“'Send him,' said [Minos], 'to our infernal king, / To condemn him as his majesty best seems' (1.1.52-3). Nestled within Don Andrea's long opening monologue, these lines introduce the overarching question that Thomas Kyd's The Spanish Tragedy seeks to answer - the question of Don Andrea's "fate" In the underworld, Aeacus and Rhadamanth argue. on the fate of Don Andrea, on the question of whether he should spend his eternity "walking with lovers in our fields of love" or whether he "should go to martial fields" (1.1.42, 47). can easily be overlooked for the revenge plots that play out between living characters, its importance should not be downplayed. Don Andrea serves as instigator and chorus for the revenge plots, all of which are under the title of his own revenge. he's so important, why can't the underworld decide where he should spend eternity? Many episodes in the play suggest that the underworld functions as an inefficient system? The question, then, comes down to Kyd's intentions: the Spanish tragedy is either a well-intentioned but unflattering depiction of the underworld, or a deliberate declaration of its ineffectiveness. By questioning and exploring the fairness and effectiveness of the underworld, this essay argues that the conflict surrounding the fate of Don Andrea positions the play as a critique of the dominant conception of the afterlife in England. of the 16th century. Say no to plagiarism. Get a custom essay on “Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned”? Get an original essay The most problematic depiction of justice in the underworld occurs at the end of the play, when Don Andrea condemns all of his friends and enemies to their fate in the underworld. He asks if he “can associate with [his] friends pleasantly,/And on [his] enemies take vengeance justly and brutally” and declares his desire “to be judge and condemn them to disorder” (4.5.15- 6, 29). -30). Although the play centers on Don Andrea's quest for revenge, it is not clear who or what gives him the power to decide the fate of others, particularly the fate of those who were not involved in his death . Although his actions against the figures directly involved in his death are readable as acts of vengeance, it is less clear why Don Andrea assumes authority over the fate of those not involved. Kyd thus represents underground justice as a system which is not based on impartiality: no character makes an objective judgment on the relationship between the morality of the characters and their eternal loss. When Don Andrea details how he will grant "sweet pleasure to eternal days" to Bel-Imperia, Isabella and Hieronimo (who commit murder, suicide and both respectively) and after sadistically explaining (in gruesome detail) his plan to damn For the rest, Revenge simply approves, declaring "then let us hasten to meet your friends and your enemies:/ To place your friends in ease, others in misfortune" (4.5.24, 45-6) . He takes it upon himself to carry out the will of Don Andrea, without any proof of the correctness of his judgment. The play also questions the relationship between justice and revenge. Why is Don Andrea allowed to avenge his death? Why is he sent to Revenge? The text's main justification is that Don Andrea's death was itself unjust, caused by "young Don Balthazar with pitiless rage,/taking advantage of his enemy's distress" (1.4.23-4). It may be relevant that Andrea was briefly prevented from entering the underworld due to his "non-funeral rites".executed” on time, but later Horatio gives a touching account of how he buried his dear friend (1.1.21). . The only apparent objection to the justice of Andrea's death is that Don Balthazar was unsportsmanlike in the killing. However, we must not forget that Andrea's death occurred on the battlefield, where everyone participates by consciously anticipating their own murder. Andrea, after all, was not ambushed and killed like Horatio, or even secretly poisoned like so many characters in revenge plays are. Andrea knew the stakes. The ambiguity surrounding Don Andrea's fate forces readers to question the effectiveness and usefulness of the underground system. While Kyd's 16th-century audiences would expect to see the underworld portrayed as the legitimate reality of the afterlife, it is provocative that the play presents the process of justice in the underworld as being based on judgments fragile, even casual. For example, Pluto allowed Don Andrea's fate to be decided by Proserpina, when she "begged that she alone could give [Don Andrea his] destiny", to which "Pluto was satisfied and sealed with a kiss” (1.1.79-80). The madness inherent in the scenario – Pluto determining a man's destiny according to the fantasies of his lover – casts doubt on the legitimacy of the underworld. How could such an indecisive and somewhat arbitrary system work? It is also significant that the roles Don Andrea occupies – a lover and a soldier – are not mutually exclusive. Yet Kyd presents this duality as sufficient to cause confusion and indecision in the underworld, leaving Don Andrea without a determined destiny. When "[Don Andrea's] manner of living and dying" was discussed, Minos describes that he "lived and died in love,/And for his love he tried the fortune of wars,/And by the fortune of war he lost both love and life," after which Rhadamanth and Aeacus argue over different interpretations (1.1.37-40). Something as mundane as the coexistence of a lover and could one soldier be enough to dismantle the underworld system Of course, the argument between Rhadamanthus and Aeacus over the fate of Don Andrea does not prove that his fate cannot be decided, because they did indeed decide to send him on? Pluto to be condemned to it Yet the fact that Pluto does not take the decision seriously and lets Proserpina's whim decide his fate, as well as the fact that Don Andrea's fate is still not revealed at the end of the story. play implies that Don Andrea's fate is in fact uncertain. The underworld is unable to understand Don Andrea's character because he occupies the role of lover and fighter simultaneously. How can someone's fate be decided in such black and white terms? The fact that this issue is what fuels the conflict over Don Andrea's fate suggests that Kyd undermines the concept of underground justice by portraying it as an ineffective method of determining a person's eternal destiny. The structure of the piece itself alludes to the imperfection of the underworld. In particular, the play presents revenge as devastating and endless. For most of the characters, “though death has ended their misery, / [revenge] will there begin their endless tragedy” (4.5.47-8). The fact that Don Andrea's appetite for revenge can determine the fate of so many characters raises the possibility of infinite regress. If Don Andrea can condemn other characters after (and because of) his death, it follows that each character who dies will receive their own power to take revenge in the afterlife, a situation which could lead to a death and massive destruction. The plot of the play therefore depends on the idea of ​​revenge as, 1998.