Essay on Revenge

Essay on Revenge

When talking about revenge, we can not necessarily take it only as a bad thing. Although, it's true that the term refers to something with a negative meaning, sometimes it is caused by good intentions. Still, for most of the cases, revenge cannot be justified just by those reasons alone, because the borderline between what is good and what is bad Is very thin, and sometimes for one person something quite wrong may seem absolutely right in someone else's eyes. Not always is everything simply black or white.

We can take English literature for example. Here are two revenge figures taken from The Spanish Tragedy and Hamlet - Hieronimo and Hamlet. Both of them have chosen revenge as a course of action, driven by their grief and their desire for justice for their wronged loved ones. But this decision should never be taken lightly, one has to be aware of what he or she is about to do, what it really means to get a revenge, just like the two protagonists. They both know fully well what they're getting into and they are aware of the consequences, with Hieronimo even being a knight marshal of Spain, he clearly knows the boundaries between right and wrong, and still he finds revenge to be his only way, and so does Hamlet. Through a lot of brooding, both of them, although in their own way and pace, come to this same conclusion - for them avenging their loved ones is much more important than whatever the consequences.

In Hieronimo's soliloquy there is less brooding compared to that in Hamlet. That's because at first there were a lot of unclear things for Hieronimo, for example he didn't even know who the culprit was. But once he finds out his brooding gradually starts to fade away and he decisively makes up his mind. On the other hand we see Hamlet who knew everything from the beginning but who still spent a lot of time in brooding. His surroundings play a very important role, they affect his way of thinking and even in the end his surroundings are the ones that help him make up his mind: "How all occasions do inform against me / And spur my dull revenge!" (Act 4, Scene 4, lines 32/33). Hamlet had the "cause and will and strength and means / To do't." (Act 4, Scene 4, lines 45/46) but it took him a lot of time to decide to do it, while for Hieronimo it didn't take that much time, so in Hamlet we can find a bit of guilt for his hesitation.

I think everyone will agree that we are all born the same, what we are right now, what have become of us is all due to the choices we have made so far, and those that have yet to be made will shape our future. Just like how Hieronimo and Hamlet decide to get revenge, they weren't born to be avengers, it's just that their circumstances have forced them to become 'innocent criminals'. Although their reasons can be considered to be justified, a crime is still a