YEET!

Revenge is a common idea in today’s society and we understood why it happened until Robert Bies and Thomas Tripp deciphered the code and wrote “A Passion for Justice: The Rationality and Morality of Revenge”. This section is from a book called “Justice in the Workplace: From theory to Practice”. In this article, Bies and Tripp made clear that interpretation of revenge, morality of revenge, and levels of revenge all play a factor to make what revenge is today.

Interpretation of Revenge:

When engaging in revenge, people have the belief that they’re doing the right thing and claiming justice for themselves making other people see them as the victim. That serves as a mask to hide their retaliation against that person which usually always ends up worse. “The justice rationality can be a powerful motivation and justification for revenge” (Beis and Tripp 206). In the “Scarlet Letter”, Roger Chillingworth is taking his revenge on Dimmesdale but ends up torturing him so badly he started punishing himself to feel better.

Morality of Revenge:

The Avengers are always consider in their head that fairness is the reason why they’re taking revenge. “In our research, we found that the initial revenge emotions are often quite intense, characterized by expressions of pain, anger, and rage” (Beis and Tripp 202). They want the wrongdoers to feel the same pain they felt and get that satisfying feeling meaning they will do anything to accomplish that goal. Usually they forget about the repercussions. Like the “Scarlet Letter” Chillingworth tortured Dimmesdale so badly that even his personality became darker and it seems like he became the servant of the Devil.

Levels of Revenge:

There are ranks of revenge that determine the gravity of it. For example, if someone steals your fries, then you automatically react by stealing them back, but if someone killed your sibling then you would want to avenge your sibling’s death. Clearly the severity between fries and killing is a lot and it also determines the outcome of the situation. Levels of revenge is another saying for the avenger’s perspective of the situation and his analysis of what to do. In the comparison, “The Scarlet Letter” showed that Chillingworth’s revenge was so severe that Dimmesdale could not take it anymore and committed suicide in front of everyone.

Conclusion:

Revenge serves as a normal everyday activity and some are oblivious of even doing it. The examples from “The Scarlet Letter” are still very true today since most crimes derived from revenge. Yet people still use justice as an excuse to escape their sin. They still want to satisfy their hunger for justice and there are different level of revenge that determine different outcomes.