Getting Even- The Plots and Principles of Revenge

In this seminar, we will ask what revenge is and what purposes it serves, using well-known literary examples in which revenge is center-stage. The after-effects of retribution are dramatic, arresting, and often disruptive of social order and civility. But revenge may also encompass subtler acts of resistance, showing a culture's racial and gender biases, revealing who has power and who doesn't, and how or if the equilibrium of justice can be attained.