revenge in literature

[sixsmith]

One of the many themes of Moby Dick?

[Paulclem]

Look at Wuthering Heights.

There's a load of plays from the 1500's-1600's called the 'revenge' tragedies. Most famous one is The Spanish Tragedy by Thomas Kyd, and Hamlet by you-know-who.

There's also The Revenger' Tragedy attributed to Middleton.

[Lightfoot Roads]

Good Morning, Dorien!

Start with classical mythology and tragedy plays. Mythology was just old fashioned science fiction, so the audience was encouraged to look at a character's motivations and reasonings and faults. The actual dirty deed were off stage (ob scene) as much for the protection of the society as to focus the attention on the character. The Illiad has a lot of revenge, and so does Electra and OEdepus, so that you know that not all revenge involves murder. There's that Ring thing Wagner wrote up, lots of revenge there. Macbeth, Richard the Third, and Othello - several people nursing grudges and grinding axes. Frankenstein and Moby Dick illustrate both real and apparent revenge.

Opera is a great 'on the hoof' source of revenge observation. Turandot portrays a vengeful princess, Carmen worked at it, and there's some in The Pearl Fishers. Rigoletto (a must see) and Nabucco, and Il Trovatorre has several axe grinders :grin: Di Luna, Acuzena and perhaps, not in a minor way, Ruiz. Let's not forget Faust! or Don Carlo.

Well, that's my bit, you may also find some shortcuts, especially for the operas, on YouTube, but I wish you a good essay!

LR

[hellsapoppin]

The Cask of Amontillado by Poe is the greatest story on the subject.

[JuniperWoolf]

Ovid's story about Philomela and Procne getting revenge on Tereus was pretty frickin' awesome. So awesome in fact that I think South Park borrowed the idea for an episode (the one where Cartman made Scott Timmerman's parents into chili and then fed them to him, bringing Cartman to a whole new level of evil).

[kelby_lake]

There's also The Revenger' Tragedy attributed to Middleton.

Titus Andronicus, too, if you want something really bloody.
Electra and Medea are both good examples of revenge in literature (and you've got female avengers).

[ForKnowledge]

Maybe you should start with homer, remember my english teacher talking about how people would wish each other well by saying "death to your enemies" and how that way of thinking was common before jesus.

[FrankMarcopolos]

Agree with hellsapoppin... Cask is the greatest story on the subject. Audio version of the story comes out tomorrow on my website.

[Dorien]

Hey Dorien,

Hometown libraries can be very discouraging. Most schools have searchable databases of scholarly journals these days (even high schools). My high school had EBSCO, and though I never used it (because I got through high school without writing one real essay), I'm sure it could have helped me. University libraries also have these databases, as well as many texts. I'm not sure how well stocked some university libraries are though. I'm lucky, cause my university has a fantastic library. A lot of libraries also have interlibrary loan, where you can ask for a book that another library has to be sent to your home library for checkout.

I think finding work that deals with revenge in literature through history may be a little hard to do, but maybe that can be something you discuss in your essay? I did a quick search on my school's database, and there is some scholarship out there for specific works. I also don't know if there will be anything that classifies different types of revenge, but maybe that is something else you could attend to after you research.

Good luck!

Thanks for the tip
In Belgium high schools don't really have great libraries, but I'm definitely going to take a look in a university librarie

Good Morning, Dorien!

Start with classical mythology and tragedy plays. Mythology was just old fashioned science fiction, so the audience was encouraged to look at a character's motivations and reasonings and faults. The actual dirty deed were off stage (ob scene) as much for the protection of the society as to focus the attention on the character. The Illiad has a lot of revenge, and so does Electra and OEdepus, so that you know that not all revenge involves murder. There's that Ring thing Wagner wrote up, lots of revenge there. Macbeth, Richard the Third, and Othello - several people nursing grudges and grinding axes. Frankenstein and Moby Dick illustrate both real and apparent revenge.

Opera is a great 'on the hoof' source of revenge observation. Turandot portrays a vengeful princess, Carmen worked at it, and there's some in The Pearl Fishers. Rigoletto (a must see) and Nabucco, and Il Trovatorre has several axe grinders :grin: Di Luna, Acuzena and perhaps, not in a minor way, Ruiz. Let's not forget Faust! or Don Carlo.

Well, that's my bit, you may also find some shortcuts, especially for the operas, on YouTube, but I wish you a good essay!

LR

Thanks this is a great help the research isn't really going well but now I can go further thanks to your help