Revenge is a subject dealt with mostly in drama and other fiction rather than in life, because few would throw their lives away in pursuit of it. Thus the best way to explore revenge is sometimes to examine the stories at hand. Revenge tragedies, as dramas, are largely character-driven, and the character's motivations are quite simple: revenge – in the name of love. Bel-imperia sought revenge for her lover Andrea, and her motivation was expressed with the inevitability of tragedy and the inextricable association of revenge and love lost. The most notorious example of revenge as an act caused by love is direct and from the most famous revenge-themed play, when Hamlet is visited by his father's ghost, who is right to the point: "If thou didst every thy dear father love… Revenge his foul and most unnatural murder (1.5.5, (Shakespeare & Wofford, 1994). And yet women are the symbols of love, while the men are the avengers. In The Spanish Tragedy, Bel-imperia has the first revenge motive after the villain kills her lover Andrea: "And thanks to thee and those infernal powers / That will not tolerate a lover's woe" (III.xv Kyd, 1970). Interestingly, Bel-imperia is not the focus of the play – in fact, it was originally titled, Hieronomo's Mad Again. So when she vows for revenge right in the beginning, why does she lose focus as the center of the plot? Why does she have to die – although it seems almost unnecessary at that point? The simple answer to these questions is that these twists happen because she is a female character. Women represent feminine values like love, and subsequently they become accessories to the plot, and to their male counterparts. Because they represent love, and love is fatal in revenge tragedies, the women charact...
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...'t “feel a thing.” (Whedon 2008, Act III). In each of these plays, it is not so great to be a woman/object. As Vittoria says, “O that I were a man, or that I had power / To execute my apprehended wishes” - perhaps she might have survived the last act ((Webster 1612, II.i).
Works Cited
Kyd, T. (1592). The spanish tragedy. W.W. Norton and Company Inc. Retrieved from http://class.georgiasouthern.edu/litphi/faculty/griffin/kyd-thespanishtragedy.pdf
Shakespeare, W., & Wofford, S. L. (1616). Hamlet, complete, authoritative text with biographical and historical contexts, critical history, and essays from five contemporary critical perspectives. Boston: Bedford/St. Martin's.
Webster, J. (1612). Retrieved from http://www.classic-literature.co.uk/british-authors/16th-century/john-webster/the-white-devil/
Whedon, J. (Writer) (2008). Dr. horrible's sing-along blog[DVD].
Shakespeare, William. Hamlet (The New Folger Library Shakespeare). Simon & Schuster; New Folger Edition, 2003.
Shakespeare, William. The Tragedy of Hamlet. ca. 1600-1601. Ed. Edward Hubler. A Signet Classic. New York: Penguin Publishers,1963.
William Shakespeare: Hamlet. Ed. Susanne L. Wofford. Case Studies in Contemporary Criticism. Boston: St. Martin's, 256-282.
Shakespeare, William. The Tragedy of Hamlet. ca. 1600-1601. Ed. Edward Hubler. A Signet Classic. New York: Penguin Publishers,1963.
Shakespeare, William. Hamlet. The Norton Anthology of World Literature. 2nd ed. Vol. C. Ed. Sarah Lawall. New York: Norton, 2005. Print.
To begin, the journey of revenge is an uncontrollable and consuming one. The urge for vengeance creates a doorway for obsession to arise. Furthermore, throughout his journey Montresor is unable to reconcile the with the concept forgiveness, “[Montresor] would be avenged…this point was definitely settled” (Poe, Cask 108). Also, Montresor shows no leniency and, presses on with his vengeance. Similarly, the old widow in Vendetta is consumed with hatred when her son is murdered. She meticulously plans and “for three months she accustomed her [dog] to the method of her attack” to perform on the killer (Maupassant 169). Additionally, Montresor and the old widow spend an endless amount of time and energy on their vengeance. Moreover, unable to repress the thoughts of revenge, they both fall victim to obsession. Both characters overlook forgiveness and ventured on towards vengeance. As a result, they both surrender thei...
Mack, Maynard. "The World of Hamlet." Yale Review. vol. 41 (1952) p. 502-23. Rpt. in Shakespeare: Modern Essays in Criticism. Rev. ed. Ed. Leonard F. Dean. New York: Oxford University P., 1967.
Shakespeare, William. “Hamlet.” The Norton Introduction to Literature. Ed. Kelly J. Mays. 11th ed. New York: Norton, 2013.1709-1804. Print.
Boklund, Gunnar. "Hamlet." Essays on Shakespeare. Ed. Gerald Chapman. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1965.
Shakespeare, William, Marilyn Eisenstat, and Ken Roy. Hamlet. 2nd ed. Toronto: Harcourt Canada, 2003. Print.
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. In the play, Hamlet seeks revenge on his uncle Claudius.
Revenge almost always has the makings of an intriguing and tragic story. William Shakespeare’s Hamlet is a perfect example of how revenge unfolds and what it unveils. The play tells the story of Hamlet, the prince of Denmark. Claudius, Hamlet’s uncle, marries his mother soon after his father’s death. Hamlet greatly disapproves of the hasty marriage and suspects foul play. His suspicions are confirmed when the ghost of his father appears and tells him that Claudius murdered him. Hamlet’s father asks him to take revenge upon Claudius, and soon everything takes a drastic change. The courses of revenge throughout Hamlet surround each character with corruption, obsession, and fatality.
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.
Corum, Richard. Understanding Hamlet: A Student Casebook to Issues, Sources, and Historical Documents. Westport, CT: Greenwood, 1998. Print.
...World of Hamlet.” Yale Review. vol. 41 (1952) p. 502-23. Rpt. in Shakespeare: Modern Essays in Criticism. Rev. ed. Ed. Leonard F. Dean. New York: Oxford University P., 1967.