Jeffrie G. Murphy
- Published in print:
- 2005
- Published Online:
- October 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780195178555
- eISBN:
- 9780199850129
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195178555.003.0004
- Subject:
- Philosophy, Moral Philosophy
Feeling vindictive is one thing, but seeking vengeance personally or through the law is completely different. This is the subject of this chapter. It explores the idea of victim vindictiveness and ...
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Feeling vindictive is one thing, but seeking vengeance personally or through the law is completely different. This is the subject of this chapter. It explores the idea of victim vindictiveness and the degree to which it can be considered as a legitimate purpose of criminal punishment. At present, the area of the law that permits vindictiveness is through the use of victim impact statements in criminal sentencing. The purpose of these is to create an influence to those with discretionary sentencing authority. Also given in this chapter are arguments against vindictiveness. The chapter ends by suggesting that even if it is neither inherently irrational nor immoral, it may create dramatic dangers that should impose severe cautions on the willingness of a person to be led by this passion.Less
Feeling vindictive is one thing, but seeking vengeance personally or through the law is completely different. This is the subject of this chapter. It explores the idea of victim vindictiveness and the degree to which it can be considered as a legitimate purpose of criminal punishment. At present, the area of the law that permits vindictiveness is through the use of victim impact statements in criminal sentencing. The purpose of these is to create an influence to those with discretionary sentencing authority. Also given in this chapter are arguments against vindictiveness. The chapter ends by suggesting that even if it is neither inherently irrational nor immoral, it may create dramatic dangers that should impose severe cautions on the willingness of a person to be led by this passion.
Elliott Antokoletz
- Published in print:
- 2008
- Published Online:
- May 2008
- ISBN:
- 9780195365825
- eISBN:
- 9780199868865
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195365825.003.0007
- Subject:
- Music, Opera
This chapter first looks at Act IV, Scene 1, a room in the castle. This scene anticipates Pelléas's fate as foreseen by his father. It then next looks at Act IV, Scene 2, which presents Mélisande as ...
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This chapter first looks at Act IV, Scene 1, a room in the castle. This scene anticipates Pelléas's fate as foreseen by his father. It then next looks at Act IV, Scene 2, which presents Mélisande as symbol of resurrection as foreseen by Arkel, while Golaud's vengeance and Mélisande's hair are presented as a symbol of the Crucifixion. Next the chapter turns to Act IV, Scene 3 — a well in the park — which provides a symbol of the sacrificial lamb. Scene 4 is based on the love duet and the death of Pelléas. Finally, the chapter looks at Act IV, Scene 4, which addresses structure and proportion in the service of musico-dramatic development and emotional climax. This scene presents the “Shadows” motif and “Ecstasy” motif. The fusion of light and dark is represented by octatonic fusion of pentatonic and whole-tone sets. The scene culminates with Golaud's vengeance and the fulfillment of fate.Less
This chapter first looks at Act IV, Scene 1, a room in the castle. This scene anticipates Pelléas's fate as foreseen by his father. It then next looks at Act IV, Scene 2, which presents Mélisande as symbol of resurrection as foreseen by Arkel, while Golaud's vengeance and Mélisande's hair are presented as a symbol of the Crucifixion. Next the chapter turns to Act IV, Scene 3 — a well in the park — which provides a symbol of the sacrificial lamb. Scene 4 is based on the love duet and the death of Pelléas. Finally, the chapter looks at Act IV, Scene 4, which addresses structure and proportion in the service of musico-dramatic development and emotional climax. This scene presents the “Shadows” motif and “Ecstasy” motif. The fusion of light and dark is represented by octatonic fusion of pentatonic and whole-tone sets. The scene culminates with Golaud's vengeance and the fulfillment of fate.
Stuart Carroll
- Published in print:
- 2006
- Published Online:
- January 2010
- ISBN:
- 9780199290451
- eISBN:
- 9780191710490
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199290451.001.0001
- Subject:
- History, European Early Modern History
The rise of civilised conduct and behaviour has long been considered as one of the major factors in the transformation from medieval to modern society. Thinkers and historians alike argue that ...
