Bloody Scarf, Bloody Revenge

It is clear that there are at least three major themes in this play: deceit, justice, and revenge; revenge being the more prominent of the three. Kyd was cunning in personifying Revenge as one of the characters in this play. But it seems that there is yet another symbol for revenge Kyd uses that doesn't show up quite clearly until Act III. In I.iv, Horatio becomes the new owner of the scarf given to Andreas from Bel-Imperia. One would be correct in saying that this is symbolic of the transfer of Bel-Imperia's affection from Andreas to Horatio; but perhaps it is also symbolic of the desire for revenge that is passed on from Andreas to Horatio after Horatio's death. The scarf appears again after Hieronimo takes it from Horatio's dead body; obviously the desire for revenge now granted from Horatio to Hieronimo. Then the scarf appears once again when Hieronimo is talking to the old man, Bazulto, in III.xiii. Don Bazulto is appealing for Hieronimo's help in revenging his own son, and Hieronimo takes out the scarf, dyed by Horatio's blood, and shares the scarf with Bazulto to wipe his tears. This is obviously a symbol of the lust for revenge that they both share for their lost sons. "Oh, no, not this! Horatio, this was thine, And when I dyed it in thy dearest blood, This was a token 'twixt thy soul and me That of thy death revenged I should be." (III.xiii 86-89)