It is Hieronimo who stages the play-within-a-play and is ultimately responsible for the deaths of Lorenzo, Balthazar, and the Duke, and arguably Bellimperia. The law does not grant justice for his son's murder, however, so he takes the matter into his own hands. The Marshall of Spain, Hieronimo is the highest official to pronounce judgments. But unlike Lorenzo, Balthazar is a sympathetic - if - naive character.

With Lorenzo, he roams about freely and contributes to the murder of Horatio. He is taken by Bellimperia's beauty, which leads him to state that he is in love. The Viceroy's son arrives in Spain as a captive. Having discovered his son to be alive after all, he hopes to relinquish his crown and retire to a solitary life of thanking the heavens in prayer. As for the marriage between Balthazar and Bellimperia, he gives his wholehearted consent. He first unjustly condemns Alexandro, then justly - but harshly - dooms Villuppo. Viceroy of PortugalĪ loving father to Balthazar, the Viceroy is given to rash judgments. Her actions in the second half of the play are motivated by the desire to exact revenge. Heironimo claims that the suicide is out of love for Andrea, but this point remains a matter of dispute. She eventually stabs Balthazar as a character in Hieronimo's play and commits suicide. She finds 'second love' in Horatio, if only partly to spite Balthazar. Lorenzo's sister and Andrea's former lover. While he clearly finds pleasure in controlling others, his actions are end-based rather than purely driven by villainous desires. He manipulates Balthazar and Pedringano in order to orchestrate the death of Horatio. Lorenzo is a man with somewhat mysterious motives, but his duplicitous character reveals itself throughout the play.

His character contrasts with that of Lorenzo. Like the King, he is a just man within the constraints of a highly patriarchal society (he will force Bellimperia into a politically desirable marriage).

Cyprian Duke of Castileįather to Lorenzo and Bellimperia. He plays a relatively passive role in the play, serving as a good and just monarch-albeit one sometimes lacking in acumen. The King desires a marriage between Balthazar and Bellimperia, the Duke's daughter. King of Spainīrother to the Duke of Castile. Sent by the Queen of Hades, Proserpine, Revenge leads the Ghost of Andrea back from the underworld to witness (and create) havoc on earth. His Ghost has now returned from the underworld to witness his former lover Bellimperia kill Balthazar. A Spanish nobleman, Don Andrea has been recently killed in battle by the Portuguese prince Balthazar.

The spanish tragedy by thomas kyd