English Final
For the whole year in eight grade, The learning I learned that really makes me think until this day is when I had a class discussion on mercy and revenge. How we started and while we were reading the Tempest book. Now I want to discuss the essential question in my thesis. Is revenge better than mercy? Or is mercy better than revenge? When we had this discussion about this mercy versus revenge in the Tempest. We were discussing about what would you do if you have two daughters and suddenly a man just show your two daughters out of nowhere. We were put in seats until one till ten. One is merciful (that you wont execute him in court) and 10 are you really agree that that man should be executed, and I was the ten. After what Mr. R told us in class about mercy and revenge, I changed my mind after few days I would go to mercy. For the next few paragraphs, I hope you (revenge people) would change to mercy.
In mercy, in my own meaning is, that you solve things slowly and don’t really rush. Mercy is mostly people that are patient or merciful (duh). This is how I change to mercy, when my dad was in jail doing nothing wrong, I was really young but as I got older, I felt revenge in my heart, because how can they do that to my father. The chief of police punch him on his eye, how can they beat him up blood shattered and paralyzed for two days. I wonder how can my father didn’t feel really mad or beat them up after six whole years in the prison cell. In 2004, he was out, and how I got to mercy is that if you have revenge in someone you finish him or her off to make you feel better to have the other person feel the same way as you did. However, actually you’re wrong to do this way. How can you make things better? What can it solve? Of course you will feel better for what you did to the other person to have the same feeling as you did. But, then the other person would be mad and would attack you back and forth, again and again. It’s like war: terrorism, racism and everything that is kiosk. Now back on track in eighth grade. Well, how I found mercy and revenge is from the Tempest book. Of course I didn’t find it in my own but in class. While we were having a discussion in the book, Act 5, scene 1, line 23- 40 , when Ariel continued to say
Ariel: … That if you now beheld them, your affections would become tender.
Prospero: Dost thou think so, spirit?
Ariel: Mine would, sir, were a human.
Prospero: Hast thou, which art but air, a touch, a feeling of their afflictions, and shall not myself, one of their kind, that relish all as sharply passion as they, be kindlier moved than thou art? Though with their high wrongs I am struck to th’ quick, yet with my nobler reason ‘gainst my fury do I take part. Than rarer action is in virtue than in vengeance. They being penitent, the sole drift of my purpose doth extend not a frown further. Go, release them, Ariel. My charms I’ll break, their senses I’ll restore, and they shall be themselves.
This line they were talking about that Prospero wanted to torture them and Ariel stopped him that the three of them had tortured enough and Prospero, feeling merciful, let them free.
Revenge is a feel good, satisfying thing to do. Once you pay them back after what they had done to you, it’s good and they should deserve that and it’s much quicker than mercy. Revenge is also back and forth, constant, repetition and grudge. Revenge is giving out your mad and anger to someone else. That is how I think, so please don’t judge. My mom was having a speech in congress last week, and she said revenge crawls under your skin like the electric flows by. As I was saying, revenge feels satisfying than putting the entire grudge inside when it weighs more and more and more. Lets not say the ‘revenge’ word a lot, it starts to bore me actually. Vengeance is sometimes, lack of education, employment and others. Sometimes, it is also background on what last time happened to you. For vengeance, in the Tempest book, when Caliban wanted to kill Prospero for everything what Caliban helped him and Prospero just torture him, he felt vengeance to Prospero. Prospero had warned him that if Caliban didn’t follow his orders he will be tortured but Caliban did not listen to him. He is a child that is a spoilt brat. He wants to get what he wants. And what Caliban wants is, to kill Prospero. But, he didn’t manage to kill him because Prospero set him free. However, I didn’t really get the last part of the book, but I think they were all happy and it was a happy ending. So if you stick to mercy, what Prospero had done, it would be a really understanding on what the situation is, why Caliban is mad. In addition, things were settled. This also goes to real life, you can also do the right thing, not to be innocent but it’s much better doing the wrong.
Last but not least on why mercy is way better than revenge. Remember what I ask you the first paragraph? You don’t need to read the first paragraph on what I am said, I will tell you again. Okay, the question is, you have two daughters and suddenly someone you don’t know just came and shot your two daughters that you love. What would you do? At instant, you would want to execute him right?! Of course you do! On the second thought, you should understand on how the other persons way of life. That person, the killer, first when he was just seven years old, he is living with his dad, his dad abuses him and comes back home drunk. That killer, grew up with this group of gangs, because he has no other place to go, he smuggled some drugs, shoplift, and he tries to stop getting in drugs but he was addicted to it. He suddenly went drunk and didn’t have any intention to kill your two lovable daughters and suddenly the society wants to execute him on what he has done. It is the city or country’s fault for not having enough jobs, schools and also hospitals. This idea is from the class discussion and it wasn’t really my idea. This idea was in class discussions. I am not that smart thinker. This idea was the thing that makes me to think of how things are solved. In addition if most people choose mercy, it wouldn’t have so much war going on.
In general, what I learned is mercy is better and reading the Tempest book, although it was not the best book that I have read but it was the idea that brought me to thinking that mercy is better. I hope you all followed the way I did.
