What is the first thing that pops into your head when you think of revenge? Well, the first thing that I think of is backstabbing and manipulating. I think of payback and sneaking around. I also think of one of my favorite shows, Pretty Little Liars. Pretty Little Liars is based on a book series by Sara Shepard.
If you are crazy enough not to have ever heard of this series or show, the story line is based around the murder of a teenaged girl named Alison DiLaurentis. Alison, before she was murdered, held many secrets. She was a bully as well. She made fun of and often manipulated people to get exactly what she wanted. She pretty much gave people reasons to hate her and maybe, get revenge on her. The first example of revenge was her actual murder. Someone, still unclear to the people who watch the show, wanted to get back at Alison and used an act of violence against her. Whoever wanted to get back at Alison for the way she acted also wanted to torture Alison's friends, Aria, Spencer, Emily, and Hanna. The "person" is actually a small group of anonymous people who call themselves "A." This "A" team works together to threaten the girls and put them in danger. "A," for example, will send anonymous text messages to the girls and tell the girls that if they didn't do something "A" told them to, then secrets will be revealed or something bad will happen to them. Also, there are many love twists and crosses.
As you can see Pretty Little Liars contains many of the characteristics that revenge stories contain. There is a group of people trying to revenge the actions of others, there are many twists to the story making it complex, there are plenty of murders, lust between many characters, and physical violence and threats. Lastly, there is also a ghost. In some scenes, Alison's ghost appears to the girls, though they are never sure if it is real or not. Here is one link from one of the earlier episodes from Pretty Little Liars http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rc_0Qf60cMw. It shows Alison talking to Hanna, in which viewers are led to believe it could be Alison's ghost. Alison tells Hanna some things that hint around Alison's death and Alison also gives Hanna some warning to be careful.
The scene above from Pretty Little Liars reminds me of a scene from the play we are reading in English, Hamlet. It reminds me of Hamlet, because towards the beginning of the play, when Hamlet talks to his father's ghost, the ghost reveals hints on how he was murdered.
Personally, I enjoy reading about revenge because it always keeps the reader thinking. It makes me think "what will happen next?" It keeps me wanting to read or watch more. Also, the story lines can be so creative and different because there are so many different things that writers can do with the genre of revenge.
