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
The Greek interpretation of what makes a man “civilized” and what makes him “savage” is a recurring theme throughout the ancient epics, battle narratives, and dramas, including Aeschylus’ Agamemnon. In this first installment of The Oresteia, the chorus of Argive elders expresses keen outrage at the killing of Agamemnon, which suggests that they equate savagery with the madness they see in Clytemnestra: “just as your mind is maddened by the bloody deed, the blood-fleck in your eyes is clear to see” (1426-1427). In many places throughout the play, however, Clytemnestra proves that she does not fit the description of savage that is defined in Homer’s literature, for example and instead gives evidence that she is a very complex, rational woman. The chorus ignores the many admirable qualities of their queen —her skill at running the estate and her compassion for those who have suffered, among other things— simply because she is a woman. These qualities may not entirely excuse Clytemnestra from taking a life, but they combine to form a more noble picture of the queen than the chorus chooses to portray. Clytemnestra has relatable motives and displays empathy and respect for many different people, including the husband who she just killed, which sets her apart from the classical Greek definition of a savage —a designation forced on Clytemnestra by the chorus, but not necessarily to be believed.
Aeschylus begins by portraying Clytemnestra as Agamemnon’s faithful wife brought only to a murderous rampage by the news of her daughter’s murder, but indeed she was stricken with the curse of jealousy and had a yearning so strong to maintain power she killed the father of her
Clytemnestra, the Queen of Argos, is lacking the power to prevent her daughter being used as a sacrificial lamb to the gods. The misery she felt when her husband, Agamemnon, sacrificed their daughter was immense. So immense that it led her to murder, for she thought that Agamemnon “thought no more of it than killing a beast” in order to conquer a city and “sacrificed his own child, our daughter, the agony I laboured into love” (Aeschylus, 162, 1440-1443). The intense emotions of agony and hatred that Clytemnestra feels for her deceased daughter, in a way, gives her the motive to cause her to do the things she did. However, in Cassandra’s case, she accepts the situation that she is given. Cassandra knows she’s going to soon die, but doesn’t fight against it because she knows that her “time has come” and that there’s “little to gain from flight” (Aeschylus 156). Rather than acting out in anger or unwisely, Cassandra merely says a few words more, a mournful funeral rite for her. Aegisthus, the usurper of Agamemnon's throne, is fueled by his rage towards Agamemnon and his father, Atreus, to obtain revenge for his family. The fury he feels towards Atrus for driving his father, Thyestes, out of the house and luring him back only to give him a “feast of his children’s flesh” and make him eat it unknowingly, “serves it to Thyestes throned on high. He picks at the flesh he cannot recognize,
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.
Revenge is medicine to most people or it is an ongoing circle. When a person is betrayed or inflicted pain it is a natural reaction to think of a way to cause the same pain back. Revenge is part of everyday life and many find pleasure through it. Although it may be the natural reaction and could be someone’s gut feeling that is telling him or her to do it is almost never right and does not pay off in the end. Revenge is a ongoing circle due to the fact that when someone does something wrong to a person that person will want to do it right back and keep going back and forth until justice intervenes or someone realizes it is morally wrong. Just like the saying “an eye for an eye will make the whole world blind” is the
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.
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.
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.
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.
Vengeance is a dangerous temptation to fall under. People often are very easily lured into taking vengeance upon another individual. The cause of this is that some people often think to take justice into there own hands when it is not there duty. This is how people can become trapped and obsessed with taking vengeance upon someone else and how it can change a persons motives to evil ones, motives that are far from justice. To counter the poison of vengeance, people must act in forgiveness rather than hate and anger towards another. When showing forgiveness for others, you will also be shown forgiveness.
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…
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
People can be motivated to take revenge on others for various reasons. While these reasons may be considered as very serious or rather trivial, they are all motives for revenge. Revenge occurs when a person has been offended or angered by an individual and in result they have the desire to pay them back. People’s opinions on revenge differ from each other, some may believe it is justified and some don’t. Mahatma Ghandi believed that revenge is not the answer and he stated that “An eye for an eye makes the whole world blind”. This quote portrays the opinion that if everyone gets even then there will be no one else; if we all take an eye for an eye everyone would be blind. Revenge can be learnt through real life experiences as well as fiction and can be shown as justice or unacceptable. It becomes difficult to determine when revenge can be justified but is revenge always worth it?
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.