Revenge is a wild kind of justice - Francis Bacon, 'Of Revenge' - Article Example

Revenge is a wild kind of justice          Inserts His/Her             Inserts Grade Inserts 21 August 2009 Revenge is a kind of wild justice. Francis Bacon’s “Of revenge” is a comprehensive treatise that covers almost all the aspects of revenge in detail. Analyzing the themes of Elizabethan plays a reader can easily find that revenge is a selfish villain with numerous motives that promotes violence in most of the Elizabethan revenge plays. Thomas Kyd’s The Spanish Tragedy and William Shakespeare’s Hamlet are widely established examples of revenge plays. The term revenge and vengeance are important tools for revealing human instinct. Marlow’s fourth play Jew of Malta presents the disastrous descend of the male protagonist Barabas and his vicious revenge against the Christian governor. After a profound analysis a reader can easily find that there are some strong reasons behind the revengeful actions of the protagonist. Barabas’ revenge and his criminal activities aimed at his excessive happiness by gathering too much gold than personal losses or tragedies which happened in his past life. The book entitled, Complete works gives significant comments about the use of the theme revenge in Marlow’s play the Jew of Malta. It remarks; “In Barabas, the Jewish outsider who is the villain –hero of The Jew of Malta, Marlow adapted the popular figure of the Machiavelli, the Italian villain loosely deriving from the political writings of Niccolo Machiavelli.” (Shakespeare ,et .al 2002.p.1212). The hero in Marlow’s Jew of Malta finds extreme happiness in assuming the sufferings of the other characters. As a ruler Barabas’s revenge lies not in political power or status but in wealth. It is very clear for a reader when the hero defeated Ferneze, he could not get satisfaction and he got back his enjoyment only after counting the money. Barabas’ revenge in Marlow’s Jew of Malta reveals the revenge not obsessed by an autonomous will but as a result of an insensible wishful thinking for self desire. The gradual deviation in Barabas’ revengeful nature is visible in the play Jew of Malta. Revenge and justice constitutes contradictory meanings and explanations. Revenge is a harmful action or thought against a person or group of persons but justice means actions assumed and sustained by an authorized system of judiciary based on social and ethical principles. It is very clear that a reader can face much difficulty in finding considerable justifications for the revengeful actions o f the hero Barabas in Marlow’s play Jew of Malta. In the case of Marlow’s play Jew of Malta one can see that the protagonist maximum utilize his revenge for satisfying his own soul and self. Bacon reveals the concept that revenge is justifiable and ideal and the author miscalculates bribery and evil of human spirit. In his essay Francis Bacon presents the term revenge is as a means of reprisal for oneself. Bacon shows his unwillingness to accept the fact that revenge often satisfies the malevolence within the soul of each and every man. No one is intended to do the crime for doing crime. Bacon makes it clear when he says, “There is no man doth a wrong, for the wrong’s sake; but thereby to purchase himself profit, or pleasure, or honor, or the like.” (Bacon, n. d.). Barabas, the hero of the play Jew of Malta failed to prevent his basic instinct which flourishes the manipulation and sufferings of the fellow beings. Normally revenge has the role to peruse the victimize wrongdoer to undergo the same pain or loss. An injury imposed in revenge is more disastrous than the existing one. Analyzing the book reader can easily find Barabbas’s revenge finally changed into more injurious than justice and harmony. The term justice means something is favorable for all the people and it may be a harmonious state. Considering the play Jew of Malta one can see that revenge is satisfying his/her personal needs and the term revenge never constitutes justice. The word justice promotes number of related terms such as equality, brotherhood, freedom and ultimate peace. The play Titus Andronicus by William Shakespeare exposes the tragic story of a Roman general who is affianced in a series of revenge against his enemy the queen of the Goths. Titus Andronicus is a revenge play that calls for the attention of the spectators with its conflicts and actions. The sufferings and atrocities of both Tamora and Titus deserve enough justification. In both cases revenge was formed by the murder of their beloved people. Rebecca W. Bushnell states that “The self – consuming savagery of Tamora’s fate serves as an ironic pointer to the ultimately self- destructive character of Titus’ rival passion: her feasting on her own flesh and blood is uncannily mirrored in the Titus’s “unnatural” butchery of his own daughter in the midst of cannibal feast”(Bushnell, 2005. p.335). As revenge is the central theme, one can see many killings and other issues like rape are the part of the play when Titus Andronicus taking revenge on his evil doers. Passing through the lines of the