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The rise of civilised conduct and behaviour has long been considered as one of the major factors in the transformation from medieval to modern society. Thinkers and historians alike argue that violence progressively declined as men learned to control their emotions. The feud is a phenomenon associated with backward societies, and in the West duelling codified behaviour and channelled aggression into ritualised combats that satisfied honour without the shedding of blood. French manners and codes of civility laid the foundations of civilised Western values. But as this original work of archival research shows, we continue to romanticise violence in the era of the swashbuckling swordsman. In France, thousands of men died in duels in which the rules of the game were regularly flouted. Many duels were in fact mini-battles and must be seen not as a replacement of the blood feud, but as a continuation of vengeance in a much bloodier form. This book outlines the nature of feuding in France and its intensification in the wake of the Protestant Reformation, civil war, and dynastic weakness, and considers the solutions proposed by thinkers from Michel de Montaigne to Thomas Hobbes. The creation of the largest standing army in Europe since the Romans was one such solution, but the militarisation of society, a model adopted throughout Europe, reveals the darker side of the civilising process.Less
The rise of civilised conduct and behaviour has long been considered as one of the major factors in the transformation from medieval to modern society. Thinkers and historians alike argue that violence progressively declined as men learned to control their emotions. The feud is a phenomenon associated with backward societies, and in the West duelling codified behaviour and channelled aggression into ritualised combats that satisfied honour without the shedding of blood. French manners and codes of civility laid the foundations of civilised Western values. But as this original work of archival research shows, we continue to romanticise violence in the era of the swashbuckling swordsman. In France, thousands of men died in duels in which the rules of the game were regularly flouted. Many duels were in fact mini-battles and must be seen not as a replacement of the blood feud, but as a continuation of vengeance in a much bloodier form. This book outlines the nature of feuding in France and its intensification in the wake of the Protestant Reformation, civil war, and dynastic weakness, and considers the solutions proposed by thinkers from Michel de Montaigne to Thomas Hobbes. The creation of the largest standing army in Europe since the Romans was one such solution, but the militarisation of society, a model adopted throughout Europe, reveals the darker side of the civilising process.
Solomon Schimmel
- Published in print:
- 2002
- Published Online:
- November 2003
- ISBN:
- 9780195128413
- eISBN:
- 9780199834648
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/0195128419.003.0002
- Subject:
- Religion, Religion and Society
Examines the emotion of revenge from biological, psychological, biblical, Jewish, Christian, and philosophical perspectives, and the relationship between revenge, retribution, and justice. The author ...
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Examines the emotion of revenge from biological, psychological, biblical, Jewish, Christian, and philosophical perspectives, and the relationship between revenge, retribution, and justice. The author explores the dual ethic, which condemns vengeance against members of one's own group but not against “the other”, and discusses the relationship between the desire for vengeance and the Christian concept of Hell. The chapter concludes with a discussion of “grudge theory” – why we maintain grudges, and the benefits and liabilities of doing so for the grudge holder.Less
Examines the emotion of revenge from biological, psychological, biblical, Jewish, Christian, and philosophical perspectives, and the relationship between revenge, retribution, and justice. The author explores the dual ethic, which condemns vengeance against members of one's own group but not against “the other”, and discusses the relationship between the desire for vengeance and the Christian concept of Hell. The chapter concludes with a discussion of “grudge theory” – why we maintain grudges, and the benefits and liabilities of doing so for the grudge holder.
Solomon Schimmel
- Published in print:
- 2002
- Published Online:
- November 2003
- ISBN:
- 9780195128413
- eISBN:
- 9780199834648
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/0195128419.003.0009
- Subject:
- Religion, Religion and Society
The epilogue discusses the experience of South Africa and its Truth and Reconciliation Commission (T.R.C.) in attempting to avoid revenge and violence in the transition from white minority to black ...
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The epilogue discusses the experience of South Africa and its Truth and Reconciliation Commission (T.R.C.) in attempting to avoid revenge and violence in the transition from white minority to black majority power in the 1990s. The author discusses the rationales given by advocates of the T.R.C. for its amnesty provisions, and the claims of opponents that the T.R.C. ignored the values of justice, accountability, and responsibility for one's misdeeds. The author concludes that we have much to learn from the efforts of South Africans to reconcile with a much lower level of rancor, vengeance, and violence that might have been anticipated given the history of apartheid injustices and human rights violations.Less
The epilogue discusses the experience of South Africa and its Truth and Reconciliation Commission (T.R.C.) in attempting to avoid revenge and violence in the transition from white minority to black majority power in the 1990s. The author discusses the rationales given by advocates of the T.R.C. for its amnesty provisions, and the claims of opponents that the T.R.C. ignored the values of justice, accountability, and responsibility for one's misdeeds. The author concludes that we have much to learn from the efforts of South Africans to reconcile with a much lower level of rancor, vengeance, and violence that might have been anticipated given the history of apartheid injustices and human rights violations.
