Violence and Brutality
Often credited as the first early modern revenge play, The Spanish Tragedy features an unsurprising amount of violent imagery a characters grapple with the effects of grief and the impulse for vengeance. This of course appears in the murder of Horatio, who is stabbed and hung in an arbor, as well as in Hieronimo's vocal commitments to draw more blood for revenge against his son's murderers. This imagery further appears in a metaphorical form when Isabella attacks the arbor, cutting down its branches and leaves and destroying its life-giving ability to mirror her own sense of bareness and loss.
Blood
Beyond descriptions of violence, blood plays an important role in The Spanish Tragedy as a marker of both sacrifice and wrongdoing. The scarf that Horatio pulls from Don Andrea is besmeared with blood and is later covered in Horatio's own blood after his murder, suggesting the injustice of Balthazar and Lorenzo's actions. The letter that Bel-Imperia sends to Hieronimo is written in blood rather than ink, and emblem of her own bodily sacrifice that she must make in pursuit of her own quieter revenge plot.
Heaven
Because the play is so concerned with death, revenge, and justice, characters often have thoughts about the afterlife. Isabella in particular, in a fit of alleged madness, claims that she can see Horatio in Heaven with angels sitting near his newly-healed wounds. These images of Heaven help emphasize the play's interest in justice and what it looks like, while also lending insight into the grieving process and the need to cope with loss.
Hell
At the same time characters often envision Heaven, there are perhaps more references and descriptions of hell throughout the play. Hieronimo is the most notable example, as he insists multiple times that Lorenzo belongs in hell for what he has done. Hieronimo's preoccupation with hell – another form of everlasting justice – emphasizes his obsession with revenge and his desire to remember his son through the punishment of his enemies.
