Revenge

The epic poem, “Paradise Lost” by John Milton, conveys an important concept of revenge. Milton recounts the Book of Genesis where Adam and Eve commit mankind’s original sin. Adam and Eve serve as victims of Satan’s revenge against God.

Revenge is a common theme in many great plays, movies, and tv shows. Well known movies like Bring It On, Braveheart, and Mean Girls all have common themes of revenge. In fact, there is a tv named Revenge after for its (you know) revengeful plot!

Bring It On is one great example for revenge.

In Bring It On, the Clovers discovered that the Toros have been stealing their cheer choreography that won five consecutive national titles. The Clovers take revenge by planning to defeat the Toros at regional and national championships completely on their own. The same idea revenge is displayed in “Paradise Lost”. Satan and the rebel angels/devils gather in Pandemonium to discuss plans to corrupt God’s creation of humankind. The idea of revenge is to ‘even out’ actions brings on suffering. By taking on revenge, it temporarily helps the party feel that justice has been made even though they committed sins in the process of doing so.

The well-known movie, Braveheart, also extends the theme of Revenge within its storyline.

The idea in revenge is also illustrated in Braveheart. William Wallace has been a victim of King Edward “Longshanks”. The Longshanks have invaded and conquered Scotland and killed Wallace’s family and his wife. Wallace takes revenge by the gathering Scots for his army and fights in many battles to win Scotland’s freedom. In the following video, William Wallace sending a message to the Scotland army to fight for their freedom from the English. Although Satan in “Paradise Lost” does not have an army to take on revenge, he does assemble a group of devils that would aid him in his plan to have Adam and Eve commit a sin.

Finally, the very iCoNic movie, Mean Girls, is a prime example of revenge.

When Regina George find out that Cady’s disloyalty to the plastics, she prints out pages of the Burn Book and spreads it out all over school and frames Cady for it. Again, the idea of revenge presented in Milton’s epic is also illustrated in this movie. Both Satan and Regina George fall into the hands of evil. They commit more sins and bring on suffering for many in order to ‘get even’ with someone that previously hurt them.

This trade-off concept is a very common theme that continues to appear in many books, movies, and tv shows. Although revenge is portrayed in different spectrums of evil, the core concept that Milton illustrated in “Paradise Lost” in 1667 is still relevant in the 21st century.