Stuart Carroll
- Published in print:
- 2006
- Published Online:
- January 2010
- ISBN:
- 9780199290451
- eISBN:
- 9780191710490
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199290451.003.0013
- Subject:
- History, European Early Modern History
Although the regime of Henri IV marks a watershed in traditional political history in France, for feuding parties it had less discernible impact or merely interrupted their quarrels. For historians ...
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Although the regime of Henri IV marks a watershed in traditional political history in France, for feuding parties it had less discernible impact or merely interrupted their quarrels. For historians of violence, the traditional chronology is an imperfect guide: the deep scars caused by the Wars of Religion were not quick to heal after 1598, the infection of violence and disorder had spread to all areas of the body politic, and old wounds were reopened and sometimes inflamed by the remedies proposed for their amelioration. This chapter looks at feuding in France prior to the Wars of Religion, Calvinism and its role in the perpetuation of vengeance and conspiracy, how confessional identity and religious conviction sharpened feuding among the nobles and intensified disputes, and the blood feud between the two most powerful families in France in the 16th century.Less
Although the regime of Henri IV marks a watershed in traditional political history in France, for feuding parties it had less discernible impact or merely interrupted their quarrels. For historians of violence, the traditional chronology is an imperfect guide: the deep scars caused by the Wars of Religion were not quick to heal after 1598, the infection of violence and disorder had spread to all areas of the body politic, and old wounds were reopened and sometimes inflamed by the remedies proposed for their amelioration. This chapter looks at feuding in France prior to the Wars of Religion, Calvinism and its role in the perpetuation of vengeance and conspiracy, how confessional identity and religious conviction sharpened feuding among the nobles and intensified disputes, and the blood feud between the two most powerful families in France in the 16th century.
Stuart Carroll
- Published in print:
- 2006
- Published Online:
- January 2010
- ISBN:
- 9780199290451
- eISBN:
- 9780191710490
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199290451.003.0001
- Subject:
- History, European Early Modern History
Vengeance fascinates us because it is always ambivalent. Ambivalent because it has two registers: one, vindictive, derives from instinct and comprises an impulse for revenge driven by passion and ...
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Vengeance fascinates us because it is always ambivalent. Ambivalent because it has two registers: one, vindictive, derives from instinct and comprises an impulse for revenge driven by passion and appetite; the other, vindicatory, derives from law and human society and incorporates retribution as a form of reciprocity or compensation that restores equilibrium. A study of vindicatory violence that crosses the traditional medieval-early modern divide and covers the age of absolutism is important for empirical reasons alone. While accepting that many violent exchanges between feuding groups may not involve bloodshed, this study is based on the assumption that blood taking is integral to the process of feuding, but that not all acts of blood revenge are necessarily indicative of a feud. This book investigates the causes and dynamics of vindicatory violence in early modern France, the role of kinship and honour in the process, the nature of combat, and how it was experienced, represented, and legitimised.Less
Vengeance fascinates us because it is always ambivalent. Ambivalent because it has two registers: one, vindictive, derives from instinct and comprises an impulse for revenge driven by passion and appetite; the other, vindicatory, derives from law and human society and incorporates retribution as a form of reciprocity or compensation that restores equilibrium. A study of vindicatory violence that crosses the traditional medieval-early modern divide and covers the age of absolutism is important for empirical reasons alone. While accepting that many violent exchanges between feuding groups may not involve bloodshed, this study is based on the assumption that blood taking is integral to the process of feuding, but that not all acts of blood revenge are necessarily indicative of a feud. This book investigates the causes and dynamics of vindicatory violence in early modern France, the role of kinship and honour in the process, the nature of combat, and how it was experienced, represented, and legitimised.
Stuart Carroll
- Published in print:
- 2006
- Published Online:
- January 2010
- ISBN:
- 9780199290451
- eISBN:
- 9780191710490
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199290451.003.0006
- Subject:
- History, European Early Modern History
Counsel is one of the most important, least understood, and most elusive elements of politics in early modern France. Table talk in all households revolved around plots and schemes designed to ...
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Counsel is one of the most important, least understood, and most elusive elements of politics in early modern France. Table talk in all households revolved around plots and schemes designed to further the lineage at the expense of one's neighbour. Plots were disguised as fair duels or chance encounters. Behind much of the surviving evidence of face-to-face killing in this period lies the hidden history of calculation and conspiracy. One of the best documented vengeance killings of the 17th century involving two feuding families provides a good opportunity to explore the dynamics of family decision making and group solidarity. This chapter also discusses ambush and surprise attacks, use of disguise and concealment to commit crime, and escape of those who committed the crime.Less
Counsel is one of the most important, least understood, and most elusive elements of politics in early modern France. Table talk in all households revolved around plots and schemes designed to further the lineage at the expense of one's neighbour. Plots were disguised as fair duels or chance encounters. Behind much of the surviving evidence of face-to-face killing in this period lies the hidden history of calculation and conspiracy. One of the best documented vengeance killings of the 17th century involving two feuding families provides a good opportunity to explore the dynamics of family decision making and group solidarity. This chapter also discusses ambush and surprise attacks, use of disguise and concealment to commit crime, and escape of those who committed the crime.
