Revenge

Revenge! The very word conjures images of evil painted blood red and black. Rage for retribution, festering till satisfied by destructive acts. An eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth. Getting even. Honor redeemed by vengeful triumph. “Honor killings.”

Revenge slinks through the dark corridors of the soul waiting its chance to burst forth and hurt or destroy the resented other, until it can finally prevail through a justified cruelty, at last sated—if only for a while—by victorious vindication.

Psychoanalysis is a form of inquiry uniquely apt for exploring such dark recesses. Yet until recently in the century of psychoanalytic studies, revenge has not taken center stage. Perhaps that is, in part, because the very nature of revenge is to hide itself while awaiting its chance, shrouded darkly, skulking in the wings. It is not that the subject has never been considered, but only belatedly does it come to hold center stage in our attention.

Why such delay? What resistances have held us back? In the dual psychoanalytic tasks of therapy and research, can it be that this is an area in which Eros has not won over Thanatos but in fact has retreated? Have humanistic healing urges been allowed to turn us from full examination of the dark and ruthless side of the mind? Overcoming resistance, what do we see once our eyes adapt to darkness? Is revenge truly so simple a subject as our first images suggest? Looking closely, we discover complexity, subtleties that extend through all levels of the human mind, from the most recessed corners to those most light and most civilized. We may discover that the crudest roots of