Theme Explication Essay

Revenge. A common word that means many things to different people. With the following pieces of literature, I will demonstrate some of those meanings.The first example is an essay written by George Orwell about how revenge is never as sweet as you expect. The Cask of Amontillado by Edgar Allan Poe is a story of a man taking revenge for wrongs done to him. The third and fourth pieces, both entitled “Aesthetics of Hate” work together to form a story of hatred, malicious writings, and love for a fallen comrade.

In “Revenge Is Sour” by George Orwell he discusses the revenge brought upon the German people following World War 2. He starts by telling of a trip to a German prisoner of war camp, and the actions of his Jewish guide. He and another foreign correspondent were led into a hanger where special prisoners were being screened. They were told that the prostrate men were former SS officers, and as they approached, their guide started working himself into a frenzy, and attacks one of the men on the ground. The guide told the man had been in the SS for a long time, and held a rank equivalent to a general. The man hardly appeared evil in Orwell’s eyes; rather, he appeared to be neurotic, not brutal at all. As they continued the tour, Orwell studied their guide, and tried to decide if he really enjoyed beating the prisoners or not. “I concluded that he wasn't really enjoying it, and that he was merely--like a man in a brothel, or a boy smoking his first cigar, or a tourist traipsing round a picture gallery--TELLING himself that he was enjoying it, and behaving as he had planned to behave in the days he was helpless.” He later goes on to say that there is no such thing as revenge. “Revenge is an act which you want to commit when you are powerless and because you are powerless: as soon as the sense of impotence is removed, the desire evaporates also”

Towards the end of the essay, he changes stories to when he entered Stuttgart with a Belgian journalist, several hours after it had been captured. “A dead German soldier was lying supine at the foot of the steps… The Belgian averted his face as we went past. When we were well over the bridge he confided to me that this was the first time he had seen a dead man… For several days after this, his attitude was quite different from what it had been earlier. He looked with disgust at the bomb-wrecked town and the humiliation the Germans were undergoing, and even on one occasion intervened to prevent a particularly bad bit of looting.” Being a Belgian, he had strong anti-German sentiments due to the Nazi occupation, and probably harbored feelings of revenge towards them. But by simply seeing the corpse of a fallen foe, he quickly realized that the Nazis were men like him, and the finality of death crushed any inclinations for revenge.
What Orwell is trying to say with his essay, in my opinion, is that revenge is just a state of mind held by those without the power to control their situation, and once control is given to them, you lose that state of mind, but may still go through with it because these feelings have been engrained in you for so long even though you derive no pleasure from the act.

“The thousand injuries of Fortunato I had borne as I best could, but when he ventured upon insult I vowed revenge” The opening line of Poe’s The Cask of Amontillado make it very clear what the story is about. Montresor, an Italian noble, has been insulted by Fortunato, a fellow noble, and has vowed revenge. What that insult was is never said, but it was terrible enough for Montresor to plot an elaborate scheme to take revenge. During Carnival, Montresor baits Fortunato by telling him he has purchased what he thinks might be a pipe of Amontillado, and tricks a drunken Fortunato into following him into his cellars to taste the wine. When they arrive at Montresor’s palazzo, Montresor tries to convince Fortunato to turn back due to his health, which only strengthens Fortunato’s resolve to see this wine. At the end of the vaults is a small niche where the Amontillado is supposedly held. Fortunato, unaware of the deceit, walks into the niche, and is quickly chained to the wall. Montresor then begins to wall Fortunato inside the niche, but as Fortunato sobers up, Montresor starts to lose some resolve. As he prepares to lay the final brick, realization of his deeds hits home, but he lays the final brick anyway, and leaves his friend to die in the deep recesses of the vaults.
I believe the moral is that, while revenge may seem like a good idea, you will be forced to live with the guilt of taking the life of another person, and it questions whether the act of revenge is really worth the troubles it brings.

The third piece is a song by Machine Head entitled” Aesthetics of Hate”. Unlike the other pieces, it’s not about revenge, but rather is an act of revenge on its own. On December 8, 2004, guitarist “Dimebag” Darrell Abbot was murdered while performing at the Alrosa Villa in Columbus, Ohio. The founding guitarist of the band Pantera, Dimebag was a highly influential musician, and beloved by millions of metalheads around the world. Following his death, William Grim, a writer for the conservative Iconoclast website, wrote an article entitled “Aesthetics of Hate: R.I.P. DIMEBAG ABBOTT, & GOOD RIDDANCE”. The article, which caused a massive backlash following its publication, Mr. Grim states “It was highly amusing, and also terribly sad, to watch on television fans conducting a “vigil” for the slain Mr. Abbott outside of the Alrosa Villa. It was an assemblage of ignorant, semi-human barbarians who were filthy in attire and manner, intellectually incoherent and above all else, hideously ugly to the point of physical deformity… But one can see why the heavy metal fans so closely identified with Mr. Abbott. He was an ignorant, barbaric, untalented possessor of a guitar and large amplifier system. Freakish in appearance, more simian than human, he was the performer of a type of “entertainment” that can be likened only to a gorilla on PCP.” He goes on to insult everyone who doesn’t regard classical music as the only true music, even saying that Burt Bacharach is an “aesthetic rape of the liturgy”.

Despite Mr. Grim’s frequent attempts to sound intelligent through the use of high level vocabulary, it becomes highly obvious as you read through the article that he, and others like him, are truly the ones who are a detriment to society, with their supposedly Christian views, and hatred for all who don’t follow their “superior” way of life. In response to this article, Rob Flynn, guitarist and singer of the band Machine Head, wrote a long post on the bands forum. In the post, he relates his experiences with Dimebag, and goes on to say to Grim: “What would YOU know about love or values? What would YOU know about giving to the world? All that you know is teaching prejudice, and your heart is as black as the ‘ignorant, filthy, and hideously ugly, Heavy Metal fans’ you try and paint in your twisted, fictitious ramblings. It’s because of people like YOU, that there are Nathan Gale’s in this world, NOT the Dimebags and Metal musicians who work to unite people through music.” Flynn went on to write the song “Aesthetics of Hate” both as a tribute to Dime, and as revenge against William Grim. “You branded us pathetic for our respect! But he made us Driven, such deep reverence, Far Beyond the rest!”

Revenge is an ever present theme in our lives. In movies, music, and books, revenge is often glorified as a solution to all wrongs against you. In reality though, revenge is often bitter, and causes more problems in the long run than it solves.



Sources:
http://www.george-orwell.org/Revenge_is_Sour/0.html
http://poestories.com/read/amontillado
http://lyricwiki.org/Machine_Head:Aesthetics_Of_Hate
http://www.quickrob.com/weblog/?p=1074