Revenge is a reaction—you can't get revenge without someone else provoking you into pursuing it, obviously. In The White Devil, revenge takes the form of murder: it follows the same physical law, stating that every action needs to have an equal and opposite reaction. Since the action was murder (the murders of Camillo and Isabella), the reaction is going to be murder as well. But revenge never works out quite the way you planned—or it does if you're Francisco or the Cardinal, but not if you're Lodovico. In a way, Lodovico's own murders and crimes from the past end up coming back to get him—sure, he might have served justice by killing Flamineo and Vittoria, but he has too many sins on his head to escape poetic justice himself. He has nothing to look forward to but torture and death.
Questions About Revenge
- Is it ever right to pursue revenge? Or should you always "turn the other cheek"?
- How justified are Francisco and the Cardinal in pursuing revenge? Does their revenge take a toll beyond what would be justifiable (think about Zanche's murder, etc.)?
- Is this really a "revenge tragedy," as its almost always called? Like, where's the tragedy? Are we supposed to feel bad that Flamineo, Brachiano, Vittoria, and Lodovico die?
Chew on This
Revenge is always a bad idea—especially if you try to take the law into your own hands to get it.
Hey—sometimes revenge is a good idea, if the law fails to do its job or doesn't live up to its promises.