Vengeance "An eye for an eye" seems to be a phrase that people will always live by. Any person that has wrong done to them seeks revenge and justice. If they don't take action than they at least have some thought of vengeance. Women, historically more than men, seem to abide by this saying. Greek tragedy is a perfect example of how women seek vengeance. Clytemnestra, Medea, and Antigone all seek revenge and justice to keep their pride and to prove themselves towards their foes and enemies. When a child's life is taken away the mother is willing to do anything to bring justice to its place. In Aeschylus' Agamemnon, Agamemnon sacrifices his own daughter (Iphigenia) to win a war. This brings great agony to his wife, Clytemnestra, and knowing that she is not happy with his decision, he also brings a new mistress (Cassandra) into the household. Before he husbands return home, Clytemnestra starts to contemplate about the situation she is in. Finally she decides whether it be her husband or not, she is willing to give up everything to bring her daughter's death to justice and to show her husband and his mistress that she will always remain the head of the household. Clytemnestra's vengeance starts at Agamemnon's homecoming. She greets him with generous open arms and listens to his request for kind treatment of Cassandra. Welcoming both of them into the house, she has already plotted both of their deaths. She murders Cassandra only because she will not be humiliated by her husband's unwise choice to bring back a concubine, after sacrificing their innocent daughter. She states "his death the work of my right hand, whose craftsmanship justice acknowledges," showing no shame or remorse for killing her husband to ju... ... middle of paper ... ...ee of these women, in these three plays, display bravery more than any man can display. Yet, because of their vixen like ways of scheming, they are not fully justified for their acts. At the time, when they are justifying wrongdoings that were done on them it seems fair. However, when they start to get their pride and hubris in the way, their motives start to change, and their act of vengeance no longer seems right. Of course it is like second nature for all humans to seek revenge on people that -4- have done them wrong. People not only do this to make it "eye for an eye" but also so that they are not humiliated by the people around them. Pride seems to be the hidden motive of any cause of revenge, especially among women. However, no matter how much one tries to justify the acts done by oneself, if done by the means of vengeance it is never justifiable.
takes the form of “an eye for an eye”, meaning that the offender should be punished by an act of
Both families attempt to consume themselves. A desire for revenge, to enforce a personal code of justice, carries the family curse from generation to generation. The house of Agamemnon is virtually born out of cannibalism. Tantalus, the founder of the house, is tormented eternally in Hades for feeding the gods the flesh of his sons Pelops. Much later, Agamemnon himself is held accountable for his father's cannibalism by Aegisthus. Aegisthus' desire for revenge is overshadowed only by Clytemnestra's thirst for her husband's blood. She speaks of his corpse as a sacrificial animal and likens his blood to wine. Compelled by Apollo, Orestes also carries the curse. He was fed by his mother's milk as a child but now he will only be satisfied with his mother's flesh. Only Orestes and Electra survive.
When we first get into Agamemnon, we get a glimpse of what was happening while Agamemnon was gone to the Trojan War. Clytemnestra has been ruling in his place, and more importantly planning his death. She wanted him to die for sacrificing their daughter Iphigenia, which under her views was unforgivable and punishable. This is our first view of how justice is used as the title of vengeance and revenge, and how a character’s rectitude is used as a justification for their actions. Aeschylus shows us in his first play that not only was Clytemnestra’s view of justice for Iphigenia was for her to kill her daughter’s killer, but that she also believed that the gods would agree with her. This is seen in the play during when...
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.
Women that go against traditional roles of femininity are punished through perfect executions of “an eye for an eye” justice. This is evidenced through the consequences of Lady Macbeth’s, minor female characters’, and Lady Macduff’s actions. What initially seems to be a depiction of Shakespeare’s approval of unconventional gender roles is actually a reinforcement of traditional notions. This is a clear indication that Shakespearian women were beginning to crack stereotypes in favor of feminism- else Shakespeare’s assertions would be unnecessary. Modern attitudes towards gender equality stand as indications of this silent war- still raging within society. All in all, there is hope for women to stand abreast with the very men that have dominated thus far.
Revenge is defined as harming someone for the wrong doings that they commit. Revenge is the key ingredient to hundreds of the most loved and action packed movies, books, and shows of today. Because of the fact that there is so much vengeance played out in entertainment media, society encourages revenge as necessary to those seeking retribution. Works of art such as Kill Bill and “Killings” are prime examples of stories that are about revenge.
