Various Essays

Revenge in Stories

A/N: This was an English assignment! 371 words! 2 paragraphs. Please remember to VOTE and COMMENT if you enjoy. I look forward to your feedback. -Cigolavon

Everybody seems to have conflicting opinions when it comes to revenge. If something that's so wrong can feel so good, so satisfying, how could it possibly be wrong? To quote Alfred Hitchcock "Revenge is sweet but not fattening." If that really is the case then anyone and everyone could seek revenge for anything. If someone steps on your tow, you could respond in kind. However, as a community have we set any limits? For every one act of injury or cruelty does there have to be a larger or cruller retaliation? Meir Kahane believes "Love has its place, as does hate. Peace has its place, as war does. Mercy has its place, as do cruelty and revenge." This suggests that revenge is a necessary part of our society. If we are to be merciful and kind we must also take revenge and be cruel. That way of thinking is based on a generic, every good must have an equivalent evil. My thoughts follow that same guideline. In my mind, revenge and justice are sometimes more closely linked then our conscious would prefer.

In "Little Red Riding Hood" and many other stories, there is often revenge laced into them in order to draw the reader's attention and satisfy the part of them that wants to see the bad guy pay for being a bad guy. It's important for the author to establish a good reason for the antagonist to be despised by the readers. They need to have strong feelings of distain. Also the audience needs to feel a strong compassionate connection towards the protagonist. The good guy need to be likeable. Readers need to have sympathy for protagonist so when the antagonist had revenge brought onto them the readers feel excited and validated to have read through the story. The message revenge can sometimes send to readers is that hurting someone is sometimes okay. As long as it's because of a good valid reason. This isn't such a good message for younger kids because they might think that it's okay to take revenge into their own hands even if it means hurting somebody. However, to quote Marcus Aurelius "Sometimes the best revenge is to be unlike him who performed the injury."