Ever since world was created. it seems that retaliation has come along with it. The Code of Hammurabi. the codification of jurisprudence from the 6th male monarch of Babylon. was put into pattern around 1760 B. C. . doing it the oldest recorded set of Torahs in human history. The codification is rooted steadfastly in the belief in an oculus for an oculus ; retaliation was written all over it. Revenge is present in international political relations. within one’s state. in our places. in our schools and in our personal relationships. Even in the civilised universe we live in. retaliation seems to play an of import function in society. The United States is one of the few states that allows the decease punishment and implements it. Peoples have different grounds and alibis of why the decease punishment works. but yet once more. isn’t this an act of retaliation from one homo being to another? The most recent act of retaliation is nine-eleven. The United States argues that the war in Iraq was to contend terrorist act. when in world. they are looking for the one responsible to acquire the retaliation 1000000s of Americans ask for. Revenge is non ever sweet ; on the contrary it leads to a acrimonious life. No 1 is perfect. so why should any individual waste his or her life seeking to destruct another?
Alternatively. people must try to forgive others. Through characters in several authoritative novels. words from leaders of the universe. and through scholars’ researches. I will turn out my point that retaliation leads to suicide. Why do people seek retaliation? Harmonizing to a National Geographic research. the encephalon images suggest that worlds feel satisfaction when they punish others for errors. “A individual who has been cheated is left in a bad state of affairs. the individual would experience even worse if the deceiver does non acquire her or his merely penalty. ” said Ernst Fehr. manager of the Institute for Empirical Research in Economics at the University of Zurich in Switzerland. Fehr and his co-workers agree that the feeling of satisfaction that people get when they punish person may be the base that keeps society composure and together. Subsequently on. Fehr did an experiment. where people played a game of interchanging money. The regulations were that. if one participant made a selfish move alternatively of a reciprocally good 1. another participant could penalize the participant. The bulk of participants elected to enforce a punishment even when it cost them some of their ain money.
By making this. Fehr and his co-workers found that it activated a part of the encephalon where research has shown that this part is involved in enjoyment or satisfaction. Knutson. a Stanford psychologist. said that: “instead of cold calculated ground. it is passion that may works the seeds of revenge” ( Roach ) . When seeking for retaliation. human existences act with their bosom. non with their heads. They do it because they were hurt at some point. In the fresh Wuthering Highs by Emily Bronte. the life of Heathcliff Earnshaw absolutely portrays an illustration of how retaliation can destruct a life. As a immature male child. Heathcliff was adopted by Mr. Earnshaw to populate with his household in Wuthering Heights. The Earnshaw kids. Catherine and Hindley. were non excessively lament on this thought. As clip passed. Catherine accepted Heathcliff as a friend. and they even fell in love. This good-humored relationship did non develop between Heathcliff and Hindley. Quarrels would invariably originate between these two until one twenty-four hours. when Mr. Earnshaw decided to direct Hindley off to college.
Hindley left with a feeling of bitterness towards Heathcliff. and after his father’s decease. he returned to acquire his retaliation. He took advantage of his power to handle Heathcliff like a retainer. and this angered Heathcliff who one twenty-four hours decided to go forth Wuthering Heights and reappeared a successful adult male. Heathcliff used his money to corrupt Hindley. He so fell in these traps because he had fallen into alcohol addiction and gaming and needed the money to purchase drinks and do stakes. All this clip. Heathcliff was basking himself seeing Hindley destroy himself small by small. At the terminal. Heathcliff seems to be the victor because Hindley dies and Heathcliff inherits all his ownerships. but in world he feels empty and unloved. Heathcliff died lonely and unhappy. because he wasted his full life watching other people fall ( Bronte ) . This fresh portrays the perfect illustration of a ceaseless rhythm of retaliation. Hindley was moving immature when he sought retaliation. but Heathcliff’s neutralizations were every bit infantile as his opponent’s.
