A Dish Best Survived Cold By Aminatta

Forgiveness and revenge go hand in hand, many times in order to reach forgiveness the person must get revenge. After a bad event occurs to you, the physiological damage will forever be with you. In the short story “A Dish Best Served Cold”, Aminatta explains her journey to reaching forgiveness on her fathers killer. “At the start of this remarkable memoir, Laura Blumenfeld confesses that she never really overcame the emotions aroused by the attempt on her father ’s life, and had nursed revenge fantasies about it” (Forna 2). Aminatta had emotions that wanted to get revenge on the murderer, and it is normal to have these feelings. Many people nurse these same emotions, and think they must get even with the person to get forgiveness. In some societies they have a system set up for revenge. “In Albania there is codified revenge. Feuds are passed from generation to generation, vengeance a filial duty governed by a 15th-century canon, which is in turn interpreted by a Blood Feud Committee” (Forna 2). Some societies believe revenge is the only way to forgiveness, which we know is untrue. Simply having a

“Vengeance is in my heart, death in my hand, Blood and revenge are hammering in my head. Hark Tamora, the empress of my soul” (II, i). Aaron says this while harming Lavinia to get back at Titus. Now this event will cause chaos within the empire and lead to a major fight. The characters are so obsessed with getting revenge that Tamora thinks she can trick Titus into believing she is revenge. “Know, thou sad man, I am not Tamora; She is thy enemy, and I thy friend: I am Revenge: sent from the infernal kingdom, To ease the gnawing vulture of thy mind” (V,i). Tamora even promises Titus she will be revengeful on whomever he asks her too, however Titus knows it's a trick. Overall the characters are so obsessed with getting revenge, they don't realize what it's doing to each other and the