Unbidden but not entirely unwelcome, I have acquired an enemy. I have set into motion the means of achieving my revenge. Naught that I would write could approach, much less surpass, Poe's exquisite commentary from "The Cask of Amontillado":
The thousand injuries of Fortunato I had borne as best I could; but when he ventured upon insult, I vowed revenge. You, who so well know the nature of my soul, will not suppose however, that I gave utterance to a threat. At length I would be avenged; this was a point definitely settled—but the very definiteness with which it was resolved, precluded the idea of risk. 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.
Or, from Alfred Bester's novel, The Stars My Destination:
"You pass me by," he said with slow mounting fury. "You leave me rot like a dog. You leave me die, Vorga… Vorga-T:1339. No. I get out of here, me. I follow you, Vorga. I find you, Vorga. I pay you back, me. I rot you. I kill you, Vorga. I kill you filthy."
The acid of fury ran through him, eating away the brute patience and sluggishness that had made a cipher of Gully Foyle, precipitating a chain of reactions that would make an infernal machine of Gully Foyle. He was dedicated.
"Vorga, I kill you filthy."
I kill you filthy.
15 comments:
Wow. When you come back, you come back with a vengeance.
http://brendagiguere.blogspot.com
Drama queen.
I will never apologize for trying to wring out of life every drop of drama possible, even if that's more drama than is advisable.
Ah, but I do love the strength of your convictions.
By the way, the deleted post at the top of the queue was me, an error, so you're not missing anything.
I don't know what it looks like to you guys, but when I open up the comments the first is blank but for the line, "This post has been removed by the author." I am emailed each time a comment is left, and I still have that original comment in my emailbox. Since the deleted comment was recreated exactly, I went ahead and assumed the deletion had been inadvertent.
Also, with grudging thanks to My Chemical Romance, three cheers for sweet revenge. Hip hip! Hooray! Hip hip! Hooray! Hip hip! Hooray!
man, "The Cask of Amontillado" is so insanely good.
"For the love of God, Montresor!"
"Yes," I said, "for the love of God!"
We had an assignment on that in 7th grade English, where we had to write a coda to the story ... in mine, Montresor gets away with it. I don't think that's what I was supposed to write, so I got a C.
That aside, indifference is always the best revenge.
Indifference the best revenge? I disagree wholly. Though there is not a shred of evidence that Edmund Burke wrote the following, the unknown authorship does not diminish these words' significance and essential truth: "All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing." The indifference that you so treasure, and the inaction that springs forth, is precisely the fuel that the world's villains count upon.
Revenge is the best revenge.
If you actually wrote about what's going on, we could evaluate whether indifference or blood is the appropriate form of revenge.
I sympathize with your position, Skeeter, but The Secret Base is more heavily trafficked than one might suppose judging by the comments and loose lips have been known to sink ships. I reemphasize the words of M. Poe: "You, who so well know the nature of my soul, will not suppose however, that I gave utterance to a threat. …precluded the idea of risk. I must not only punish, but punish with impunity." I will be happy to relate to you the particulars in a less public venue.
Also, blood? Ye gods, woman, why do you insist on acting as if we have never met face-to-face, much less been dear friends for fifteen years? Blood? Never in my life have I engaged in the sort of violence you are inferring. We are trying to have a civilization here, and that kind of civil strife stands in direct opposition to the goals of our society. My revenge involves physical harm to not one single human person. Shame on you for suggesting such a thing.
I assumed you weren't using the word "kill" any more literally any more than i was using the word "blood," but maybe i missed something?
I suppose I consider the great difference to have been that my use of "kill" was in quotation of an identified work, whereas your use of "blood" was of your own invention. Therefore kill was not my own word, but blood was yours. Perhaps I was mistaken in spying such a distinction.
I'd say so. That's a pretty bizarre misinterpretation.
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