Getting Even: the Plots and Principles of Revenge

Have you ever wanted to "get even" with someone? Each of us has likely been or felt we have been wronge--and has pondered how that wrong is to be recompensed. Together, we'll sample that dish "best served cold" by investigating great reads that puts revenge at the center of the story, showing how it relates to the principle of "evenness" in justice, to theories of punishment, and to philosophies of honor and of forgiveness. Though literature will be our focus, visual depictions of revenge and the discourses of law and philosophy will deepen our conversation about the ethics and outcomes of "getting even."