Monstrous Murders

Each of the instances of the words monstrous or monster listed for the Conversation Piece bear a direct relation to some instance of murder. Villuppo is describing homicide as a monstrous action, while Hieronimo uses the word to refer to times in which murders occur and to describe both a murderer and the actual act of murder. According to the online Oxford English Dictionary, “monster,” at the time The Spanish Tragedy was written, could refer to “a person of repulsively unnatural character, or exhibiting such extreme cruelty or wickedness as to appear inhuman.” The combination of these occurrences and the definition from the late sixteenth century add to reveal Kyd’s opinions on murder and murderers. I find it interesting that except for one use by Villuppo, each other utterance of the word comes from Hieronimo. Hieronimo had struck me as the most genuine character, the one most ready to reveal his true feelings. However, since he is planning to commit murder himself, he’s invalidated his own opinion. The act should be no less contemptible depending on who’s committing it and why. If all of the characters had this view, many of them wouldn’t be dead. The deaths looming on the horizon of the end of the third act simply prove what the consequences are for becoming a monster.