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Revenge is retaliation against a person or group in response to a wrong-doing by that person or group. Although many aspects of revenge are similar to the concept of making things equal, the goal of revenge is usually more injurious than constructive. Proponents of revenge wish to make the other side go through what they went through or make sure they'll never be able to do what they did again.

Revenge is a hotly contested ethical issue in philosophy. Some feel it is necessary to maintain a just society. In some societies, it is believed that the damage inflicted should be greater than the original one, as a punitive measure. The Old Testament philosophy of " an eye for an eye" tried to limit the allowed damage to avoid a violence spiral . Detractors argue revenge is more like the logical fallacy " two wrongs make a right." Some Christians quote the line "'Revenge is mine' says the Lord" which is to say that, in their faith, only God has the moral right to exact revenge.

In Japan´s feudal past the Samurai class upheld the honor of their family, clan, or their lord by katakiuchi (敵討ち), or revenge killings. These killings could also involve the relatives of an offender. Today katakiuchi is mostly pursued by peaceful means, but revenge remains an important part of Japanese culture.

The goal of some legal systems is limited to "just" revenge. However, a system evolved that substituted the damage of revenge with reparations like blood money or forcing a rapist to marry his victim. Modern Western legal systems usually state as their goal reeducation or reinsertion . Even in these systems, the notion of justice as revenge is held by part of the society.

Revenge has been a popular theme for art and culture throughout history. Many popular motion pictures have used it as a central theme, including Payback , The Wrath of Khan and Kill BillKill Bill is the fourth feature film written and directed by Quentin Tarantino. Uma Thurman plays a character known only as "The Bride" (for the first half of the movie, at least) who is set on getting revenge against "Bill" ( David Carradine) and his squ. Classic literary examples of revenge stories include The OresteiaIntroduction The Oresteia is a trilogy of tragedies about the end of the curse on the House of Atreus, written by Aeschylus. It is the only surviving trilogy of ancient Greek plays, although the fourth satyr play that would have been performed with it has, HamletThe Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark is a tragedy by William Shakespeare and one of his most well-known and oft-quoted plays. Written between 1598 and the summer of 1602, this masterpiece of Elizabethan theatre first appeared in print in 1603 in a ver, The Merchant of VeniceThe Merchant of Venice is a famous comedy (note: at the time the play was written, "comedy" had a very different meaning; see Shakespearean comedies) by William Shakespeare, written at an uncertain date between 1594 and 1597. The play was entered in the S, Chushingura, Don GiovanniDon Giovanni is an opera in two acts with music by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and libretto by Lorenzo da Ponte. It was premiered in Prague on October 29, 1787. Of the many operas based on the legend of Don Juan, Mozart's is the most famous and widely regarde, La Forza del DestinoLa Forza del Destino is an opera in four acts by Giuseppe Verdi, with a libretto by Francesco Maria Piave, founded on a drama of the Duke of Rivas, called Don Alvaro o la Fuerzer del Sino''. It was first produced at the Imperial Theatre of St. Petersburg, Moby-Dick, The Cask of Amontillado, and The Count of Monte Cristo.

Some productions show disapproval for revenge as in the acclaimed episode, Heart of Ice. In this story, Mr. Freeze pursues a vendetta against a callous business executive, Harvey Boyle, whose interruption of a life saving, if unauthorized, procedure killed Freeze's wife and create his deadly intolerance of above freezing temperatures. Batman learns about this grudge and stops Freeze from murdering Boyle in revenge, but also presents evidence of Boyle's crime guarenteeing Boyle's arrest and giving Freeze justice. In Brother Bear, a young man starts a cycle of violent vengeance that brings more suffering to the loved ones around him that only ends when he realizes he had been wrong to start it and a young one he has grown to love and inadvertantly harmed in his vendetta finds the wisdom and moral strength to forgive him. In Moby-Dick, Ahab's absurd desire for revenge against the white whale, a dumb beast that has no concept of this human desire, leads his ship and crew to ruin.