Vengeance

Secrets of The Dark Knight Revealed! It's all about Vengeance! The authors of this landmark book are eminent criminologists who have brought together insights from history, anthropology, sociology, classical and literary studies, and mythology, that greatly enlarge our understanding of the problems of violence, criminal justice, and vigilantism in modern society. Drawing upon such diverse representations of vengeance as Greek mythology, the plays of Shakespeare, Dante's Inferno, the folklore of the Wild West, the Mafia, and contemporary films, the authors examine the historic and cultural manifestations of the need to inflict punishment on one's enemies. The authors contend that all acts of vengeance arise from an elemental sense of injustice—a feeling of being arbitrarily subjected to a tyrannical force against which one is powerless to act—and that the injured party is motivated by a desire for equality, justice, and reciprocity. They trace the ways the desire for vengeance has developed and changed over the centuries and has affected our legal system, moral codes, and cultural myths.