By Nancy Patrick

I recently watched a movie with the strange title The Minute You Wake Up Dead and immediately questioned the writer’s sobriety when he wrote that title. However, as the plot progresses, the point becomes clear that the question refers to a person’s eternal destination when that time comes.

The movie is by no means spiritual or even religious in nature, but it does raise ethical and moral issues related to human behavior when people feel threatened or cheated. Many of us want revenge—the emotional response that occurs when someone feels wronged or betrayed. It includes feelings of anger, hurt, bitterness, and a desire for justice.

People have written about the topic for generations. The Bible in Romans 12:19 cautions: “Do not take revenge, my dear friends, but leave room for God’s wrath, for it is written: ‘It is mine to avenge; I will repay,’ says the Lord” (NIV).

My favorite novel, The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne, serves as the perfect example of the dangers of bitterness and revenge. I don’t know for sure why I became so engrossed in Hester Prynne’s story, but between her secret adultery with Reverend Arthur Dimmesdale and her estranged husband Roger Chillingworth’s obsession with punishing them, I found myself entranced with their world of hypocrisy and bitterness. 

Chillingworth’s only purpose in life became punishing the minister with spiritual torture that would eventually kill him. Hawthorne states his didactic caution to his readers near the end of the novel with the words:  “Be true! Be true! Be true! Show freely to the world, if not your worst, yet some trait whereby the worst may be inferred!”

Dimmesdale’s obsession with his reputation made him an easy target for Chillingworth’s venomous hatred. Ironically, Chillingworth, once a good man, had turned into a tormented demon, losing all sense of right and wrong, as he pursued his vengeful plan. His revenge accomplished not only the ruination of Rev. Dimmesdale but also his own death.

A more recent literary example of the danger of revenge arises in the novel Disclaimer by Reneé Knight. The plot involves a complicated story about an event that happened twenty years prior to the novel’s present setting. 

The facts simply reveal that while on a vacation in Spain a nineteen-year-old young man, Jonathan Brigstocke, drowned while saving the life of a five-year-old boy who had drifted out to sea on an inflatable raft.

The complications of the plot are similar to those of The Scarlet Letter in that the avenger blames a third party for a wrong. The parents of the young man who died believe the mother of the five-year-old boy he had saved passively watched him drown rather than calling for help, allowing him to die while she went on with her highly successful and prominent career.

The parents become so obsessed with their hatred and desire for revenge that the father embarks on a campaign to ruin the woman by destroying her reputation, her career, her marriage, and even implementing a plan for her son’s death.

By the end of the story, revenge wins its victory. The parents of the young man who died become shells of their former selves while their revenge destroys the woman’s life with the exception of her son’s life. Although he tried to kill himself, he survived the attempt.

You may have heard the expression “revenge is a dish best served cold.” The phrase originated in Eugène Sue’s novel Memoirs of Matilda, published in 1846. The original wording was “revenge is very good eaten old.”

The general idea is that avengers should take time to let their pain turn to bitterness as they contemplate, plan, and enjoy thinking about the revenge they will inflict on their enemy.

Edgar Allen Poe masterfully wrote about the power of revenge in his short story “The Cask of Amontillado.” In this story, the avenger is Montresor, a man who has endured “the thousands of injuries” of his enemy, Fortunato. 

Poe reveals the true purpose of revenge through Montresor’s words: “I must not only punish, but punish with impunity. A wrong is unredressed when retribution overtakes its redresser. It is equally unredressed when the avenger fails to make himself felt as such to him who has done the wrong.”

The Montresor coat of arms shows a human foot crushing a serpent whose fangs are embedded in the heel. The motto “nemo me impune lacessit” means  no one provokes me with impunity. Unfortunately, Fortunato did not connect himself with Montresor’s intentions.

According to Poe’s character, fulfilling revenge comes only when the avenger makes clear who performs the act, why it occurs, and that the avenger gets away with the revenge act with no repercussions. 

These stories reminded me of the danger and power revenge has to ruin lives. We are rightly hurt when someone betrays us or injures us or our loved ones, but seeking revenge against that person does not solve the problem. 

We often suffer betrayals and wrongs that may plant the seed of revenge. We see the wreckage of divorces and custody fights, the grief that results from drunk driving incidents, the ruination caused by addiction, the injustice of prejudice, and the pointlessness of wars.

My only consolation rests in trusting God to take care of his creation. I do not have the power to right the wrongs I see, but I can at least avoid causing the wrongs. Avengers ruin not only the ones they want to hurt but also leave themselves bitter shells of what God intended for them. So, will we wake up dead in heaven or hell?

Nancy Patrick is a retired teacher who lives in Abilene and enjoys writing