The Pros and Cons of Revenge

1661 Words4 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: Revenge as a theme in Literature

What is revenge? Revenge is defined as the action of inflicting hurt or harm on someone for an injury or wrong suffered at their hands (Oxford definition). It can also be described as the act of a person inflicting wrong on something that previously inflicted wrong to it, with the purpose of trying to restore justice. Revenge has been a part of humans for as long as they have existed. In fact, even before the emergence of humans, primates showed to have intragroup relationship conflicts. Primatologists (from Primatology, the study of primates) Frans de Waal and Lesleigh Luttrel conducted a study in which they would test for revenge in three species of primates. One of the species (chimpanzees) demonstrated a noticeable pattern of revenge. (McCullough 2008) Also, apart from primates, many animals, like ants, also express explicit behavior of revenge. In the ants' case, the previously enslaved ants kill the captors' babies in order to make it “even”. (Pamminger et al., 2012) So, what does this say about revenge? It says that the desire of acquiring justice is not only in humans, but also in animals. If this feeling is also seen in animals, then it is most probably an evolved trait.

Revenge is viewed in a different way by almost everyone, meaning that there is no definite answer as to if it is beneficial or not. The act of revenge has seen some drastic changes in perspective throughout history. During the Middle Ages, conflicts would not be regarded as resolved until they were avenged. In fact, many long-established justice systems (similar to the one that the Samurai class held in Japan's feudal past, that consisted of “revenge for honor”) are confined to only revenge. (Ikegami 1995) Even Modern Western legal s...

... middle of paper ...

...revenge

Rosenbaum, T. (2013). Payback: A Case for Revenge. Chicago: University Of Chicago Press.

McCullough, M. (2008). Beyond Revenge: The Evolution of the Forgiveness Instinct. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.

Tobias Pamminger, Annette Leingärtner, Alexandra Achenbach, Isabelle Kleeberg, Pleuni S. Pennings, & Susanne Foitzik (2012). Geographic distribution of the anti-parasite trait “slave rebellion” Evolutionary Ecology

Ikegami, E. (1995). The Taming of the Samurai: Honorific Individualism and the Making of Modern Japan. Cambridge: Harvard University Press.

Carlsmith, K. (May 2008) Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, (Vol. 95, No. 6).

Jaffe, E. (October 2011.) The Complicated Psychology of Revenge. Observer Vol.24, No.8

Revenge. (2013, November 17). Wikipedia. Retrieved November 21, 2013, from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Revenge

Show More
Related

  • Karyn Hall's Revenge: Will You Feel Better?

    110 Words  | 1 Pages

    While revenge may feel sweet at times, in most cases it is destructive to yourself and those around you. The article “Revenge:Will You Feel Better?” makes one contemplate this, and draws the question “is revenge really worth it?” Well, in the article, Karyn Hall suggests that “Revenge can be a strong urge, but you may not feel better if you act on it.” In fact, in a study performed by Kevin Carlsmith showed that “...the students that got revenge reported feeling worse than those who didn't…” With this, one may see that revenge is pointless, and in most cases leaves you feeling worse than the people you performed it

    Read More

  • Chillingworth's Demonic Actions

    1381 Words  | 3 Pages

    For the meek, vengeance pleasures the soul; however, it is only temporal. Like an addictive drug, revenge soothes anger and tension by sedating the mind with ephemeral comfort. Despite the initial relief, pain ensues and conditions seem worse than before. Mahatma Gandhi, the leader of the non-violence movement in India, stated once that “an eye for an eye only ends up making the whole world blind.” There is no such thing as a sweet revenge.

    Read More

  • Don T Confuse Revenge With Justice: Five Key Differences

    815 Words  | 2 Pages

    Many people percieve revenge to be something that falls under justice, as they are driven by emotions, while others consider getting the police involved as serving justice. Moreover, some people find revenge to be pleasing and satisfying, but to argue the point that just because something is more satisfying does not mean it is

    Read More

  • The Destructive Power of Revenge: An Analysis

    1373 Words  | 3 Pages

    Revenge is a fairly strong emotion; it’s wanting to retaliate towards those who wronged you. Revenge is such an uncontrollable form of retaliation that it can result in a destructive outcome or be carried out successfully. Although the results may vary, revenge sums up to one thing which is pain of some sort, affecting both parties or just one. Throughout history, we see many tales of revenge and redemption. Often revenge does leave the one carrying it out feeling victorious, but this can suddenly change as the process of karma generally begins in some tales.

    Read More

  • The Count of Monte Cristo: Revenge and Justice

    992 Words  | 2 Pages

    Revenge is best served cold or so says the well-known expression. This idea of revenge that they seek is usually to restore balance and take an “eye for an eye” as the Bible says. Revenge, if by chance everyone were in Plato’s perfect utopia, would be in a perfect form, where justice and revenge would be one, and the coined phrase “eye for an eye” would be taken literally. By taking an eye for and eye, and punishing those who did wrong equally as they did wrong, there is justice. However, this revenge sometimes goes too far and is consequently not justice.

    Read More

  • Pros And Cons Of Retribution

    537 Words  | 2 Pages

    Retribution – is a correctional aim which is to hold a person who has committed a crime accountable for committing a crime against another or society in the form of punishment. (Stojkovic and Lovell 2013) What we look at in retribution is when someone is punished there is legitimacy in the punishment of a particular crime that was committed. Some of the pros of retribution are retribution can make a person or society feel safer or a feeling of justice being served when a person is punished for the crime they committed. The con of retribution is during court proceedings the prosecution and the offender’s lawyer may come to a plea agreement which could give the offender a lesser sentence than what he or she would have gotten originally. (Stojkovic and Lovell 2013)

    Read More

  • Effects of the Great Kanto Earthquake in Japanese History

    1580 Words  | 4 Pages

    Tsuzuki, Chushichi. The Pursuit of Power in Modern Japan, 1825-1995. New York: Oxford University Press, 2000. Questia. Web. 28 Apr. 2011.

