Revenge
Edgar Allen Poe's "The Cask of Amontillado," Andre Dubus's "Killings," and Louise Eldrich's "Fleur" are all short stories about revenge. Although they treat the theme of revenge differently, the authors show that the exacting of revenge can indeed be a satisfying finale to a life consumed by tragedy. In each of these three short stories, revenge is depicted as an act that fulfills the protagonists' deepest need. Therefore, guilt does not enter into the minds of protagonists like Montresor, Matt Fowler, the narrator of "Fleur," or Fleur herself. Revenge is dealt with differently in each of these three short stories, but in all three, the main characters do not feel remorse. Their vengeful acts are somehow justifiable, both to themselves and also to the reader. In "The Cask of Amontillado," "Fleur," and "Killings," the three main characters do not feel any guilt because they have suitable reasons for revenge.

In Poe's…...

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Works Cited

Dubus, Andre. "Killings." Retrieved online:  http://www.randomhouse.com/boldtype/0102/dubus/excerpt.html 

Erdrich, Louise. "Fleur."

Poe, Edgar Allen. "The Cask of Amontillado." Retrieved online: http://www.literature.org/authors/poe-edgar-allan/amontillado.html

The inclusion of an immortal spirit as a key catalytic character in the play underscores Shakespeare's intention. Hamlet states, "For this same lord, / I do repent…I must be their scourge and minister," (Act III, Scene 4). Here, Hamlet clearly sees himself placed in the unfortunate roll of champion of spiritual justice.
Antigone is perhaps even more directly concerned with spiritual matters than with mundane law. The realm of human society is comparatively petty compared to a higher law and order, notes Antigone. For example, Antigone states outright to Creon, "I did not believe that your edicts were so powerful that you, a mortal, could override the gods' unwritten and unshakable customs," (lines 451-445). Therefore, both Hamlet and Antigone perceive the immortal, undying laws of universal ethical truth as being far superior and more important than the often-unjust laws supported by human governments.

Both plays also show that revenge is a…...

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Works Cited

Bowers, Fredson. "Hamlet as Minister and Scourge." PMLA. Vol 70, No. 4. Sept. 1955.

Fernie, Ewan. Spiritual Shakespeares. Taylor & Francis, 2005.

Hamilton, John D.B. "Antigone, Justice, and the Polis." Chapter 5 in Myth and the Polis. Pozzi, Dora Carlisky and Wickersham, John Moore. Cornell University Press, 1991.

Prosser, Eleanor. Hamlet and Revenge. Stanford University Press, 1971.

Revenge is contagious. Titus begins the wave of revenge when he sacrifices Tamora's son. Her reaction demonstrates her humanity in a sense. She is outraged, vows revenge and schemes with Aaron to frame Titus' sons for murder. Revenge is more than simply "getting even" in some cases. For Tamora, revenge involves getting even but doing so in the most painful of ways. Her request for her boys to do away with Bessainus is completely self serving. Aaron's suggestion for Demetrius and Chiron to rape Lavinia is only part of a problem; their cutting out her tongue and chopping off her hands adds a depth of sickness that is almost too cruel. Interestingly, she succeeds with her plan and Titus' sons are murdered yet she does not feel satisfaction. She then places her eyes upon Lavinia. Aaron, too, is preoccupied with revenge. Even as Tamora speaks of being "wreathed in" (II.iii.29)…...

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Work Cited

Shakespeare, William. Titus Andronicus. The Works of William Shakespeare. New York:

Oxford University Press. 1904.

. that the manslayer who killed any person by accident may flee into.' Willful murderers were not entitled to such refuge from the 'blood avenger,' but accidental killers were entitled to protection until passions cooled. The Bible recognized that the passion for revenge may be just as great against the accidental killer as against the premeditated murderer (124)."
Dershowitz is succinct and exact in his analysis, and even the most frequently quoted verse of the Bible, at least as regards revenge, "An eye for an eye," is often taken out of context. For instance, Nasr (2004) refers to the saying in his book, The Heart of Islam: Enduring alues for Humanity, says: "The Quran does mention the Biblical 'eye for an eye,' but recommends forgoing revenge and practicing charity (cited above)." It would seem here that Nasr is saying that the Bible recommends an eye for eye kind of treatment…...

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Version, Islamic Productions. Print.

Nasr, Seyyed Hossein, 2004. The Heart of Islam: Enduring Values for Humanity, Harper

Collins Publishers, New York, New York. Print.

