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Revenge and how it changes a person
According to psychologists, revenge is a way of finding justice where the rule law
is weak. Revenge is fuelled by emotions. These emotions differ from person to person and also
differ from culture to culture (Durham and Mary 75-77). Researchers in the psychology field
have established that revenge increases mental sufferings instead of satisfying the intended
mission, which is usually to quench hostility. Revenge also does not deliver justice as the
avengers expect (Morris and Mary 99-102). Revenge creates a cycle of retaliations where
everyone wants to revenge. The cycle of retaliations is evident in the Shakespeare’s play
“Hamlet”. As sweet as the desire to revenge may seem, the mind to revenge impedes a person
from moving on and when he or she revenges upon an offender, the results are not always
pleasant.
According to one study conducted by a Kelvin Carlsmith, PhD, people revenge to
release emotions. Carlsmith and his two colleagues, Daniel Gilbertt, PhD and Timothy Wilson,
PhD had set up a group investment game. This game also consisted of college students.
Everyone in this game was expected to co-operate for him or her to enjoy equal benefit. The
result of the study shows students being given a chance to revenge to the group defectors.
According to the study, the students who revenged reported that they felt worse that those who
did not revenge. Students who did not revenge said that they could have felt better if they
revenged. Both groups thought that revenge would satisfy them, but as we can see revenge
makes the avenger less happy (Böhm, Tomas, and Suzanne Kaplan 161).
In the book “The Merchant of Venice”, Shylock says to Salarino, “If you
prick us, do we not bleed? If you tickle us, do we not laugh? If you poison us, do we not die?
And if you wrong us, shall we not revenge?” (Shakespeare et al. 3) Shylock viewed revenge as a
normal thing to retaliate to people who wronged others. In this instance, he was talking about
Christians who he felt mistreated the Jews. As a Jew and a money lender, Shylock felt his chance
to revenge had come by cutting a pound of flesh from Antonio who was a Christian and had
failed to pay up his debt on time (Young and Edward 210). Shylock was so obsessed with
revenging on Antonio that his personality had changed. All he wanted was a pound of flesh from
him. He said that he was to use it to bait fish. Such a statement indicates that he had lost humane
and emotions were only driving him to revenging. Shylock’s had his mind fixed to revenging. He
could not move on. He said that Antonio had mocked him because he was a Jew who used to
lend money with interest. However, Shylock did not get the pound of flesh from Antonio upon
Portia’s brilliant intervention.
Revenge can lead to strategy as the Shakespeare’s play “Hamlet” portrays. In this
book, a person named Hamlet, who was the prince of Denmark, wanted to revenge on the king
who was currently in the country. “The serpent that did sting they father’s life now wears his
crown”, Hamlet says. This king was Hamlet’s uncle and had killed his father. Hamlet had his
mind stuck on the desire to revenge for this event. He could not move on. At one instance while
watching the players he says, “Why, what an ass am I! This is most brave, That I, the son of a
dear father murder'd, Prompted to my revenge by heaven and hell, Must like a whore unpack my
heart with words And fall a-cursing like a very drab, A scullion! Fie upon't! Foh!”(Shakespeare
al 2.2.569-474). Hamlet had been thinking about revenge in the duration of the play but he was
not prepared for it at that moment. The revenging desire that had occupied his minds for so long
led him to accidentally kill Polonius in an attempt to kill his uncle. Polonius was the father of
Laertes, one of Hamlet’s best friends. This killing led to Laertes want to revenge by killing
Hamlet (Bell 311-312). In this instance, one can see how revenge changes a person. Hamlet and
Laertes were friends but revenge has made Laertes want to kill Hamlet. They are now enemies
who are not ready to move on.
Another instance of revenge is seen in “Memento Mori” by Jonathan Nolan. The
narrator in this story introduces a man called Earl who was suffering from memory lapse. He
refers to this man a ten minute man, which means his memory was very short. Though we learn
later that the narrator was Earl himself, he is portrayed as a man who has a huge desire to
revenge. As we learn from the story, Earl was closed up in a hospital room where his condition
was being taken care of by psychological doctors. In that room, a picture of himself holding
flowers was placed in the wall. The picture served to remind him that he actually attended his
wife funeral because he could not keep the memory. His loving wife was murdered and Earl
lives a life of 10 minute cycles. He never loses the implication of his wife murder. Earl is
permanently grieving and looking for his wife’s killer to revenge. He finally revenges by killing
the person who killed his wife. Earl will never remember killing the person because he could not
find a pen to note the event. He is a person living in the past. The story’s theme is how the desire
for revenge makes a person not to move on but rather remains thinking of the past (Harrison and
Stephanie 451-461).
In the last three instances we have seen people who have their minds occupied in
revenging on persons who have offended them. Shylock was not successful in revenging on
Antonio but according to the narration, he had for a long time stuck his mind on a day he was
revenge on his offenders. Earl also never moved on after his wife was murdered. He murdered
his wife killers as a result of his desire to revenge. Hamlet also wanted to revenge on his father
killer who apparently was his uncle. He went ahead to revenge but killed a wrong person in his
revenge mission which led to a cycle of retaliations. The three cases prove that revenge is mostly
fuelled by failure to move on after one is offended.
Works Cites
Bell. "Hamlet, Revenge!" The Hudson Review, Vol. 51, No. 2 (Summer, 1998), pp. 310-328
Böhm, Tomas, and Suzanne Kaplan. Revenge: On the Dynamics of a Frightening Urge and Its
Taming . London: Karnac Books, 2011. Internet resource.
Durham, Mary S. The Therapist's Encounters with Revenge and Forgiveness . London: Jessica
Kingsley Publishers, 2000. Internet resource.
Morris, Mary. Revenge . New York: St. Martin's Press, 2004. Print.
Shakespeare, William, Burton Raffel, and Harold Bloom. Hamlet . New Haven: Yale University
Press, 2003. Internet resource.
Shakespeare, William, Burton Raffel, and Harold Bloom. The Merchant of Venice . New Haven:
Yale University Press, 2006. Internet resource.
Harrison, Stephanie. Adaptations: From Short Story to Big Screen : 35 Great Stories That Have
Inspired Great Films . Princeton, N.J: Recording for the Blind & Dyslexic, 2006.
(451-461).Sound recording.
Young, Edward. The Revenge.a Tragedy . London: Printed for J. Rivington and Sons, S.
Crowder, T. Lowndes, G. Robinson, T. Caslon [and 4 others in London, 1776.
Internet resource.