Seeking Revenge

Has anyone ever done anything to you that perhaps put you out?  Maybe they made you do all of the work for a project or they ate your last cookie? You were so mad at them that you couldn't wait to get them back so they could feel the same pain and suffering.  You wanted revenge.

I think that everyone is seeks revenge at some point.  Everyone at any age has issues with other people.  If someone screws you over I think a person's first instinct is to hope something bad happens to them.  A lot of people like to believe that karma will get them someday.  Others like to take matters into their own hands.

Revenge is a recurring theme in the media.

In the song "Better than Revenge" by Taylor Swift, Taylor is plotting against someone who stole a guy she was interested in.  Below is the song.  Enjoy!

You can tell by her tone and the lyrics that Taylor is very vengeful.  She really liked this guy and this girl just walked right in and stole him from her.  I'd be pretty upset, too!  Along with every other girl in the world!

Right before the song starts, Taylor says:

 "Now go stand in the corner and think about what you did."  

This shows that the girl who stole the guy was very aware that Taylor was interested in him.  Also, the line is a way that Taylor is making every other girl who has done such a thing feel guilty.  She is also preventing girls for committing the act.  She doesn't want any other girl go through that same heartbreak.

"Soon she's gonna find
Stealing other people's toys
On the playground won't
Make you many friends
She should keep in mind
She should keep in mind
There is nothing I do better than revenge"

In these lines of the song, the listener gets an idea of how Taylor is going to get revenge.  She is going to tell everyone what this girl did.  This will cause the girl to lose a lot of friends and she'll end up being alone.

"But sophistication isn't what you wear or who you know
Or pushing people down to get you where you wanna go"

These lines are some of my favorite lyrics because it's teaching girls a lesson.  Taylor Swift has so many fans and through this song she is teaching them a lot of morals.  These lines are teaching girls that you're not going to succeed at anything if you hurt other people in the process.  It's so true.

"You might have him but I always get the last word"

This line proves that Taylor Swift is definitely planning on getting revenge.

Songs aren't the only form of media that have revenge as a theme.  Television shows do, too!

ABC's television show Revenge is an example.  This show is all about revenge if you couldn't already tell by the title!  The main character, Amanda Clarke, is seeking revenge for her father's murder.  Her father was accused of being a terrorist and was sent to prison.  There, he was murdered.  Amanda later learns that her father was framed by a wealthy and powerful family, the Graysons.  Members of this family made the mistakes causing the plane crash.  Amanda's father left her a box of information on his case so she would know the true story.  Using that information she moves back into her childhood home with a new identity, Emily Thorne, and a vengeance.  She plans to ruin the lives of those involved in her father's case.

Here is Emily's first act of vengeance in the television series.  She has told Victoria Grayson that her husband had been cheating on her with her best friend, Lydia Davis.  Emily told Victoria this information so Lydia would be publicly humiliated.  Lydia knew that Amanda's father was framed and never spoke up for him.

How scandalous!!

The main character in this show isn't the only one in the media seeking revenge for her father's murder.  Hamlet, the main character in the play, Hamlet (how creative) by William Shakespeare, is doing the same.

Hamlet's father, King Hamlet, was murdered by his brother, Claudius.  Claudius wanted the throne so he poisoned King Hamlet.  Later on, King Hamlet's ghost visits Hamlet and tells him that he was murdered and that Hamlet needs to avenge him.  Throughout the play Hamlet struggles with the decision of vengeance.  Hamlet is constantly in conflict.  He wants to honor his father's wishes but he also doesn't want to hurt his mother, Gertrude, who is now married to Claudius.  He also doesn't know if what he saw was real or not.  The following quote captures his confusion.

"The spirit that I have seen
May be the devil: and the devil hath power
To assume a pleasing shape; yea, and perhaps
Out of my weakness and my melancholy,
As he is very potent with such spirits,
Abuses me to damn me: I'll have grounds
More relative than this: the play 's the thing
Wherein I'll catch the conscience of the king."
(2.2.58)

Hamlet decides to put on a play about murder to see how Claudius reacts so he can be sure if he murdered Hamlet's father or not.  The play confirms it and now Hamlet knows he must seek revenge.  Also, Claudius realizes that Hamlet is aware of what he did.

"Now might I do it pat, now he is praying;
And now I'll do't. And so he goes to heaven;
And so am I revenged. That would be scann'd:
A villain kills my father; and for that,
I, his sole son, do this same villain send
To heaven."
(3.3.1)

 The quote above exemplifies Hamlet's thought process on the murder.  He gets very close to murdering Claudius but when he sees that he is praying he stops.  He decides to wait until Claudius is sinning so then he'll definitely go to hell.

Hamlet confronts his mother about Claudius' actions and while he is doing so he accidentally kills Polonius, the father of Laertes and Ophelia, Hamlet's girlfriend.  Later on, Ophelia drowns and Laertes believes Hamlet is the reason.  Laertes teams up with Claudius who both plan to kill Hamlet in a fencing match with a poisoned sword.  As a backup plan Claudius poisons a drink which Gertrude accidentally drinks.  Hamlet is stabbed but before he dies from the poison, he kills Laertes with the same sword.  Hamlet also kills Claudius by stabbing him with the sword and making him drink the poisonous drink that killed his mother.

This play shows that although revenge can be carefully thought out, it doesn't always work out the way you want it to.  In Hamlet's case, he got his revenge but he also died.  Karma maybe?

Revenge is a very effective theme and it definitely keeps viewers, listeners, and/or readers interested and on their toes!

My Sources:

Taylor Swift's "Better Than Revenge"
YouTube for letting me share the song
ABC's Revenge
abc.go.com for allowing me to share a clip from an episode
William Shakespeare's Hamlet