Why Am I Writing about Revenge?
Why should one write about revenge?Ever since I went back to writing my novel on revenge, people around me keep asking me why I am writing on this topic. After all, revenge is the morally wrong thing to do, right?
I agree that revenge is morally wrong. I support this observation wholeheartedly. I am spiritually committed to the idea that it is wrong to do any harm to anyone.
Despite my spiritual commitment, I still think that the topic needs to be covered. My inspiration to deal with revenge has to do with the fact that nobody has a good spiritual or philosophical explanation on how to stop oneself from taking revenge when the person is feeling beyond angry. For example, Christians often emphasize the value of forgiveness. However, there is never any hint, idea or procedure about how a person in rage is going to get there. How does one get from rage to forgiveness? How does one forgive the person who has inflicted the pain?
This is where my novel comes in. The story is stereotypical in essence, which married couples are very familiar with. The wife suspects that her husband is cheating. One night, she takes the courage to check out her theory. She is right. She gains first person evidence that her husband is having an affair with another woman. She is so angry that there are no words to express her emotion. After all, he promised he would never do that! So, now what?
I threw in an extra twist to the story. Georgia, the wife, is an exceptionally intelligent, well-educated, patient, clever and cunning woman, somewhat reminiscent to the Greek Goddess, Métis. Naturally, this is a deadly combination of personality traits. It means that she is not the kind of woman who would just try to physically attack her husband or just shoot him in the back in cold blood. She is the type of woman who can cook up a really twisted revenge plot, which is ironically mostly directed at the mistress. In this scenario, the problem of taking revenge is exponentially greater than in the case where an angry wife just starts hitting her husband with a frying pan. Georgia can inflict serious pain on both her husband and his mistress.
Of course, I chose this scenario because the case of revenge in this instance becomes very complex. A woman who is asked to forgive her husband’s indiscretions is also a feminist issue. Over the past few decades, television audiences have seen politician after politician standing in front of a microphone asking for forgiveness for his infidelity, with his wife holding his hand. Many feminists feel betrayed by this move. The message is that a woman should endure any humiliation because her dignity does not matter. She should just endure any pain her husband measures out and just publically take it because life is all about the husband’s carrier. Given this feminist issue, is forgiveness still a straightforward matter? Should a woman like Georgia just forgive? Or, is her revenge a justified feminist move? And, even if she forgives, should her husband just get a pass? In short, how would a feminist read Georgia’s plan for revenge?
Once the plan for revenge is underway, a very unique and delicate operation unfolds in my novel. It gets sometimes morbid and sometimes hilarious. I am certain that my audience will get very excited about the plot. However, here is another complex set of questions: When the reader gets excited about Georgia’s revenge plot, what does this excitement say about the reader? Is secretly rooting for Georgia a sinful act on the part of the reader? So, are people really hard-wired to take revenge and is forgiveness just a politically correct action society brainwashed people into believing in? If everyone is really honest, what is the big picture here?
After taking a break from this project to finish my PhD, I am now back at it. I am willing to answer all of the above posed questions by working through the plot. I will tackle the issue of revenge head on. Even if I do not believe in taking revenge, it is necessary to deal with this issue. Once the novel is done, I will look for a traditional publisher this time. Wish me luck!
