7. Thomas Kyd, ”the Spanish Tragedy”
1. BITTEN-OFF TONGUE – the meanings of the gesture:
§ Demonstration of Hieronimo’s subordination to sb else;
power is connected with being able to speak or prevent sb from speaking
§ Language is a source of identity, so when he is unable to speak he loses his identity; ( because language is crucial in giving us a sense of identity)
§ Gaining freedom which is self-destructive;
act of freeing himself from oppression – self-destructive gesture- lg is inefficient, words are empty-the world is empty, it may lead to madness;
§ A kind of punishment;
admission of mistake showing that trying to be like God is bad and that power is misleading
§ Hieronimo places himself outside the society ( social structure);
§ He cannot express his sorrow after death of his son;
he is disappointed that through language he cannot express his feelings, language is inefficient, communication and self-expression are impossible.
2. MADNESS:
§ Madness gives Hieronimo time to plan his revenge and nobody suspects him.
§ Fiction becomes the reality.
At the beginning of the play Hieronimo is only pretending that he is mad, but in the and he really becomes mad.
§ Meaning of madness- FICTION & REALITY ARE MIXED = what a person is trying to do or say is different.
§ Madness is connected with EMPTY FORM WITHOUT THE MEANING .
Meaning presented in language is separated from performance.
§ Madness presented as destruction falling into pieces.
§ The play points to chaos, lack of communication and order, disintegration, a collapse of any hierarchy ( presented in well-ordered & well-structured text).
v Madness becomes manifested in two distinct persons in the play:
- Hieronimo- eventually leads to bloody revenge;
- Isabella – leads to suicide.
3. PLAY –WIHIN-THE-PLAY:
§ Within one play there are other plays that are watched ; the actors may not be aware of being observed.
- Horatio and Bel-Imperia watched by Lorenzo & Baltazar
§ Characters know more than others.
- the servant Pedringano is certain that he will be saved by Lorenzo, who promised to do it (so for him the others are actors, he is sure that there will be no execution)= dramatic irony
- the boy with the box ( who is supposed to bring the documents of pardon (ułaskawienie) knows that the box is empty and the execution will be performed – he knows more than the servant = multiplied dramatic irony
§ The idea of play-within-the-play- there is no end to it : we also watch the play and we may also be watched by somebody else = we all are actors ( concept of Theatrum Mundi- the world as theatre, we all are actors and we have no choice but to perform them -ALL FUNCTIONS PREPLE HAVE IN SOCIETY ARE ROLES-).
4. HIERONIMO’S PLAY:
Short summary of the play:
- Hieronimo is given responsibility over the entertainment for the marriage of Bel-Imperia and Balthazar.
- Hieronimo casts himself in he role of hired murdered-his character stabs Lorenzo’s character and Bel-Imperia character stabs Balthazar’s character( before killing herself).
- After the play Hieronimo reveals to the horrified wedding guests that all the stubbing were .real and Lorenzo, Bel-Imperia are dead.
- Hieronimo tries to kill himself but is stopped by the King & Viceroy & the Duke of Castile.
- He bites his tongue off in order to keeping himself from talking.
- He stabs the Duke and himself and they both die.
The play:
§ The play is a tool of Hieronimo’s revenge.
o Revenge belongs to God so Hieronimo takes God’s power and position.
§ Actor of the play don’t understand what they are playing because people speak different languages. The audience doesn’t understand it either.
o The purpose: Hieronimo wants confusion among the actors and the audience – he is the only one who understands the play and knows its meaning, the others are confused;
- such a situation reminds us of the biblical BABEL TOWER where people wanted to touch the sky and as punishment God mixed their languages ( again Hieronimo acts as God).
5. THE LANGUAGE :
· LANGUAGE GIVES POWER – the power is created with lg, through lg and in lg.
· The power of Hieronimo lies in words, language, the ability to manipulate the language and words- he decides who, when and how speaks ( in court the king decides who and how may speak in his presence).
- THESE WHO TELL OTHERS WHEN AND HOW TO SPEAK HAVE POWER!
· In the Hieronimo’s play people speak different languages and cannot communicate with each other.
( When Hieronimo wanted to complain about his son’s death to the King, Lorenzo didn’t allow him to do that because he was higher in the hierarchy of the royal court.)
6. WRITING ( COKOLWIEK TO ZNACZYL) – TYLKO TO ZNALAZLAM NA TEN TEAMT
§ Hieronimo writes a script- he assigns the roles.
§ Lorenzo writes a kind of script ( he also assigns the roles)
- he presents Balthazar as ideal lover and husband for Bel-Imperia ( he writes the role
for him as a great man)
- he writes a script for the servant- Lorenzo promised to free him but he didn’t do it, so
the servant becomes an actor who doesn’t realize that he acts a role.
Hieronimo and Lorenzo manipulate people by and through language.
Ylayda