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Definition of Motif
A motif is an element or idea that recurs throughout a work of literature. Motifs, which are often collections of related symbols, help develop the central themes of a book... read full definition
A motif is an element or idea that recurs throughout a work of literature. Motifs, which are often collections of related symbols, help develop the... read full definition
A motif is an element or idea that recurs throughout a work of literature. Motifs, which are often collections of... read full definition
Act 2, Scene 4
Explanation and Analysis—Fortune:
Fortune serves as a prominent motif in The Spanish Tragedy. Like later works written in the genre of the revenge tragedy, Kyd’s play seems to be set in a world in which the Christian God plays little role. Instead, figures such as Fortune are invoked to emphasize the sense of moral chaos and social disorder. Where God punishes the bad and rewards the good, the goddess Fortune seems indifferent to this moral logic, instead distributing her blessings randomly.
Fortune is invoked in a pivotal scene in the play, in which Horatio and Bel-Imperia discuss their love for one another in a garden before Horatio is brutally murdered by Lorenzo and Balthazar:
HORATIO: What means my love?
BEL-IMPERIA: I know not what myself,
And yet my heart foretells me some mischance.HORATIO: Sweet, say not so; fair fortune is our friend,
And heavens have shut up day to pleasure us.
The stars, thou see'st, hold back their twinkling shine,
And Luna hides herself to pleasure us.BEL-IMPERIA: Thou hast prevailed; I'll conquer my misdoubt,
And in thy love and counsel drown my fear:
I fear no more; love now is all my thoughts.
In a scene that heavily foreshadows the tragedy to come, Horatio notes Bel-Imperia’s unease, and she is unable to attribute her own anxiety to any clear source. Horatio encourages her to be optimistic, insisting that “fair fortune is our friend.” Ultimately, she agrees to “conquer her misdoubt” and enjoy their evening together.
Horatio’s optimistic outlook is unfortunately mistaken: Fortune, the play suggests, is nobody’s “friend” but rather, a figure who symbolizes unexpected twists of fate. While Fortune seems, at this point in the play, to favor Lorenzo and Balthazar, she will ultimately turn on them too. Fortune, then, is a fitting goddess for the bleak moral vision of The Spanish Tragedy.
