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"Marry , my good lord, thus- And yet, methinks, you are too quick with us - When in Toledo there I studied, It was my chance to write a tragedy - See here my lords - He shows them a book Which long forgot, I found this other day. Now would your lordships favour me so much As but to grace me with your acting it - I mean each one of you to play a part - Assure you it will prove most passing strange And wondrous plausible to that assembly."

The speaker is Hieronimo (IV.i.75–85), and he is about to set his "plot" into motion. He is speaking to Bel-Imperia, Lorenzo and Balthazar. The play he speaks of is a tragedy (not in fact, composed at university), the tragedy of Soliman and Perseda. Its narrative in fact closely parallels the narrative of The Spanish Tragedy, and thus the events of Hieronimo's life. In fact, the murders that Hieronimo will go on to describe as being part of the Soliman's plot will actually occur on-stage, thus becoming part of the plot of the larger play and Hieronimo's life. This quote introduces the device by which Hieronimo's revenge will be done. It is part of the rising action that sets up the climax of the play. It provides a strong link between Hieronimo's creativity and his upcoming revenge. Hieronimo not only has written a play, he has also told a very plausible story to fool his "lordships" into going along with his plan. There are hints, however, of Hieronimo's intentions, that foreshadow the bloody events of Act IV scene iv. The speech is laced with dramatic and verbal irony. The "grace" that Hieronimo wants Lorenzo and Balthazar to favor him with is, unknown to them, the pleasure of their deaths. And Hieronimo is right that the performance will be both "wondrous plausible" and "passing strange" to the assembly. It will show plausible, because real, murders where not only do the characters in the play die but the actors do as well-thus very strange indeed.

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