Retributive Justice In The Kite Runner

Retributive justice is a type of justice, which believes a punishment should be both rightful and proportionate to the immoral act. This type of retribution is similar to that of the concept “what goes around, comes around” and is prominent is various unethical acts such as an individual committing the act murder and then going to prison. Khaled Hosseini’s The Kite Runner and William Shakespeare’s King Lear are perfect examples of literature that integrate retributive justice into the plot. Both literary works have characters that make similar decisions and therefore go through similar experiences: they make poor decisions, ignore their conscience, and seek personal justice.

The role of retributive justice is evident within both The Kite Runner and King Lear and becomes clear through the outcomes of Baba and Lear’s poor decision-making. At the beginning of the novel, Amir characterizes his father as an honest, wealthy man with strong moral values; in fact, Baba spends a lot of time trying to impose his goodness onto Amir. An important turning point of the story for Amir is when Rahim Khan shares a horrifying truth; Baba is a sinner and goes against his beliefs by lying about Hassan’s birth. At first, the reader assumes that Baba keeps Hassan’s birth a secret so he is not frowned upon for having an affair with Ali’s wife. Although Baba tries to make up for his poor decision, he still experiences retributive justice by losing Hassan and Ali: “Then I saw Baba do something I had never seen him do before: He cried… I’ll never forget the way Baba said that, the pain in his plea, the fear.” (Hosseini 107). Baba never lets go of the fact that he loses his son: “I wish Hassan had been with us today” (Hosseini 133). Baba does not say anyt...

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...eventually decides to try to become the preferred child by plotting his brother and father against one another. As the play progresses, Edmund eventually desires kingship and is willing to do anything to gain power, which includes using both sisters: “To both these sisters have I sworn my love;/ each as jealous of the other, as the stung/ Are of the adder. Which of them shall I take? / Both? One? Or neither? / Neither can be enjoyed/ If both remain alive.” (V. i. 56-59) Immediately the audience can sense that Edmund is slowly being consumed by his ambition and the chain of events that he causes through the play is to blame for his eventual death. Once again, it is unusual for death to be a form of retributive justice; however, Edmund brings death upon himself. His traitorous acts towards several of the characters- specifically Edgar- backfires, and for that he dies.