V.XI Revenge
"Tell me, someone in love well read
If these be symptoms of that pain;"
Walter Charleton
"Article 47,
Anger.
The Desire of Revenge that for the most part accompanieth Anger, whether it aim at the death, or only at the subjection of our Enemy ; is indeed directly opposed to Gratitude (for this is desire of returning good for good, and that, desire of requiting evil with evil) as Indignation is to Favour : but incomporably more vehement than either of those three affections ; because the desire of repelling harm, and revenging our selves , is a part of natural instinct necessary to self-preservation, and so of all desires the strongest and most urgent. And being consociated with Love of our selves, it affords to Anger all that impetuous agitation of the Spirits and Blood, that Animosity and Boldness or Courage can exite : and its assistant, Hatred, promoting the accension of the Choleric or more Sulphureous parts of the blood as it passeth through the heart, raiseth in the whole mass thereof a more pricking and fervent heat, than that which is observed in the most ardent Love, or most profuse Joy."
Vandenhoff
"REVENGE
The features of Revenge are of the same family as Anger ; but bolder, stronger, and more highly colored. The tone must be fiercer, harsher, and more concentrated than mere Anger. Revenge, when most intense, speaks between the set teeth ; and utters its denunciations in a hoarse, guttural voice ; and with fitful bursts of passion.
PITY, on the contrary, speaks in a low, soft and gentle tone of voice ; but full and flowing, as from the exuberance of a warm heart."2
I am tempted to add a little anecdote of mine. The Christmas of 2024, I read “Great Expectations” by Charles Dickens, when I came over this mentioning of “Revenge” in Collins’ poem:
Mr. Wopsle had the room upstairs, where we students used to overhear him reading aloud in a most dignified and terrific manner, and occasionally bumping on the ceiling. (...) What he did on those occasions was to turn up his cuffs, stick up his hair, and give us Mark Antony’s oration over the body of Caesar. This was always followed by Collins’s Ode on the Passions, wherein I particularly venerated Mr. Wopsle as Revenge throwing his blood-stained sword in thunder down, and taking the War-denouncing trumpet with a withering look. It was not with me then, as it was in later life, when I fell into the society of the Passions, and compared them with Collins and Wopsle, rather to the disadvantage of both gentlemen.3
According to our protagonist, there is definitely a wrong way of executing the “Revenge”, but whether my interpretation is good, will be for me to try, and for you to decide…
A SHORT REFLECTION ON EMBODYING REVENGE
The characteristic that I found particularly inspiring when attempting to channel my inner revengeful feeling, was that it speaks between the set of teeth, as described by Le Brun. This pose invited to a violent use of breath, but compared to pure Anger, I felt that the teeth made the outbursts less violent, as if the teeth wanted to keep the anger inside. It somehow felt more dangerous, as Charleton implies in his description. Luckily, the melody was placed in a range that resembled the one of my speaking voice, and that made it easy to transfer the flow of emotional I felt from speech to song.
Footnotes:
1: Charleton 1701, p. 137.
2: Vandenhoff 1846, pp. 199-200.
3: Dickens 1867, chapter 7.