(Terry 1070)
The play Hamlet therefore reflects this complex change in the honor code and the way that personal elements were being integrated into the traditional view of honor. The characters of Hamlet and Laertes also show this complexity in their motives and actions. Terry points out that there was no clear distinction between the different honor codes at the time but that there was rather an overlapping of elements of the old and more modern views of honor. "Renaissance men had to cope with both an old, medieval code of honor and the tensions of new one, tensions that were created, to a large degree, by the contemporary insistence on the importance of the individual conscience."(ibid)

In terms of the play, Hamlet is duty bound to the traditional honor code that is imposed on him by the ghost of his father. In these terms he has no choice but to…...

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Bibliography

Bradley, A.C. Shakespearean Tragedy Lectures on Hamlet, Othello, King Lear, Macbeth. 2nd ed. London: Macmillan, 1905.

Council, Norman. When Honour's at the Stake. London, 1973.

Corum, Richard. Understanding Hamlet A Student Casebook to Issues, Sources, and Historical Documents. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 1998.

Herz, Sarah K., and Donald R. Gallo. From Hinton to Hamlet: Building Bridges between Young Adult Literature and the Classics. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 1996.

Character Comparison
Comparison: evenge and its Motivators in Frankenstein and Wuthering Heights

Mary Shelley's Frankenstein and Emily Bronte's Wuthering Heights are two of the most significant literary works in history, both maintaining the ability to remain successful and relevant far beyond the years immediately following their respective publications. While each novel is exceedingly different from one another, with one focusing on the perils brought about by a man-made monster who seeks to torment his creator and the other focusing largely on a pair of lovers caught in a tumultuous relationship that never allows them to truly be together, the theme of revenge and its ability to transform an individual completely is one that runs through each respective novel in a significant way. Doctor Frankenstein's Monster and Heathcliff in Wuthering Heights are two characters who are both tormented and driven by the thought of revenge, and by the end of each respective novel,…...

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References

Bronte, E. 2003. Wuthering Heights, Bantam Classic. New York, NY: Bantam

Dell/Random House Inc. Print.

Shelley, M. 2000. Frankenstein, Signet Classic. New York, NY: New American Library.

Print.

revenged activates the actual action of revenge, as demonstrated in "Hamlet" and "The Revenger's Tragedy," however, we may be in doubt when cataloguing their actions as logical and premeditated (Vindice) or full of incertitude and hesitance.
Indeed, in my opinion, it is an important note to be made, as the originality of each main character is not determined as much by their underlying motivation, common in both cases, but by the road that takes them to their revenge action. In this sense, it seems useful to emphasize that, despite the obvious similarities between the two plays and the two main characters, driven by the fact that they both belong to the revenge genre, there are differences worth noting in each approach towards revenge for each play in part.

oth plays share the same underlying motivation for Hamlet and Vindici: someone close has been treacherously murdered. In Vindici's case, it was his…...

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Bibliography

1. Johnston, Ian. Introductory Lecture on Shakespeare's Hamlet. English 366: Studies in Shakespeare. On the Internet at http://www.mala.bc.ca/~johnstoi/eng366/lectures/hamlet.htm

Johnston, Ian. Introductory Lecture on Shakespeare's Hamlet. English 366: Studies in Shakespeare. On the Internet at http://www.mala.bc.ca/~johnstoi/eng366/lectures/hamlet.htm

Now he's headed off to college leaving behind said beautiful girl, Mikaela (Megan Fox), who spends her days working on cars and bikes by artfully draping herself across them in Daisy Dukes that make Jessica Simpson seem modest" (Sharkey 2009). Despite the fact that Mikaela is a mechanic (no need for Sam to spend any time showing interest in any stereotypically female pursuits like romantic candlelight dinners or chick flicks) she dresses in micro-shorts and sashays rather than reaches for a screwdriver.
The main character has another friend, a car/robot takes the form of a typical 'muscle car' Camero, who resists Sam's decision to go off to college, in which is supposed to be a mildly humorous sequence. Of course the car needn't worry -- the need to save the world quickly forces Sam to put away his books. Even Sam's college aspirations are mocked in this film. But in…...

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Works Cited

Sharkey, Betsy. Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen. Film review: LA Times. June 24, 2009.

October 22, 2009.  http://www.calendarlive.com/movies/reviews/cl-et-transformers24-2009jun24,0,2265260.story 

Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen. Directed by Michael Bay. 2009.

