Theme Of Revenge In 'The Gioconda Smile And The Catbird Seat'

1435 Words3 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: Revenge as a theme in Literature

“Before you embark on a journey, of revenge, dig two graves,” was a quote written by Confucius in 551-479 B.C, which simply means that while you’re seeking revenge on your enemies, not only are you going to hurt them but you’ll hurt yourself too. Basically no good comes from seeking revenge. When wrong has been done to someone, they tend to seek revenge on that individual. Both short stories The Gioconda Smile by Aidous Huxley and The Catbird Seat by James Thurber portrayed the theme of revenge. Both authors use various literary elements to show how the topic of revenge is addressed in both novels. Seeking revenge can leave you with an uneasy conscience. You’ll feel as if you accomplished something good but deep down inside and as time goes on you’ll feel guilty. In the short story The Gioconda Smile Miss. Spence who was a very jealous and spiteful woman sought revenge on Mr. Hutton who was a married man who cheated on his wife (Emily Hutton) with not only Miss. Spence, but also with a third person named Dorris. All of these women loved Mr. Hutton but Janet wanted him all to herself. Janet just wanted him to love and care for her as much as she loved and cared for him. She had secret affairs with Mr. Hutton to fill the empty void of loneliness she felt due to the fact that she wasn’t married. Mr. Hutton was a very narcissistic individual …show more content…

Spence was a jealous person. Even though Miss. Spence and Erwin Martin both expressed their act of revenge in different ways the concept of revenge is still the same. They tried to get back at someone that they felt had done them wrong some type of way. “It was just a week to the day since Mr. Martin had decided to rub out Mrs. Ulgine Barrows. The term "rub out" pleased him because it suggested nothing more than the correction of an error--in this case an error of Mr.

Show More
Related

  • Irony In The Cask Of Amontillado Essay

    1292 Words  | 3 Pages

    Revenge is the opportunity to retaliate or gain satisfaction for a real or perceived slight ("revenge"). In “The Cask of Amontillado” by Edgar Allan Poe, Montresor, the narrator, is out for revenge. Montressor seeks revenge against Fortunato and thinks he has developed the perfect plan for “revenge with impunity” (Baym). Montresor never tells the reader why he feels Fortunato deserves punishment. He only says that Fortunato causes him “a thousand injuries”until “[venturing] upon insult” (Baym?).

    Read More

  • 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

  • Similarities Between Hamlet And The Cask Of Amontillado

    965 Words  | 2 Pages

    Evil exists naturally in the world, and there are many acts that are considered evil. As a result, evil is often a theme in literature. “The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark” by William Shakespeare, and “The Cask of Amontillado” by Edgar Allan Poe each rely heavily on evil to portray a message. Out of all of the evil acts that exist, exacting revenge is the evilest act that a person can make, for a person’s rash decision to exact revenge will ruin their sense of morality. The characters of Hamlet and Laertes in “Hamlet” each commit terrible acts of revenge, as does Montresor in “The Cask of Amontillado.”

    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

  • Theme Of Revenge In A Long Way Gone

    896 Words  | 2 Pages

    experiences with revenge what his actions caused. It shows that getting revenge is never the

    Read More

  • Archetypes in the Count of Monte Cristo

    1279 Words  | 3 Pages

    ... lack of need for it as his negative qualities seal his fate and the old sage shows the benefit of having faith and forgiving those who have betrayed them. Rather than focusing on getting revenge, one should strive to move forward with their life. All that revenge does is slow down the personal growth of an individual; the consequences far outweigh the benefits.

    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

  • Revenge in Hawthorne's The Scarlet Letter

    895 Words  | 2 Pages

    Revenge is the act of retaliating in order to get even with someone for the wrongs they have done. In the novel “The Scarlet Letter,” the author, Nathaniel Hawthorne, uses Roger Chillingworth to reap revenge on Arthur Dimmesdale for his affair with his wife, Hester Prynne. Chillingworth becomes so devoted to revenge that is all his life revolves around. Chillingworth then devotes the rest of his life to taking revenge on Dimmesdale.

    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

  • The Bitter Taste of Revenge: The Significance of Seeking Vengeance

    1248 Words  | 3 Pages

    The idiom “revenge is sweet” appears so frequently that one might think the cliché is true, yet the nature of revenge is far more complex and may leave more bitterness in its wake. The cyclical nature of revenge and man’s inhumanity to man means it has a propensity to intensify and devastate the people in its wake including the inflictor. Gabriel García Márquez’s Chronicle of a Death Foretold and Isabel Allende’s The House of the Spirits examine the theme of the nature of revenge through the presence and significance of prominent characters seeking revenge in both Latin American novels.

    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

    ...out each other knowing of it. The element of payback is more profound in this story and supports the quote “What goes around, comes around”.

    Read More

More about Theme Of Revenge In 'The Gioconda Smile And The Catbird Seat'

Open Document