She is defined by her inaction and represents Early Modern women at this time period as she is consistently not given a voice or power in society.
[1] However, Isabella distances herself from this defined role of motherhood as she decides to avenge her son Horatio by killing herself and simultaneously chopping down the tree of his murder.
Isabella plays the role of the early modern woman specifically through her strife to publicly revenge her son and silencing nonetheless.
In Isabella's soliloquy specifically, she recognizes the obscene massacres of her sons murder and the subsequent inaction from Hieronimo ("monstrous homicides"), but can only do so as she is finally alone.
[2] Isabella's position within this constrained womanhood, in which she is largely dependent on the actions of her husband Hieronimo for revenge, thus naturally incited her frustration.
The eventual prominence of Isabella's role within the play comes at the price of her life, showcasing the helpless fate of women who attempt to break free of womanhood, and the common usage of the early modern, male dependent woman.
Isabella's suicide, which is focused on the murder of her son and her revenge upon the physical and emotional place of his death is flooded with associations of protective motherhood.
This incessant woe drives Isabella into complete madness as she and Hieronimo cope with the space that the irreparable murder of Horatio has caused.
[4] In act 3 scene 8, as Isabella looks up to the heavens, she notes both the presence of her soul in the context of her grief and its relation to her dead son.
[2] Isabella's recognition of the placement of her soul, entrapped within her mortal position fashions her in the image of the Sececan stoic.
This vision leads to her eventual suicidal revenge, brought about by her dismay with the inaction of her husband Hieronimo, as she escapes the confines of her mortal capabilities and returns to her son.
As Isabella arrives at the corpse of Horatio, typical of an early modern woman, she shows signs of succumbing to her grief.
In her lines, Isabella describes the process of mourning with "fountains of tears" as she calls upon the earth to "raise an everlasting storm.
This difference is further emphasized later in act three in two affronting scenes featuring Isabella and Bel-Imperia in their removed process of grieving.
"[2] As opposed to Isabella's earlier monologue in which she longs for an immediate return to her son, Bel-Imperia is able to express pause and patience.
[5] Yet, Bel-Imperia's space in the window as she gives this speech displays her ultimate confinement back to traditional womanhood nonetheless.
[6] Regardless of her different relationship to Horatio and his death, her ability to express pause in her quest for revenge ultimately differentiates her from Isabella and underscores the growing agency of women.
The fate of both women demonstrates the inability for Bel-Imperia to completely break free of the traditional model of womanhood despite her increased agency; however, the nature of her suicide continues to differentiate her from Isabella.
"[2] In "The Death of Castile in "The Spanish Tragedy", James P. Hammersmith believes that this declaration created the parallel between Isabella herself, and the tree.
Following, Isabella continues with this duality, using both the words piety and pity to describe the feelings of the king's reactions towards the death of her son.
According to Rebetz, Piety meant "both the quality of feeling or showing pity” and “faithfulness to the duty naturally owed to someone” while pity meant “the disposition to mercy or compassion” and “a ground or cause for pity.” Defining piety also as a faithful duty that is owed highlights Isabella's belief that it is the king's divine role to punish those who are deserving.
However, as Isabella is consistently confined to her role of womanhood, her revenge must also occur within the bounds of an early modern woman.
Metaphorically, in the context of lines 35 and 36 of her soliloquy, by burning the roots, Isabella is stripping the tree of its lineage by chopping it down.
"[2] This line specifically adds an off-beat tone to the soliloquy as it breaks the traditional iamb conventions of a renaissance drama.
Standing over the destroyed tree, Isabella evaluates her path towards revenge and the actions of herself and Hieronimo following Horatio's death.