Every character of the novel is harmed straight or indirectly. because of the demand to seek retaliation. In the terminal. Heathcliff non merely destruct his life. but the lives of everyone around him. In the novel. The Scarlet Letter. by Nathaniel Hawthorne. the character Roger Chillingworth dedicates his life to destruct his married woman. Hester Prynne. and the adult male with whom she committed adultery. This adult male is Arthur Dimmesdale. the priest of the town. In the patterned advance of the narrative. Chillingworth realizes that Dimmesdale is the fornicator. At this point. Chillingworth decides to do Dimmesdale’s life a life snake pit. Chillingworth takes advantage of the fact that Dimmesdale suffers from terrible emphasis and bosom jobs. utilizing psychological tactics to coerce Dimmesdale into experiencing guilty. without Dimmesdale being cognizant that Chillingworth had cognition of his secret. In all this convulsion. Chillingworth. physically and psychologically. appears to hold become the Satan. The looks of his face have hardened. and his words are those of a lunatic.
His desire to acquire retaliation on Hester and Dimmesdale destroyed his visual aspect and his scruples. Everything he does. says. or has become is a direct consequence of his impulse to acquire retaliation. The idea that retaliation would finish him get the better of his senses. turning him into a monster ( Hawthorne ) . Sometimes. while we are seeking to destruct person. we do non detect that we are destructing ourselves along the manner. At times. it is better to travel on because in the terminal walking off could be less painful than remaining for a battle. Even though most of the novels portray retaliation as self-destructing. some do non. For illustration. in The Count of Monte Cristo. Edmon Dantes was a successful merchandiser who went to Marseille to get married his fiancee. Mercedes. Two covetous and covetous work forces accuse Dante of being a Bonapartist treasonist. Another work forces. Villefort. in order to clean his dirty custodies. sends Dante without a test to a life imprisonment. After 14 old ages in prison. Dante becomes friends with Faria. He subsequently gives Dante the map to a hoarded wealth in Monte Cristo.
When Faria died. he had the opportunity to get away the prison. Dante begins his journey to Monte Cristo and finds the hoarded wealth. He subsequently returns to Marseille to acquire his long-waited retaliation. Disguised as the rich Count of Monte Cristo. Dantes takes retaliation on the three work forces responsible for his unfair imprisonment: Fernand. Mercedes’ hubby ; Danglars. a affluent banker ; and Villefort. After several events. Dante succeeds in his vindictive program. At the terminal of the novel the writer explains how Dante found peace in his head. He was now ready to be happy once more ( Dumas ) . The novel is full of hurting and agony. and it feels good as the narrative develops to see how the bad cats sink. Even though the retaliator is “the good guy” in the narrative. and we sympathize with the things he does to the scoundrels. is it true that he could hold lived merrily of all time after? It seems that while he was in imprisonment he lost his bosom and feelings. He grew to be a monster and that is the ground why he was cold as a rock. Furthermore. it is said that people who seek retaliation have a dark and acrimonious yesteryear. Even though these are fictional novels. they have a large impact in our normal daily lives.
Fiction books frequently mirror our simple lives. Although they are presented in a more dramatic secret plan. the chief subject could be related to a portion in someone’s life where they thought retaliation was the reply. In most instances. retaliation destroys the retaliator. Different Bibles and faiths coincide that retaliation is non the reply. Jesus said. “Love your enemies. bless them that expletive you. make good unto them that hate you. and pray for. them who despitefully use and persecute you” ( Matthew 5:44 ) . The Qur’an provinces. “And if you punish. you shall bring down an tantamount penalty. But if you resort to forbearance. it would be better for the patient 1s. ” ( Sura 16:126 ) . Confucius. a Chinese philosopher. said. “Before you embark on a journey of retaliation. delve two Gravess. ” What he means by stating this is that retaliation non merely affects the victim but besides the retaliator. It is a journey of darkness. misrepresentation and self-bitterness. “An oculus for an oculus would do the whole universe blind. ” said Mahatma Gandhi ; he states that the ground the universe is full of bad things. is because adult male have the natural impulse to seek retaliation and we have a crooked universe because of this.
Many illustrations of what Gandhi means are: World War II. war in Iraq and Nuclear bombardment in Hiroshima. These events shook up the universe. and candidly contending for peace has non worked in the yesteryear ; why would it work now? With these quotation marks and expressions. we can see how people from different clip periods and faiths agree on the same thing ; retaliation merely leads to suicide. Peoples who are in favour of retaliation argue that others should be punished for the things they have done. William Shakespeare said. “If you prick us do we non shed blood? If you tickle us do we non laugh? If you poison us do we non decease? And if you wrong us shall we non avenge? ” ( 37 ) . With this statement. he argues that for every action there is a neutralization in return. So if person wrongs us. we must ache him or her in return. I believe that Shakespeare is incorrect. Some times it is better to allow travel. because as he said. one action leads to another 1 ; that will merely take us into a ne’er stoping rhythm. and hence. suicide.