Travers, Peter. Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen. Film review: Rolling Stone. October 22,

To act in a murderous, vengeful way that is contrary to his true nature, and to assume madness creates madness. At first, Hamlet suggests that vengefulness in a corrupt court is a kind of sanity, when he vows to put on an antic disposition, but he acts in a way that is more and more contrary to his moral nature as the play goes on, rebuking his mother against the ghost's first injunction not to harm her and to leave her to her conscious, killing Polonius on an impulse after sparing Claudius at prayer, speaking harshly to Ophelia beyond what she deserved when he suspects he is being observed, and also claiming to her brother he loved Ophelia more than a brother.
A loss of identity, vengeance and madness are linked in the stories of the other characters in "Hamlet" to a lesser degree. Even Claudius suggests that it was…...

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Works Cited

Best, Michael. "Amleth/Hamlet." Shakespeare's Life and Times. Internet Shakespeare

Editions, University of Victoria: Victoria, BC, 2001-2005. 21 Apr 2008.  http://internetshakespeare.uvic.ca/Library/SLT/history/amleth.html 

Pennington, Michael. Hamlet: A User's Guide. New York: Limelight Editions, 1996.

Shakespeare, William. "Hamlet." Shakespeare Homepage. 7 Apr 2008.  http://shakespeare.mit.edu/hamlet/hamlet.1.5.html

In the second transition the Hamlet could have murdered Claudius while he was pleading guilty in front of God. Had Hamlet resorted to revenge at this stage then Claudius would have reached heaven since he had admitted while the father of Hamlet was in purgatory since he did not find the scope to admit. This led Hamlet to arrive at the conclusion of not killing Claudius at this moment of the play. The third postponement was the result of being bye-passed. He inadvertently murdered Polonius that generated the whole new difficulties with the fact that Laerted then desired to have Hamlet dead. Soon after committing this murder he was imprisoned and could not approach the king for another few weeks ultimately he could finally perform the job. The factors that made the Hamlet to be distinguished from many other revenge plays of the period is not that it bluntly…...

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References

Day, Beth. How can we determine if Shakespeare is Our Contemporary? 14 February, 2001. Retrieved at Accessed on 22 March, 2005http://rmmarm.freeshell.org/Beth/Sem/Spring2001/Hamlet.html.

Elizabethan Revenge in Hamlet. Retrieved at   Accessed on 22 March, 2005http://www.field-of-themes.com/shakespeare/essays/Ehamlet2.htm .

Hamlet, (1600 (?)) the Literary Encyclopedia. 30 June 2002. Retrieved at   on 22 March, 2005http://www.litencyc.com/php/sworks.php?rec=true&UID=4833Accessed 

Hamlet: The Play by Shakespeare. Retrieved at   Accessed on 22 March, 2005http://www.william-shakespeare.info/shakespeare-play-hamlet.htm .

illiam Shakespeare and Thomas Middleton explore the depth and range of the human psyche in their plays, Hamlet and the Revenger's Tragedy. Through the characters of Hamlet and Vindici, we discover different motivations to their feelings of vengeance, illustrating the complexity of human nature as it relates to revenge. However, while both plays operate under the same theme of vengeance, they are quite different in terms of how each protagonist is portrayed and how each play is received. Hamlet, because he relates his father's death to the state of the world, represents a larger social commentary on mankind while Vindici and his antics represent a play that shocks rather than provokes thought.
Hamlet and Vindici respond to injustices that they have witnessed, which is the murder of a loved one. Hamlet, while motivated by revenge, is also motivated by his melancholy. This, at times, creates a great conflict within him as…...

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Works Cited

Middleton, Thomas. The Revenger's Tragedy. Site Accessed October 23, 2004.

Shakespeare, William. Hamlet. Mowat, Barbara and Werstine, Paul, eds. New York:

Washington Square Press. 1992.

4. Murder and Execution:

DD -- The Young Man pleads to the blood thirsty crowd: "If you hang me to this lantern, will that make you see any clearer?" The demands of the crowd for more blood are thus momentarily stifled by the good sense of their next victim: he points out the erroneous rationale that leads them to murder and execution: it is no way to reach an ideal.

AG -- Cassandra the seer has a vision of the murder about to take place: "Home cursed of God! Bear witness unto me, Ye visioned woes within -- The blood-stained hands of them that smite their kin…!" Clytemnestra has determined to murder Agamemnon -- it is her revenge; and Cassandra sees it as a curse about to be carried out.

EL -- "O my father Agamemnon! In Hades art thou laid, butchered by thy wife and Aegisthus…" Thus wails Electra, fueling the hatred…...

Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark: Why Does Death Prevail
William Shakespeare's The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark begins and ends with death. The play begins with the ghost of Hamlet's dead father, haunting the battlements and urging his son to avenge his foul murder; the play ends with the death of Hamlet himself. The play also famously is driven by a quest for death, namely the desire of Hamlet to avenge his father's murder. But much as Hamlet burns in hatred for his uncle, the play also shows acute consciousness of the fact that violence merely begets more violence. Even though Hamlet's revenge may be justified, particularly after Claudius seeks to take Hamlet's life through secretly poisoning Laertes' sword, the act of murdering anyone, justly or unjustly, will never have a good end. Although the play suggests that revenge may be morally necessary (even Hamlet doubts this at times),…...

If one views Dantes as a man who embodies a kind of Divine Retribution and acts according to the principles of justice, the novel appears in an entirely different light. One is willing to accept Dantes' actions, even if they do appear to be extreme (and murderous) at times. However, one is placated by Dantes' ability to show mercy to Danglars.
On the other hand, if one chooses to read the novel as Marinetti describes it -- as an attempt to illustrate modern man's reach for omniscience and power -- one may see it as a Romantic dream. In this sense, Dantes becomes a man fashioned after the principles of Rousseau, the French philosopher who wrote of accepting oneself on Nature's own terms. Rousseau did not accept the principal of original sin and thus did not accept the idea that man was fallen in nature. Viewed from this standpoint, Dantes…...

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Works Cited

Copes, Heith. "Social Control, Deviance, and Law." Contemporary Sociology, vol. 36,

no. 4, 362-3. Print.

Dumas, Alexandre. The Count of Monte Cristo. Boston: Little, Brown and Company,

1904. Print.

Hamlet and Revenge
Hamlet -- Prince of Denmark -- is considered to be one of Shakespeare's greatest plays. (Meyer, 2002). It is also one of his most complex plays. It is about the evolution of a character within the context of a revenge drama -- that of Hamlet in Hamlet. In keeping with the revenge-theme of this drama, this thesis of this essay will aver that Shakespeare exalts Hamlet as a hero -- justifiably, though within reason. Indeed, Hamlet is a hero. He rights a horrible wrong. The reader of the play hopes against hope that his quest for vengeance is successful. This vengeance takes the form of an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth. The reader of the play is taken to emotional upheavals when the failure of Hamlet's quest almost becomes a certitude but for a quirk of fate -- the exchange of swords.

One might…...

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Bibliography

Kyd, Thomas, & Bevington, David M. (1996). The Spanish tragedy. Manchester; New York

New York: Manchester University Press;

Distributed exclusively in the U.S.A. And Canada by St. Martin's Press.

McConnel, Heron. (2001). Hamlet and Revenge. London School of Journalism. Retrieved June 19, 2004, from the World Wide Web:  http://www.english-literature.org/essays/hamlet_revenge.html

An escape story refers to a story where a person is getting away from some type of negative situation.  The escape story can be a literal escape from something or an imagined escape.  Kate Chopin’s Story of an Hour is a famous escape story, because the protagonist imagines all of the freedoms that she has now that her husband has been declared dead, only to discover he is not really dead.  The Secret Life of Walter Mitty is another popular escape story, even though his escapism is in his head.  However, escape stories....

Thesis: Through the examination of the Israeli-Palestine conflict, it becomes apparent that the oppressed have tragically evolved into the oppressor, as evident by the disproportionate use of force, restriction of basic rights, and the perpetuation of a cycle of violence against the Palestinian people. To shape this thesis statement into a clear argument, you can elaborate on each point to provide more depth and specificity to your argument. For example, you can further discuss specific instances of disproportionate use of force by the Israeli government, such as the military actions in Gaza that resulted in civilian casualties. Additionally, you can provide....

Thesis: Despite the natural inclination for retaliation, revenge is not morally or ethically justified as it perpetuates a cycle of violence, inhibits personal growth and forgiveness, and hinders the potential for societal progress. To ensure that your thesis statement is focused enough, you may want to consider narrowing down your points to focus on the specific effects of revenge on individuals and society. You could delve deeper into each aspect mentioned in your thesis - how revenge perpetuates a cycle of violence, inhibits personal growth and forgiveness, and hinders societal progress. By providing more detailed explanations and examples for each point,....

Original Thesis Statement:

Unsure if my revenge is not justified

Feedback:

The original thesis statement is too vague and unfocused. It does not provide a clear direction for the essay and leaves the reader unsure of what the author's main argument will be.

Improved Thesis Statement:

The Justification for Revenge: A Complex and Controversial Issue

This improved thesis statement is more specific and focused. It clearly states that the essay will explore the issue of whether or not revenge is ever justified.

Body Paragraphs:

The body paragraphs of the essay should explore the different arguments for and against revenge. The author should consider the following questions:

What are....