Stuart Carroll
- Published in print:
- 2006
- Published Online:
- January 2010
- ISBN:
- 9780199290451
- eISBN:
- 9780191710490
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199290451.003.0008
- Subject:
- History, European Early Modern History
Where vengeance killings or duels took place in the full glare of the public gaze they were thereby legitimised. The ritual elements of combat have been exaggerated, but it is undoubtedly true that ...
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Where vengeance killings or duels took place in the full glare of the public gaze they were thereby legitimised. The ritual elements of combat have been exaggerated, but it is undoubtedly true that public acts of vindicatory violence contained a performative element. In France, verbal duelling was often the preliminary to an act of violence and when combatants stood face to face exchanges introduced the action. The rules of mounted combat were different from those on foot. Flight was obviously more of a possibility on horse than on foot, and a good horse could be a life-saver — making the horse itself a target. The festive and ceremonial calendar provided other opportunities for highly public demonstrations of power through display, intimidation, and violence. This chapter also examines the tendency of the victor to deprive the victim of the comforts of faith and subject him to humiliation, along with the desecration of the loser's dead body.Less
Where vengeance killings or duels took place in the full glare of the public gaze they were thereby legitimised. The ritual elements of combat have been exaggerated, but it is undoubtedly true that public acts of vindicatory violence contained a performative element. In France, verbal duelling was often the preliminary to an act of violence and when combatants stood face to face exchanges introduced the action. The rules of mounted combat were different from those on foot. Flight was obviously more of a possibility on horse than on foot, and a good horse could be a life-saver — making the horse itself a target. The festive and ceremonial calendar provided other opportunities for highly public demonstrations of power through display, intimidation, and violence. This chapter also examines the tendency of the victor to deprive the victim of the comforts of faith and subject him to humiliation, along with the desecration of the loser's dead body.
Jonathan Burnside
- Published in print:
- 2010
- Published Online:
- January 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780199759217
- eISBN:
- 9780199827084
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199759217.003.0008
- Subject:
- Law, Public International Law
This chapter shows how biblical law distinguishes between premeditated, spur of the moment, and accidental homicide, and thus tries to strike a particular balance between harm and culpability. ...
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This chapter shows how biblical law distinguishes between premeditated, spur of the moment, and accidental homicide, and thus tries to strike a particular balance between harm and culpability. Central to this is the operation of the biblical laws of asylum, either at a divinely-approved altar or at a city of refuge. Biblical law takes seriously the value of human life—both the value of the victim's life and the need to protect the life of the offender, in certain circumstances. This is consistent with the limits that are set to blood vengeance and to other forms of vengeance, as expressed in the lex talionis. This is concerned with both quantitative and qualitative proportionality. The discussion includes some key biblical narratives, including the story of Cain and Abel.Less
This chapter shows how biblical law distinguishes between premeditated, spur of the moment, and accidental homicide, and thus tries to strike a particular balance between harm and culpability. Central to this is the operation of the biblical laws of asylum, either at a divinely-approved altar or at a city of refuge. Biblical law takes seriously the value of human life—both the value of the victim's life and the need to protect the life of the offender, in certain circumstances. This is consistent with the limits that are set to blood vengeance and to other forms of vengeance, as expressed in the lex talionis. This is concerned with both quantitative and qualitative proportionality. The discussion includes some key biblical narratives, including the story of Cain and Abel.
Micaela Janan
- Published in print:
- 2009
- Published Online:
- February 2010
- ISBN:
- 9780199556922
- eISBN:
- 9780191721021
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199556922.003.0003
- Subject:
- Classical Studies, Literary Studies: Classical, Early, and Medieval
This chapter focuses on Juno's harassment of Jupiter's sexual objects in Met. 1–4. This steadily escalating series of reprisals against the goddess' rivals culminates at Thebes when Juno tricks ...
