Revenge is an act of extralegal retribution by an individual or a group against someone else or another group for a perceived wrong or injustice. Francis Bacon describes revenge as a "wild justice" that "does offend the law and putteth the law out of office." Such a quote brings into...question whether the act of revenge is immoral, providing students with ample opportunities to write about the moral implications of seeking revenge. Additionally, revenge is a theme often found in the world's greatest works of literature, such as Hamlet, The Count of Monte Cristo, and The Cask of Amontillado. If you are studying literature or philosophy, you will most likely write about this topic in the future, which is why we have gathered dozens of essays on revenge with clearly written thesis statements and conclusions. You can use these works as examples for your essays.
Revenge is a dish best served cold. Rather than immediately exacting revenge upon a person who has done wrong, as sadistic as it may be, it is much more satisfying to meticulously formulate a plan that can inflict the harshest injury. In the world renowned...
The act of revenge never fails to gather an audience, due to the simple fact that revenge raises one of the great questions in regards to human life: how does one seek justice when the law ceases to function properly? William Shakespeare tapped into the...
It makes your blood boil. Your eyes see red. Your fists clench so hard that they turn pale. It keeps you up at night, thinking and formulating plots on how to extract it. It flows through your body and mind like an uncontrollable rage, seething...
In the wide spectrum of humanistic characteristics, that of desire is one of the most prominent. It is an emotion that is challenging to resist, as it tends to control many aspects of life because of the strength it possesses. In the realm of non-human...
In the Oresteia, Aeschylus presents his three books (“Agamemnon”, “The Libation Bearers”, and “The Furies”) so that the narrative progresses from madness and lack of justice in “Agamemnon”, where Clytemnestra receives no penalty for her homicide, to Athena’s establishment of a justice system so that...
Homer said in The Iliad that “revenge is sweeter far than flowing honey.” In Eliza Haywood’s The City Jilt, vengeance stems from ruthless passion and unbridled drive. Glicera, the protagonist of The City Jilt, epitomizes one who feeds off reprisal, one whose main priority in...
The genre of revenge tragedy has been both popular and unique in its ability to simultaneously arouse feelings that appear to be unrelated in its audience: vengeance and sympathy. What makes this genre vary from play to play, however, is the author’s ability to either...
In Shakespeare’s play, the protagonist, Hamlet, is faced with the mission of avenging his father. He decides to act mad as part of his plan to kill Claudius and avenge his father. As the plot of the play rises, his madness becomes more and more...
Revenge in Hamlet In modern times justice is virtually always served. Most crimes and wrong doings are reprimanded and punishments are given. Yes, there are the scarce few who go above and beyond the law to take matters into their own hands. But it is...
The poem “Punishment” by Seamus Heaney was written in 1975 as a part of the anthology North. It is a part of Heaney’s bog series, in which he describes the Irish bogland, and the different artifacts and remains that have been found within the Northern...
Even in popular media, the idea of equivalent exchange is commonly used to demonstrate the important value of morals and justice. The questioning of morality and justice has not been phased by the coming and going of eras, and authors of all time periods and...
Is revenge ever justified? Mankind believes in the necessity of revenge to make justice, by their own hands. The idea of revenge has been present in numerous novels, television shows, as well as movies and films. For instance in the movie Taken, the theme of...
Revenge and Retaliation Spite, revenge and curiosity can all be deadly sins. Unfortunately, The Crucible’s Ann Putnam gives up her soul to all three. In the Puritan community of Salem, Massachusetts, such contemptuous actions can create complications. Goody Putnam is described as “… a twisted...
Introduction It is a common expression in popular culture that there are things which forever change a man; things from which a man can never return the same person. The expression is meant to warn people against the complicated nature of revenge and vigilantism. Two...
Justice vs. Revenge in The Crucible In Arthur Miller’s The Crucible, the theme of justice vs. retribution and revenge is widely shown and used to increase the conflict in the play. This conflict proves to be allegorical by having not only a surface level, but...
Invoking a change in the world involves more than advancements in technology. It means appealing to not only the physical and logical aspects of a problem like environmental change but also the emotional and mental aspects of it. The mindset of the people is very...
Hamlet Essay Death and Destruction rain on an empire as chaos runs through the streets like a plagued rat. People scramble as the very thing they trusted collapsed. Throughout time empires have fallen and risen but what has remained constant is the growth of humanity....
Francis Bacon was born in 1561 in London. He was a great essayist, scientist, lawyer, statesman, philosopher and writer. He is named as ”father of English essays” because he was the first writer who wrote essays in English. Essays were greatly cared by Bacon during...
Revenge Focus Paper No one quite understands whether revenge is a noble pursuit or not. For if one is wronged, it makes reasonable sense to enact revenge. It provides a sense of fulfillment and closure that would be difficult to gain otherwise. However, the lengths...
Revenge, justice, and destiny are three major themes intertwined in the Iliad. The book opens with the rage of Achilles in response to his dishonor, then immediately switches to an incident that occurred previously where a priest of the son of Zeus (Apollo) suffered a...
Cycle of Revenge Gandhi said, “An eye for an eye makes the whole world blind.” What Gandhi meant was that taking revenge will make a destructive cycle. In Sherman Alexie’s Flight, it shows the vicious cycle in action. In the story there is a boy...
“In Hamlet, it is hard to decide whether Shakespeare’s interests lie primarily lie with the personal or political dimensions of his subject.” Explore this point of view with comparative reference to Middleton’s interests in The Revenger’s Tragedy From the outset, it is clear that Hamlet...
Revenge is the punishment of the pain, consequences of pain or violation of duty. There are few factors that lead to encouragement of revenging others like breaking trust in any kind of relationships, lack of individual satisfaction and angry behavior. Trust can be related with...
There is a blurred line between revenge and justice. Is revenge, justice? Is revenge, justified? The difference may be nothing but a shuffling of the same words to make oneself feel morally sound. If we can agree on the idea that revenge is a feeling...
What would it take for you to want to kill somebody, well in Frankenstein by Mary Shelley it didn’t take more than just the thought of being alone for the rest of their life that led Frankenstein’s monster to release his bloodlust and take everything...
“Sing sorrow, sorrow: but good win out in the end” (Oresteia, Agamemnon 121). Such is the chorus’ refrain in the opening lines of Aeschylus’ trilogy, the Oresteia. Written in the 5th century B.C.E., Aeschylus’ classic tragedy not only profoundly impacted the Athenians of his time,...
Introduction The theme of revenge keeps recurring in William Shakespeare’s play, Hamlet. Most of the revenge missions that different characters in the play undertake end up in tragedy. Although Hamlet, the main character, contemplates revenging his father’s murder, he considers the tragedy that will result...
Aeschylus’s play “Agamemnon” seeks to show his audience that revenge only leads to more violence. This is shown prominently through the character’s central beliefs and motives that are encouraged through the actions of others, which inevitably repeats itself over and over again. The play focuses...
Throughout both Shakespeare’s Hamlet and Middleton’s The Revenger’s Tragedy, the disparity between how things seem and how they really are is a constant underlying motif; the depth in which both plays examine the concept of appearance and reality justifies the claim that they are a...
Hamlet is a Virtuous Revenger Within the tightly plotted play, “Hamlet”, William Shakespeare devises a series of dark twists and turns for his protagonist to follow, satisfying the genre of Revenge- Tragedy, and in turn generating a harrowing story which still today captivates an audience...