not believe that God and Heaves are just after the death of his son and escape of the murderers. Also, spiritual conflicts are common in the play as shown by Hamlet and the king. Hamlet prays on his way to the closet. This is because he believes that he will go to heaven if he dies in prayer. The king also tries to pray, but the prayers are not send to heaven as words do not go to heaven without thoughts.
Lastly, the author examines the familial conflict. Familial conflict is conflict between families or family members. This is common in the play as Horatio, Bel-Imperia and Lorenzo differ on who caught the prince. The differences between the three characters forces the king of pain to let Horatio keep the money paid for Balthazar. On the other hand, the king lets Lorenzo stay with the prince in his house. The family conflicts in the Spanish tragedy are similar to family conflicts in Hamlet as the characters have different views about family issues and behaviors.
Also, the characters in Hamlet experience familial conflict as shown by Ophelia and Hamlet. Ophelia is not pleased by Hamlet’s strange behavior and she informs her father. To resolve the conflict, Polonius calls Claudius and Gertrude and informs them about Hamlet’s behavior. Claudius also informs Rosencratz and Guilden stern, but they are unable to resolve the conflict as they spy on him. Later, a conflict arises between Hamlet and Gertrude about the murder (Shakespeare 2007, p10).
Conclusion
In conclusion, the two stories are similar as they explore different types of conflicts. The authors of the two plays have analyzed family conflicts, religious conflicts, personal conflicts and political conflicts. This is evidenced by the characters in the play.
References
Gurr,A.,Kyd,T.,&Mulryne,J.R.The Spanish tragedy. 2009. A&C Black
Shakespeare, W. Hamlet. 2007. Global Media