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This chapter focuses on Juno's harassment of Jupiter's sexual objects in Met. 1–4. This steadily escalating series of reprisals against the goddess' rivals culminates at Thebes when Juno tricks Semele into flaming death at Jupiter's hands. In contrast to the Aeneid, where Vergil's Juno embodies pure ruthless vengeance opposed to (Roman) order and civilization, the chapter uses Freud's concept of melancholia (excessive grief over loss) to articulate an ethical dimension to the Ovidian Juno's wrath. Ovid's goddess remains unshakeably loyal to a ‘lost’ object, a fidelity logically corollary to her identity as the goddess of marriage. But she grieves over an object never actually possessed, exemplifying the kind phantasmatic loss that structures all subjectivity, human or divine. Juno's viciousness is shown to be, not an aberration, but stultifyingly intimate with the loftiest ideals articulated for lovers and citizens both.Less
This chapter focuses on Juno's harassment of Jupiter's sexual objects in Met. 1–4. This steadily escalating series of reprisals against the goddess' rivals culminates at Thebes when Juno tricks Semele into flaming death at Jupiter's hands. In contrast to the Aeneid, where Vergil's Juno embodies pure ruthless vengeance opposed to (Roman) order and civilization, the chapter uses Freud's concept of melancholia (excessive grief over loss) to articulate an ethical dimension to the Ovidian Juno's wrath. Ovid's goddess remains unshakeably loyal to a ‘lost’ object, a fidelity logically corollary to her identity as the goddess of marriage. But she grieves over an object never actually possessed, exemplifying the kind phantasmatic loss that structures all subjectivity, human or divine. Juno's viciousness is shown to be, not an aberration, but stultifyingly intimate with the loftiest ideals articulated for lovers and citizens both.
David Clark
- Published in print:
- 2012
- Published Online:
- May 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780199654307
- eISBN:
- 9780191742071
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199654307.003.0002
- Subject:
- Literature, European Literature, Early and Medieval Literature
Vengeance is of central importance to the heroic poems of the Poetic Edda; it underpins the action of each one. This first chapter focuses on the final four poems of the Codex Regius—Atlakviða, ...
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Vengeance is of central importance to the heroic poems of the Poetic Edda; it underpins the action of each one. This first chapter focuses on the final four poems of the Codex Regius—Atlakviða, Atlamál, Guðrúnarhvöt, and Hamðismál—since they constitute a manageable body of material for close analysis, unified by the figure of Guðrún, although containing significantly different perspectives on revenge. It is argued that the hero in these poems (whether male or female) is distanced and represented as belonging to the past, and that Hamðismál and Atlakviða even seek to undermine the heroic ideal of vengeance. The chapter also asks whether the portrayal of Guðrún is anti-feminist, or in fact represents an autonomous female figure, in control of her own destiny, using gender theorists such as Carol Clover and Pamela Robertson.Less
Vengeance is of central importance to the heroic poems of the Poetic Edda; it underpins the action of each one. This first chapter focuses on the final four poems of the Codex Regius—Atlakviða, Atlamál, Guðrúnarhvöt, and Hamðismál—since they constitute a manageable body of material for close analysis, unified by the figure of Guðrún, although containing significantly different perspectives on revenge. It is argued that the hero in these poems (whether male or female) is distanced and represented as belonging to the past, and that Hamðismál and Atlakviða even seek to undermine the heroic ideal of vengeance. The chapter also asks whether the portrayal of Guðrún is anti-feminist, or in fact represents an autonomous female figure, in control of her own destiny, using gender theorists such as Carol Clover and Pamela Robertson.
David Clark
- Published in print:
- 2012
- Published Online:
- May 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780199654307
- eISBN:
- 9780191742071
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199654307.003.0005
- Subject:
- Literature, European Literature, Early and Medieval Literature
As a means of transition from the analysis of primarily Eddaic material to the textual dynamic of the sagas, this chapter takes a single saga as the basis for an analysis of the relationship between ...
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As a means of transition from the analysis of primarily Eddaic material to the textual dynamic of the sagas, this chapter takes a single saga as the basis for an analysis of the relationship between Edda and saga, and the use of the former by one saga author in connection with the dynamic he explores. In this dynamic, as we shall see, familial (and particularly sibling) relationships are pitted against (and violently implicated in) sexual ones. Of all the family sagas, Gísla saga makes most striking use of Eddaic motifs, particularly regarding the symbolic role of the Eddaic heroine Guðrún Giúkadóttir to represent the old way of vengeance. In Gísla saga this use of and relation to the past is bound up with the network of sexual themes which runs through the text, and the discussion focuses particularly on the concepts of níð, or the imputation of stigmatized effeminacy, and phallic aggression.Less
As a means of transition from the analysis of primarily Eddaic material to the textual dynamic of the sagas, this chapter takes a single saga as the basis for an analysis of the relationship between Edda and saga, and the use of the former by one saga author in connection with the dynamic he explores. In this dynamic, as we shall see, familial (and particularly sibling) relationships are pitted against (and violently implicated in) sexual ones. Of all the family sagas, Gísla saga makes most striking use of Eddaic motifs, particularly regarding the symbolic role of the Eddaic heroine Guðrún Giúkadóttir to represent the old way of vengeance. In Gísla saga this use of and relation to the past is bound up with the network of sexual themes which runs through the text, and the discussion focuses particularly on the concepts of níð, or the imputation of stigmatized effeminacy, and phallic aggression.