Research done on retaliation show that the parties involved in this act have harmful effects. Organizational research shows that even a bantam act of retaliation could bring forth consequences that are every bit destructive from both the avenger’s and the organization’s point of position. Another survey showed that workers thought that revenge was unprofessional. They reported instances in which they did arouse a counter retribution. and stated that acquiring even failed to decide the job that led them to demand retaliation in the first topographic point. Statisticss show that 12. 1 per centum of people believe retaliation is non deserving it. Besides most of the people agree that retaliation is infantile and immature ( Boon ) . A survey by Peter Fischer shows that psychological and behavioural responses to avenge are linked with their background and how much they have been hurt in the past. Peoples with more cicatrixs from their yesteryear are more likely to seek retaliation. This one time once more proves my theory that people who seek retaliation are dark and acrimonious. However. some surveies besides show that retaliation may hold good results.
For illustration: some people said that retaliation has given them power and control ; others claim that acquiring even do a coveted alteration in the other individual ; some believe retaliation has been constructive. but saying that acquiring even worked and restored his or her repute ( Boon ) . It is acceptable to penalize person for making bad things. but merely if our existent purposes are pure. and our chief aim is make the other individual a better 1. An illustration is when we are childs. our parents penalize us and we learn from our errors. that is how we differentiate good from bad. When people seek retaliation to ache the other individual. it is non acceptable. Because of the beginnings used in this essay: characters in several authoritative novels. words from leaders of the universe. and through scholars’ researches ; it has been proven that retaliation merely leads to suicide. All the illustrations used helped readers to accommodate to their ain state of affairss.
Peoples may non hold the desire to seek retaliation or may convert themselves non to make it. but the ticket to freedom is forgiving the other person’s errors. even if he/she does non inquire for it. This is what will genuinely put a individual apart from populating a healthy life that can be dedicated into assisting others. non impeding his or her impulse to come on. Conflicts and misrepresentations will originate throughout our lives. making scores and bitternesss. We must hold concrete ethical motives in order to acquire rid of any negative feelings and dispose any vindictive feeling in order to avoid self-destructing our lives. The best retaliation we could of all time hold is to go on our journey while bettering ourselves along the manner.
Plants Cited
Boon. Susan D. . Alishia M. Alibhai. and Vicki L. Deveau. “Reflections on the costs and benefits of demanding retaliation in romantic relationships. ” Canadian Journal of Behavioural Science/Revue canadienne diethylstilbestrols scientific disciplines du comportement43. 2 ( 2011 ) : 128-137. PsycARTICLES. EBSCO. Web. 24 July 2011. Bronte. Emily. Wuthering Heights. New York: Bantam Classicss. 1981. Print. Dumas. Alexandre. The Count of Monte Cristo. New York: Bantam Classicss. 1984. Print. Fischer. Peter. S. Alexander Haslam. and Laura Smith. ““If you wrong us. shall we non avenge? ” Social individuality saliency moderates support for revenge in response to corporate menace. ” Group Dynamics: Theory. Research. and Practice 14. 2 ( 2010 ) : 143-150. PsycARTICLES. EBSCO. Web. 24 July 2011. Hawthorne. Nathaniel. The Scarlet Letter. New York: Bantam Classicss. 1981. Print. The Holy Bible: Incorporating the Old and New Testaments with the Apocryphal/Deuterocanonical books. New York: Collins. 1989. Print. New Revised Standard Verses. Holy Qur’an. Trans. M. H. Shakir. Elmhurst. New york: Tahrike Tarsile Qur’an. n. d. . Roach. John. “Brain Study Shows Why Revenge Is Sweet. ” Nationalgeographicnews. com. 27 August. 2004. 24 July. 2011. . Shakspere. William. The Merchant of Venice. Oxford: Clarendon Press. 2009. Print.
