User:Hummingbird Hue/Scholarly Source 3: Postlapsarian Garden

Research Topic: Revenge in The Spanish Tragedy

NOTE: I reference the page numbers, but I am still writing the information in my own words.

Introduction

 * Influence: Myth of Adam & Eve; Legacy of Cain & Abel
 * Mortals are cursed
 * Themes: murder, sexuality, death as revenge, tragedy
 *  Women : the root of historic transgression (violation of the law) started with Eve
 * Interesting, how we place this blame...
 * Sexuality as death and hell
 * The  womb  is an entrance to death and devil areas
 * Mortals also get  erotic pleasures from sexual intercourse 
 * Women have a beautiful body, but they are  infected   with the seeds of death and decay 
 * Men need women because they bring in new life, but this new life will one day die
 * It's a bittersweet curse
 * Women symbolize  man's self-dissolution 
 * Reference: image of fallen garden
 * Theme:  juxtaposition of the carnal (sex) and the charnel (death) 
 * The Spanish Tragedy and Hamlet both use play within a play and have protagonists that execute their actions slowly

The Spanish Tragedy (Paragraph 1)

 * Scene: Isabella goes to the garden where Horatio died and cuts down the tree
 * Symbolism: cutting down the tree is punishment. This forbidden tree brings down the certainty of the son's death
 *  The maternal womb is like the earth 
 * The earth and womb both give the gift of life, but the end result is always death
 * They are in charge of death too...

The Spanish Tragedy (Paragraph 2)

 * Theme of  love and war 
 * Love --> war --> death
 * Horatio's death is similar to Andrea's death:
 * Balthazar is with Bel-Imperia and the family likes him too (arranged marriage...?)
 * But Horatio and Andrea both misbehave by loving Bel-Imperia, which prevents Balthazar from marrying her...
 *  Revenge : Bel-Imperia has a love affair with Horatio to avenge Andrea, but this makes Balthazar upset
 * Because a love for a woman causes men's rivalry
 * Theme of  women's power 

The Spanish Tragedy (Paragraph 3)

 *  Conventional Elizabethan orgasm as death metaphor (???...) 
 * Theme of  sex and death 
 *  "Bel-Imperia is a forbidden desire — like the fruit of Eden— since Balthazar is the rightful owner of her validated by father figures" (Hamamra) 
 * She is beautiful, so men fall for her, but every time it just ends in death.
 * !!! The motif of the scarf (and revenge)
 * Originally, Andrea gave Bel-Imperia a scarf
 * Then, Horatio has the scarf to show that they were friends (him and Bel-Imperia...?)
 * Then, Hieronimo finds the scarf covered in blood on Horatio's body
 *  !!! Hieronimo keeps the bloody scarf as a token of revenge 
 * Love turned into hatred...
 * Theme of  revenge and sexuality 
 * Summary: beloved/women cause all this death...

Conclusion

 * Carnal vs charnel
 * Reference to Adam & Eve and Cain & Abel
 * Images of fallen gardens
 * Themes of sexuality, murder, and revenge

Criteria

 * Is the article's content relevant to the topic?
 * Very on topic!!! All about revenge but brings in other themes tied to religion and the role of women in the context of life and death
 * Is it written neutrally?
 * More or less
 * Does each claim have a citation?
 * Yes, but short
 * Are the citations reliable?
 * Yes, the original plays mostly
 * Does the article tackle one of Wikipedia's equity gaps (coverage of historically underrepresented or misrepresented populations or subjects)?
 * It mentions sexuality, so like gender roles perhaps?
 * How women are seen as good because they bring new life, but then bad because new life leads to death
 * Check out the article's Talk page to see what other Wikipedians are already contributing. Consider posting some of your ideas to the article's Talk page, too.