Revenge Is A Dish Best Served Cold Essay - 1527 Words

Author Pierre Choderlos writes, â€Å"revenge is a dish best served cold.† This quote is renown for its popularity across the centuries, often used as a proverbial description of the idea of revenge. Vengeance itself is a popular issue of morality, discussed and portrayed in a multitude of manners throughout literature, film, and live theater. Two playwrights that tackle the matter of revenge are Zeami Motokiyo and the famous William Shakespeare. Motokiyo’s play Astumori takes quite an artistic approach to the idea, telling a one-act play from the perspective of a samurai who is feeling guilty for killing a young opponent on the field of battle. He seeks cleansing for his guilty soul, putting him, potentially, on the receiving end of revenge. Shakespeare, on the other hand, takes a more traditional approach to the idea of vengeance in a number of his tragedies, including Hamlet. The ghost of Hamlet’s father urges his son to avenge his death by murdering his trait orous uncle Claudius. Both of these works exemplify a different aspect of the controversial matter of revenge. However, Astumori shows the audience that there are alternatives to revenge, while Hamlet reveals that revenge comes with a price. Essentially, both plays reach the same conclusion: revenge will not bring satisfaction. Millicent Bell, in her article â€Å"Hamlet, Revenge,† discusses the use of revenge in Shakespeare’s famous work, labeling it a â€Å"revenge tragedy† (311). She writes, â€Å"Shakespeare’s Hamlet has all theShow MoreRelatedRevenge Is A Dish Best Served Cold1646 Words   |  7 Pages Revenge is a Dish Best Served Cold Confucius once said, â€Å"Before you embark on a journey of revenge, dig two graves.† In The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne, one of the characters named Roger Chillingworth finds out that his wife, Hester Prynne, believes that he is dead and has an illegitimate child with another man named Arthur Dimmesdale. 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Montresor plots his revenge aheadRead MoreThe Crucible By Arthur Miller1063 Words   |  5 Pagesdefinition, and the one that I think fits the best for this book, is a place or situation in which different elements interact to create something new. In my mind, this fits because all of the characters had their little grudges and dirty secrets. But when all those seemingly little things interact, they formed something new and a lot bigger: a witch hunt. This strange transformation that happened, occurred because of people exacting revenge. Revenge is a theme in the crucible because Abigail WilliamsRead MoreThe Crucible By Arthur Miller1063 Words   |  5 Pagesdefinition, and the one that I think fits the best for this book, is a place or situation in which different elements inter act to create something new. In my mind, this fits because all of the characters had their little grudges and dirty secrets. But when all those seemingly little things interact, they formed something new and a lot bigger: a witch hunt. This strange transformation that happened, occurred because of people exacting revenge. Revenge is a theme in the crucible because Abigail WilliamsRead MoreWilliam Shakespeares Titus Andronicus 1355 Words   |  6 Pagesâ€Å"blood† in characteristics of honour, loyalty, emotional states, murder, villainy, and cultural and familial bonds. As the discussion of characters and their uses of the word â€Å"blood† demonstrate, â€Å"Titus Andronicus† represents the theme of revenge as a dish best served bloody. It illustrates how the term â€Å"blood† can also be manipulated by its character’s circumstance. This allows the reader to construct a deeper analysis of the characters, and the plays’ themes of human loss, and the tragic hero. In