David Clark
- Published in print:
- 2012
- Published Online:
- May 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780199654307
- eISBN:
- 9780191742071
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199654307.003.0006
- Subject:
- Literature, European Literature, Early and Medieval Literature
This chapter considers the changing attitudes to clerical and secular vengeance in medieval Iceland. It adduces evidence from a range of legal, political, and ecclesiastical documents to ...
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This chapter considers the changing attitudes to clerical and secular vengeance in medieval Iceland. It adduces evidence from a range of legal, political, and ecclesiastical documents to contextualize a study of the representation of revenge in family and contemporary sagas in the light of ecclesiastical precepts. The analysis points to a growing perception on the part of Norse authors that secular revenge must be tempered with moderation, and that clerics should not involve themselves in acts of vengeance, although this is often difficult for them because the failure to take revenge can often seem to impugn their masculinity. Within the sagas, religious figures are employed variously as the moderating voice, and as those implicated in the turmoil of the Sturlung Age. The analysis indicates that revenge comes to be viewed in the sagas as something that belongs to the past, but with a stranglehold on the present which is hard to shake off.Less
This chapter considers the changing attitudes to clerical and secular vengeance in medieval Iceland. It adduces evidence from a range of legal, political, and ecclesiastical documents to contextualize a study of the representation of revenge in family and contemporary sagas in the light of ecclesiastical precepts. The analysis points to a growing perception on the part of Norse authors that secular revenge must be tempered with moderation, and that clerics should not involve themselves in acts of vengeance, although this is often difficult for them because the failure to take revenge can often seem to impugn their masculinity. Within the sagas, religious figures are employed variously as the moderating voice, and as those implicated in the turmoil of the Sturlung Age. The analysis indicates that revenge comes to be viewed in the sagas as something that belongs to the past, but with a stranglehold on the present which is hard to shake off.
Ashraf H. A. Rushdy
- Published in print:
- 2012
- Published Online:
- October 2013
- ISBN:
- 9780300181388
- eISBN:
- 9780300184747
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Yale University Press
- DOI:
- 10.12987/yale/9780300181388.001.0001
- Subject:
- History, African-American History
This book explains how lynching arose precisely out of an ideology of the sense of the rights accrued to someone possessing democratic freedom, and the sense that those rights were directly and ...
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This book explains how lynching arose precisely out of an ideology of the sense of the rights accrued to someone possessing democratic freedom, and the sense that those rights were directly and formally a product of the earliest and most essential mandates of a slave society. Lynching can be broadly defined as the extralegal pursuit of vengeance against an offender of communal moral standards. The rationales and justifications that lynchers and their apologists produced to tease out the defenses of lynching reveal about American political discourse of all kinds are examined in this book. The most recent manifestations of the American political discourse has been African American public figures who have described their political ordeals as a high-technology lynching, and media coverage of a legal indictment for perjury as exhibiting an unethical, illegal lynch mob mentality. In more regular ways, frequent metaphorical employments of lynching are used as a way of terrorizing black Americans. The book demonstrates that the practice of lynching in American history is not only shameful but also central, and recognizes the ways in which lynching is both a metaphor and literal continues to haunt the republic.Less
This book explains how lynching arose precisely out of an ideology of the sense of the rights accrued to someone possessing democratic freedom, and the sense that those rights were directly and formally a product of the earliest and most essential mandates of a slave society. Lynching can be broadly defined as the extralegal pursuit of vengeance against an offender of communal moral standards. The rationales and justifications that lynchers and their apologists produced to tease out the defenses of lynching reveal about American political discourse of all kinds are examined in this book. The most recent manifestations of the American political discourse has been African American public figures who have described their political ordeals as a high-technology lynching, and media coverage of a legal indictment for perjury as exhibiting an unethical, illegal lynch mob mentality. In more regular ways, frequent metaphorical employments of lynching are used as a way of terrorizing black Americans. The book demonstrates that the practice of lynching in American history is not only shameful but also central, and recognizes the ways in which lynching is both a metaphor and literal continues to haunt the republic.