play, it is possible for t readers to identify the features of the age when taking vengeance was considered as a sacred thing. Different writers of Elizabethan era used revenge or vengeance effectively in their plays and they felt that taking revenge is obligatory to attain poetic justice. It is well evident with Shakespeare when making Titus to deny the plea of Tamora which later paved the way for the death of her son Alarbus. Through the portrayal of Barbarous rites of Elizabethan Rome, readers can assume the fact that taking revenge was common during that time. The stubborn nature of Titus; denying mercy to her son makes Tamora taking the vow of taking revenge on Titus and she announces that she will destroy his family. Spectators pass through brutal murder scenes and rape as the means to execute revenge in both sides. The actions of Aaron and Tamora’s sons when raping and mutilating Lavinia are especially notable for the wild revenge they attempt. When the action of the play progress, one can see the thirst for revenge also increasing and Titus pledges to take vengeance for the death of his sons who were entrapped in Aaron’s tricks intended to lose Titus’ hands. The rest of the play is filled with both parties taking revenge each other with an obsession to revenge. Titus’ revenge fulfills when he catches Tamora and slain her to his wish. It was the sweet revenge for Titus against the one who destroyed his family in a tricky way. Roman rituals of taking revenge has well portrayed in the play when Titus sacrificing the two sons of Tamora which later causes for the unending hatred and revenge in her. The revenge in the play is well planned and well executed. It is a natural development in the play that finally leads to brutal actions. Evaluation of the actions of the play leads one to the assumption that the audience of Elizabethan period revenge in plays and in social life which Shakespeare and other writers exploited well. One of the general inference regarding revenge and vengeance is that it is the basic instinct of human behavior. Revenge can be regarded as the corruption of humanity which is capable of foiling soul and spirit. It is the feeling that can takeaway the baser instinct of a person by destroying him and others. Regarding revenge and retribution Charles K. B. Barton comments, “The identification of retribution with revenge is particularly implausible in cases where the agent of punishment bears no special tie to the victim of the crime” (Barton, 1999. p.52). Here one is clear of the fact that revenge has the devastating effect of destroying one completely. The one who wishes to take avenge often misinterprets or lives in the false allusion that he can satisfy his desire with this revenge. Bacon expresses the view point that a person takes revenge on the other after he himself has been wronged. But many have observed that fact "no man does evil just for the sake of evil." Bacon expresses the view point that seeking revenge is solely a means of reprisal for a person who cannot attain anything precious in his life, except a momentary satisfaction. But when regarding the plays of Elizabethan era, one can see that revenge had an elite role. It is clear when Shakespeare and Terence John Bew Spencer remark, “As a structural and thematic center for tragedy, revenge has much to recommend it” (Shakespeare, 1980. p.11). To conclude, one can infer that revenge was a quite common theme in the Elizabethan plays and dramatists like Shakespeare and Marlow. When evaluating most of the revenge plays of that time one can find a wild justice dominating. Regarding Shakespeare’s Hamlet one can assume that it is a revenge play that attracted mass attention with Hamlet’s murder of Claudius. Laertes’s murder of Hamlet can also be regarded as a revenge on his father Polonius’s murder by Hamlet, though it was by mistake. But one cannot find a wild justice of revenge in Marlow’s play Jew of Malta where Barabas cannot be justified as it moves from justice to that of personal satisfaction of his ‘evil soul.’ The wild justice of revenge is possible with the play Titus Andronicus where Titus and Tamora satisfy their revenge, though their personal loss is irrecoverable. Thus one can infer that though Titus Andronicus and Jew of Malta arte revenge plays they differ in the presentation of the revenge. When Titus Andronicus fulfills the concepts of wild justice of revenge Jew of Malta portrays the revenge of Barabas with ‘evil soul.’ Here one reaches the conclusion that though revenge was a common theme of Elizabethans; one cannot join with Bacon when he says that revenge is a wild justice. Works cited: Barton, K. B., Charles. Getting even: revenge as a form of justice. Open court Publishing, 1999 Bushnell, W. Rebecca. A companion to tragedy. Wiley-Blackwell, 2005. "Essays of Francis Bacon". The Essays or Counsels, Civil and Moral, of Francis Ld. Verulam Viscount St. Albans. 21 Aug 2009 Shakespeare, William, Orgel, Stephen, A. R. Braunmuller. The Complete Works. Penguin Classics, 2002. Shakespeare, William. Spencer, Bew. John, Terence. Hamlet. Penguin Classics, 1980. Read More