I Have A 3 Page English Essay That Needs To Be Re-Written To 2 Pages

Cebsrffbe_Yneel
timer Asked: Nov 10th, 2015

Unformatted Attachment Preview

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.
User generated content is uploaded by users for the purposes of learning and should be used following Studypool's honor code & terms of service.

This question has not been answered.

Create a free account to get help with this and any other question!

Related Tags

Brown University





1271 Tutors

California Institute of Technology




2131 Tutors

Carnegie Mellon University




982 Tutors

Columbia University





1256 Tutors

Dartmouth University





2113 Tutors

Emory University





2279 Tutors

Harvard University





599 Tutors

Massachusetts Institute of Technology



2319 Tutors

New York University





1645 Tutors

Notre Dam University





1911 Tutors

Oklahoma University





2122 Tutors

Pennsylvania State University





932 Tutors

Princeton University





1211 Tutors

Stanford University





983 Tutors

University of California





1282 Tutors

Oxford University





123 Tutors

Yale University





2325 Tutors