Robert C. Solomon
- Published in print:
- 2004
- Published Online:
- November 2004
- ISBN:
- 9780195145502
- eISBN:
- 9780199834969
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/019514550X.001.0001
- Subject:
- Philosophy, Philosophy of Mind
Philosophy has as much to do with feelings as it does with thoughts and thinking. It requires sensitivity and a kind of devotion as well as curiosity about the world and a critical spirit. It is a ...
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Philosophy has as much to do with feelings as it does with thoughts and thinking. It requires sensitivity and a kind of devotion as well as curiosity about the world and a critical spirit. It is a fascination not only with abstract ideas and logically possible worlds but with concrete and very real human concerns and engagements, “the human condition” To be a philosopher is to be steadfastly attentive to what it means to be human, to the passions as well as to much-celebrated “rationality” It is to be concerned with what it means to “exist,” to the satisfactions and worries and real life joys and confusions that affect us all. That is why one of the canonical exhortations in philosophy, inherited from the Delphic Oracle via Socrates, has always been “know thyself,” for it is through unusually rigorous self-examination that we come to know not only ourselves but our Selves, our deepest feelings, fears, and hopes. Philosophy, accordingly, in its concern for feelings, requires not only emotional sensitivity but an understanding of the emotions, not as curious but marginal psychological phenomena but as the very substance of life. And yet, philosophy and philosophers have much more often than not shunned the emotions and defined their profession and themselves strictly in terms of reason and rationality. In the history of philosophy sensitivity is often dismissed as mere “sentimentality.” Sentiment and sentimentality are to be avoided. In this book I am concerned to defend sentimentality and the emotions–at least, some emotions–as essential to life. Foremost among the essential emotions are the sentiments of love and compassion. Not all of the sentiments are so kindly, however. Accordingly, I discuss not only such “moral sentiments” as sympathy and compassion but also grief, gratitude, love, horror, and even vengeance. All of these have suffered from considerable abuse, though from different quarters, but all of them play a central if not essential role in our experience and our lives.Less
Philosophy has as much to do with feelings as it does with thoughts and thinking. It requires sensitivity and a kind of devotion as well as curiosity about the world and a critical spirit. It is a fascination not only with abstract ideas and logically possible worlds but with concrete and very real human concerns and engagements, “the human condition” To be a philosopher is to be steadfastly attentive to what it means to be human, to the passions as well as to much-celebrated “rationality” It is to be concerned with what it means to “exist,” to the satisfactions and worries and real life joys and confusions that affect us all. That is why one of the canonical exhortations in philosophy, inherited from the Delphic Oracle via Socrates, has always been “know thyself,” for it is through unusually rigorous self-examination that we come to know not only ourselves but our Selves, our deepest feelings, fears, and hopes. Philosophy, accordingly, in its concern for feelings, requires not only emotional sensitivity but an understanding of the emotions, not as curious but marginal psychological phenomena but as the very substance of life. And yet, philosophy and philosophers have much more often than not shunned the emotions and defined their profession and themselves strictly in terms of reason and rationality. In the history of philosophy sensitivity is often dismissed as mere “sentimentality.” Sentiment and sentimentality are to be avoided. In this book I am concerned to defend sentimentality and the emotions–at least, some emotions–as essential to life. Foremost among the essential emotions are the sentiments of love and compassion. Not all of the sentiments are so kindly, however. Accordingly, I discuss not only such “moral sentiments” as sympathy and compassion but also grief, gratitude, love, horror, and even vengeance. All of these have suffered from considerable abuse, though from different quarters, but all of them play a central if not essential role in our experience and our lives.
Emily Katz Anhalt
- Published in print:
- 2017
- Published Online:
- January 2018
- ISBN:
- 9780300217377
- eISBN:
- 9780300231762
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Yale University Press
- DOI:
- 10.12987/yale/9780300217377.001.0001
- Subject:
- Literature, Criticism/Theory
Millennia ago, Greek myths exposed the dangers of violent rage and the need for empathy and self-restraint. Homer's Iliad, Euripides' Hecuba, and Sophocles' Ajax show that anger and vengeance destroy ...
