The Revenger's Tragedy Religion Quotes

Spurio's kind of a sicko (like his whole family), but he does reinforce one of the main themes of the play when he makes this tortured argument. Over and over, people are undone by their own sins, more than anyone else's. In this case, the play is saying that the Duke is lustful, so the child born through his lust will take revenge on him in a sexual way.

There's some huge sarcasm going down here when Vindice (in disguise) says, "A very fine religion." Christianity teaches that sex is good within marriage but a sin outside it. So when Lussurioso says that marriage is good but he'd rather sleep around, he's establishing himself firmly as a hypocrite by the play's standards. Vindice is making fun of him here, though Lussurioso doesn't notice.

Do cheaters prosper? Castiza thinks so. She says that sinners get rich and honorable people don't. But she's committed to doing what she thinks is right anyway, so when Lussurioso offers her money to sleep with him she turns him down cold.

The Duke apparently believes in divine judgment. Who knew? Based on his actions, we never would've guessed.

Ambitioso's pretty hypocritical, right? He describes himself wanting to do a favor for Lussurioso, when in reality he's trying to get him killed. The other thing to notice here is that he expresses a common belief in the time period: Someone dying unrepentant will go to hell, while someone dying after prayers or other signs of repentance will find God's mercy and go to heaven.

Vindice is not only speaking to a skull here, he's talking about taking Gloriana's skull to a party. He says that the skull would warn people who are overindulging in various kinds of pleasure, the idea being that remembering death would help them remember God and repent in time for their souls to be saved. Remind us not to invite Vindice to our next party…

Who's overindulging? Vengeance is a sin in Christian theology, so Vindice may not be as squeaky clean as he'd like to think.

Huh? What does this mean? Apparently the Duke finds some comfort in hypocrisy. Sounds like he likes to cheat with women who seem religious, because then he doesn't feel as guilty. Something seems wrong about this…

Vindice loves him some special effects. He wants thunder and lightning to smite sinners, literally—in this case, Lussurioso. And the play may be on his side. That comet appearing right before everything goes haywire for Lussurioso sure is suspicious . . .

Well, at least someone's on the straight and narrow. Castiza's mother proves that you can come home again, metaphorically speaking, when she repents and forms a happy relationship with her daughter. She doesn't even get stabbed, putting her well ahead of most characters in this play.