Cruel vs. Just

I hate stories about revenge. It's not that I don't care for revenge (quite the opposite, actually). I simply hate the way it is handled. Every story follows the same route.

Person 1 has a tragedy befall them. Generally, a loved one (spouse, close friend, family member) gets murdered. Person 1 then embarks on a quest to kill the Murderer. At some point during this quest, Person 2 (another individual very close to Person 1) says not to follow through; killing the murderer won't bring back the loved one. The climax of the story has the Murderer pinned down by Person 1 (classically with a gun to the head or Murderer barely hanging on to a crumbling cliff edge), with Person 2 reiterating that revenge is not the answer.

There are two things I hate about this scenario (aside from how often it is done with no variation). The first is that the ending of the story completely contradicts the words of Person 2. Every story ends in one of two ways: the Murderer changes sides or otherwise gives valuable information which allows Persons 1 and/or 2 to remove a greater evil (taking out the leader of the gang or crippling the Empire's primary stronghold), or the Murderer remains evil, but still manages to die (either by falling off the cliff or being left crippled in a harsh environment) or be captured by authorities.

So now we have Person 2, who is supposed to be the voice of reason, saying that revenge is bad, that the Murderer shouldn't be murdered, but the story then makes the Murderer die or otherwise be severely punished. So what the hell is the lesson here?

The lesson here, actually, is the second thing that I hate about this scenario: Person 2 is wrong! Person 2 always says that killing the Murderer won't make you feel better because it won't bring the loved one back. Person 2 does not understand revenge. The world is cruel. Bad things happen in it. This is a fact of life that all humans are tested on. The primary way that we humans cope with our cruel world is with the belief that it is just.

Every society has The Golden Rule. It comes in many names and has many nuances, but in general, what we do to others, we should receive. Those who do good should be rewarded. Those who destroy should be destroyed. This is justice. Without it, we cannot mentally survive. Our brains will die and we will become mindless animals.

The point of revenge is to bring justice to cruelty. That is precisely why Person 2 is wrong and why, if Person 1 follows that advice, the Murderer still dies.

The only thing Person 2 truly does is create enough conflict/drama as to make the revenge quest a worthwhile story. That is why I hate revenge stories. There are only two ways to do them and they both suck.

As always, I challenge you to prove me wrong. I challenge you to find the revenge story that isn't a cliche, one that finds a new alternative, and I challenge you to make that story and shove it everyone's faces (especially mine because I could totally go for a satisfying revenge story).