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Millennia ago, Greek myths exposed the dangers of violent rage and the need for empathy and self-restraint. Homer's Iliad, Euripides' Hecuba, and Sophocles' Ajax show that anger and vengeance destroy perpetrators and victims alike. Composed before and during the ancient Greeks' groundbreaking movement away from autocracy toward more inclusive political participation, these stories offer guidelines for modern efforts to create and maintain civil societies. The book reveals how these three masterworks of classical Greek literature can teach us, as they taught the ancient Greeks, to recognize violent revenge as a marker of illogical thinking and poor leadership. These time-honored texts emphasize the costs of our dangerous penchant for glorifying violent rage and those who would indulge in it. By promoting compassion, rational thought, and debate, Greek myths help to arm us against the tyrants we might serve and the tyrants we might become.Less
Millennia ago, Greek myths exposed the dangers of violent rage and the need for empathy and self-restraint. Homer's Iliad, Euripides' Hecuba, and Sophocles' Ajax show that anger and vengeance destroy perpetrators and victims alike. Composed before and during the ancient Greeks' groundbreaking movement away from autocracy toward more inclusive political participation, these stories offer guidelines for modern efforts to create and maintain civil societies. The book reveals how these three masterworks of classical Greek literature can teach us, as they taught the ancient Greeks, to recognize violent revenge as a marker of illogical thinking and poor leadership. These time-honored texts emphasize the costs of our dangerous penchant for glorifying violent rage and those who would indulge in it. By promoting compassion, rational thought, and debate, Greek myths help to arm us against the tyrants we might serve and the tyrants we might become.
Robert C. Solomon
- Published in print:
- 2004
- Published Online:
- November 2004
- ISBN:
- 9780195145502
- eISBN:
- 9780199834969
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/019514550X.003.0002
- Subject:
- Philosophy, Philosophy of Mind
Justice is typically treated in philosophy and political science as a matter of theory and reasoning. I argue instead for a conception of justice (and injustice) based first of all on emotions, in ...
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Justice is typically treated in philosophy and political science as a matter of theory and reasoning. I argue instead for a conception of justice (and injustice) based first of all on emotions, in particular, the emotions of compassion, caring, and vengeance.Less
Justice is typically treated in philosophy and political science as a matter of theory and reasoning. I argue instead for a conception of justice (and injustice) based first of all on emotions, in particular, the emotions of compassion, caring, and vengeance.
Robert C. Solomon
- Published in print:
- 2008
- Published Online:
- October 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780195368536
- eISBN:
- 9780199852031
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195368536.003.0009
- Subject:
- Philosophy, Philosophy of Mind
This chapter discusses several rather nasty and double-edged emotions, double-edged in that they tend to be remarkably self-destructive even as they are aimed at bringing down other people. These ...
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This chapter discusses several rather nasty and double-edged emotions, double-edged in that they tend to be remarkably self-destructive even as they are aimed at bringing down other people. These include envy, spite, jealousy, resentment, and vengeance.Less
This chapter discusses several rather nasty and double-edged emotions, double-edged in that they tend to be remarkably self-destructive even as they are aimed at bringing down other people. These include envy, spite, jealousy, resentment, and vengeance.
John Kerrigan
- Published in print:
- 1997
- Published Online:
- October 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780198184515
- eISBN:
- 9780191674280
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198184515.003.0009
- Subject:
- Literature, European Literature, Film, Media, and Cultural Studies
Calamities such as fires, tsunamis, earthquakes, and volcanic eruptions are for some not nature's actions but God's vengeance. Similarly, God's favor and good graces are linked to good weather and a ...
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Calamities such as fires, tsunamis, earthquakes, and volcanic eruptions are for some not nature's actions but God's vengeance. Similarly, God's favor and good graces are linked to good weather and a bountiful harvest. Even the concept of revenge and punishment is bestowed on a sovereign being. Suffering is seen as a punishment for the sinner, while the virtuous are spared. It is the love of God that compels such acts, similar to what a father would do to discipline his child. This concept is adapted by some of the plays described in the chapter: revenge that is love born and driven by possession and reproach. These stories, combined with powerful music as seen in drama, gives life and produces a surge of emotions in the audience so that they can truly sense the message of the story.Less
Calamities such as fires, tsunamis, earthquakes, and volcanic eruptions are for some not nature's actions but God's vengeance. Similarly, God's favor and good graces are linked to good weather and a bountiful harvest. Even the concept of revenge and punishment is bestowed on a sovereign being. Suffering is seen as a punishment for the sinner, while the virtuous are spared. It is the love of God that compels such acts, similar to what a father would do to discipline his child. This concept is adapted by some of the plays described in the chapter: revenge that is love born and driven by possession and reproach. These stories, combined with powerful music as seen in drama, gives life and produces a surge of emotions in the audience so that they can truly sense the message of the story.
