Wednesday, January 18, 2012

Wednesday - Looking at Revenge

Revenge plots are intense. Think of Medea or Hamlet. Sometimes just a taste can be used to intensify the story you're telling. Revenge can be an element in a mystery or a suspense story.

For a Revenge plot, a hero and a villain are needed. Plus a victim. Unlike the Rescue kind of plot, the victim is dead. The hero wants to see the villain as dead as the victim. There can also be an act taken by the villain against the hero or heroine. This event can be real or imagined.

When there is a death often the hero is visited by the victim in a dream calling for the hero to avenge him. The focus of this kind of story is on the revenge and not on developing the character or having the character change.

Often this begins with the hero going to the authorities and finding nothing can be done. The villain will get away with what he or she has planned. The hero or heroine then decides to take justice into their own hands.

The hero or heroine must have a moral justification for seeking the revengand must equal the act they are seeking to avenge.

This story ends with a confrontation where the hero or heroine succeeds or fails. Though in the past in Revenge stories, both the hero and the villain are dead, today the hero may remain alive.

2 comments:

Marianne Stephens said...

Revenge is a powerful plot, and there's nothing like a hero/heroine seeking revenge for a wrongdoing. Having them join forces to do this together brings on the chemistry between them.

Janice Seagraves said...

Revenge plots can make the action really intense and the black moment really bleak.

Janice~