In Aeschylus’s, Agamemnon, there is a great possibility that the death of Agamemnon could have been prevented, had the Chorus simply listened to Cassandra’s prophecy. But the words spoken between the two parties seem to have loss it’s meaning when it fell upon the Chorus; yet, they were obviously hearing what she was saying. But while they were hearing what she had to say, they did not listen to her words. Ironically, in this story, it is the women who posses all the knowledge. But once they try to share it, the men, who later suffer the consequence, ignore them. People only listen to what they want to hear, and a woman’s word is not considered important enough to listen to.
“We all know the civilized way to wreak revenge: You don’t. You rise above it. Francis Bacon saw this nearly 400 years ago,” said Susie Boyt (Boyt 2014). This isn’t always the case though and there are individuals in the world such as myself that believe differently. There are three types of revenge crimes that happen. There are silly childish forms of revenge such as tattling on a friend to a teacher. Another is a passion crime, a murder when the emotional stress becomes too much and a person snaps. Lastly, a justifiable crime, such as when the actions of a person are reasonable and a person is free of charges within the justice system. I believe that there are circumstances that happen in the world when it is justifiable to murder a person based on their actions.
Revenge is considered part of human nature because it is a survival instinct. Humans are inclined to commit acts of savagery because people are delicate beings. The Oxford English Dictionary defines revenge as, “the action of hurting or harming someone in return for an injury or wrong suffered.” Two good examples involve Montresor from the Cask of Amontillado and the unknown narrator from the Tell- Tale Heart. Montresor murders a fellow wine connoisseur because he insulted Montresor in a manner that could not be exonerated. The narrator of the Tell-Tale Heart enacts revenge by murdering an old man for provoking the narrator’s worst fears in the form of a “ vulture eye”. In both of these works by Edgar Allen Poe, the need for revenge consumed their internal fears and insecurities to perform those cruel acts. In the end though, both of the people discussed showed signs of remorse that in a way formed the character.
Justice is part of revenge; as also for revenge is part of justice. “Justice” comes from a Latin word that means “straight, fair, equal”, it’s the quality of being righteous and loyal towards one’s state, although serves the interests of the stronger (Hourani, 1962), while revenge is the act of taking retaliation for injuries or wrongs. What ever the circumstances are being the individual who experiences a unjust act, results in the hunt for one of these two things: Justice or revenge. What are the key differences between the two? Justice can be defined as the concept of moral rightness, which is based on the rules of law, fairness, ethics, and equality among the governed citizens. 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?
This action causes a great deal of rage in Clytemnestra. One could very well understand why she would act this way. Clytemnestra see’s the killing of her daughter as just being killed for her husband’s gain. She also feels that he could have chosen a different virgin to sacrifice. One the other hand, if one looks at Agamemnon’s problem they could be otherwise. Agamemnon was the general of his army and the leader that his men looked up to. So when the profit came to him saying I will give you wind for a virgin sacrifice he took it as sacrificing someone close to him. He thought along the lines that he was asked for a reason to be the one doing the actual sacrifice. So Agamemnon chooses his daughter the virgin and sacrificed her with good judgment for what was best for the army. The issue is that Clytemnestra does not see it this way and that is what causes the future events that make us to question her innocence.
In Aeschylus’ Agamemnon there are many different opinions about what kind of king and commander Agamemnon was. Some argued that he was good, while others dispute that his motives were wrong. Clytemnestra, Agamemnon’s wife, gained a strong hatred for him, after he sacrificed his own daughter so he could go to war. Many believe that this was not necessary and could have been overcome. The chorus seems to agree with this to an extent, and feels that Agamemnon could have prayed and requested that he not sacrifice his daughter.
Seeking revenge is never the answer to any problem. In Romans 12:19 it states, “Do not take revenge, my friends, but leave room for God’s wrath, for it is written, “It is mine to avenge, I will repay,” says the Lord.” In Shakespeare play Hamlet, there are plenty of examples of the domino effect of revenge seeking. The first example is the rage and revenge expressed by Hamlet, which drives him mad. The second is Laertes seeking revenge on Hamlet. Lastly, all characters who played the game of revenge all payed the price in the end. Let us begin the game of revenge dominos…
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.
Agamemnon kills his daughter, Iphigenia, for power and respect. This power is more important to him than his daughter, thus he sacrifices Iphigenia instead of stepping back and letting someone else lead the armies to battle. The Chorus emphasizes this when they recall his words before he sacrifices Iphigenia “However he did not shrink from slaying a victim daughter in aid of war raged” (Aeschylus 20). He is more worried about losing respect than his own daughter. His lust after power and respect made him insensitive to fair judgement. He tries to justify himself by saying there is no other way but to sacrifice her. He does anything to fulfill the public’s desires to gain him their praise, up to and