Act 3, Scenes 11 and 12 Summary

Scene 11 - In the company of a pair of visiting Portuguese, Hieronimo muses on the idea of what it is to be a son, and on what a good son Horatio was - never rebelling, loving his parents, and honoring his country. He also muses on his hopes that Horatio's death will ultimately be revenged, and then asks the Portuguese to leave him alone. They ask him to direct them to Lorenzo's home. He talks at poetic length about the way to find Lorenzo is to take the path of a guilty conscience "unto a forest of distrust and fear" and to the "rocky cliffs" of despair and death, where they will find Lorenzo bathing in "boiling lead and the blood of innocents." The Portuguese go out, laughing at him and calling him mad.

Scene 12 - Hieronimo, left alone...