    Read More

  • Justice vs Revenge

    1309 Words  | 3 Pages

    Revenge, on the other hand, refers to an action taken by an individual as a response to an act of injustice. The principle of revenge is “an eye for an eye”…. Can revenge be justified and be as equally part of justice if they both seek retribution for a wrongdoing? The universal distinction between justice and revenge is quite distinctive, is there more beyond their differences? Revenge is retaliation by a wronged party against the person or people they see as having caused the wrong.

    Read More

  • Revenge

    1798 Words  | 4 Pages

    Throughout history, revenge, or vengeance, has been altered by several cultures and even the American culture. This is shown throughout many ancient greek epics. Throughout these two epics, what is just revenge and what the action of revenge is are much different than what Revenge is seen through today’s society. Revenge is the main theme in The Iliad, with Achilles’ revenge on Agamemnon and Hector, and in The Odyssey, with Poseidon’s revenge on Odysseus and Odysseus’s revenge on the Suitors, and these epics define how revenge was seen in the ancient Greek world.

    Read More

  • Theme of Revenge in Literature and Movies

    914 Words  | 2 Pages

    Revenge is such an enormous part of a being human. It is something that no matter how much you try to avoid part of you will persistently lust for it. When you are hurt in any way your natural instinct will always tell you to make the one who hurt you feel just as bad if not worse as how you felt. It is such a natural and powerful feeling, that when revenge is incorporated into a story it makes it so much stronger. Revenge will make you see so many more sides of characters and make them seem much more complex. Revenge can give fictional characters a more human quality. That is why so many writers use it as their theme.

    Read More

  • Revenge in Hamlet

    1105 Words  | 3 Pages

    It is the idea of revenge that sends a cool shiver down the spines of justly men when they begin to question as to why someone would stoop to such a level. But yet it is still more than an idea for revenge has been carried out in various forms along all the eras of history side-by-side of that of novels and tragedies. Even so, revenge is still a dark scheme; an evil plague of the mind per se. It is such a plague that will turn even the greatest persons of the brightest, optimistically capable of minds into lowly, as well as lonely, individuals. Thus, revenge will, and can, only end in despair and agony of the mind. Therefore, provided that all that has been said is true, revenge would appear quite unseemly to the observant onlooker. However, taking an in-depth insight into revenge you can uncover quite a compelling feature, which is best summed up into one word. Pride. Pride is the one clear motivational proprietor needed to push a protagonist into the downward spiral of personal vendetta. Without pride, revenge is no more than a mindless massacre of flesh and bone ending in the obliteration of any hope for reconciliation.

    Read More

  • Personal Justice and Homicide in Scott’s Ivanhoe:

    7316 Words  | 15 Pages

    In their book Homicide, evolutionary psychologists Margo Wilson and Martin Daly identify one such conflict between human nature and the contemporary cultural order. They argue that humans have an innate concept of justice which is based on the idea of personal revenge. According to this concept of justice, it is legitimate and even praise-worthy for people to whom a wrong has been done to avenge the wrong-doing themselves.

    Read More

  • Nature of Revenge

    960 Words  | 2 Pages

    “Those who plot the destruction of others often fall themselves” (Phaedrus). This quote was said by a Roman fabulist and it depicts the entire concept of revenge in Hamlet. The nature of revenge causes someone to act upon anger rather than reason. Hamlet takes place in Denmark and is about Hamlet’s uncle who kills his dad to gain power of Denmark. After the killing, Hamlet seeks revenge on his uncle. In the play, there are several characters wanting vengeance like that of Hamlet. Throughout the play, Hamlet, Laertes, and Fortinbras all had a tragic death of a family member which caused their decision for revenge. Consequentially, these revenges caused the demise of two characters and the rise of power of another. The retaliation shown by the Prince of Denmark, as well as Laertes led to the downfall of their government.

    Read More

  • Revenge

    411 Words  | 1 Pages

    Taking revenge is a bitter sweet thing. I have always thought that people should always get what they desire, whether it be a grade, a smile and hug or in some cases, revenge. When I was in high school there seemed to be someone always trying to get me in trouble, they would say things that wouldn’t be true or do things to make me look bad. The fact that I never seemed to do anything to them would make me mad and wonder what I could do to get them back. Revenge would usually come in some sort of verbal put down or I would try to physically hurt them. It always seemed when I would get the revenge right away I would feel really good but as I thought about what I did, and what they did to me I would always feel guilty or wish I would have never done anything to them in return.

    Read More

  • Taking Revenge on Others

    763 Words  | 2 Pages

    People can be motivated to take revenge on others for various reasons. While these reasons may be considered as very serious or rather trivial, they are all motives for revenge. Revenge occurs when a person has been offended or angered by an individual and in result they have the desire to pay them back. People’s opinions on revenge differ from each other, some may believe it is justified and some don’t. Mahatma Ghandi believed that revenge is not the answer and he stated that “An eye for an eye makes the whole world blind”. This quote portrays the opinion that if everyone gets even then there will be no one else; if we all take an eye for an eye everyone would be blind. Revenge can be learnt through real life experiences as well as fiction and can be shown as justice or unacceptable. It becomes difficult to determine when revenge can be justified but is revenge always worth it?

    Read More

More about The Pros and Cons of Revenge

Open Document