Archetype of the Avenger

Vengeance, or the urge to right a perceived wrong are very powerful forces in some people’s lives. For some people it is a way of life, as when they fight for the homeless or downtrodden, or give their time to helping others who do no have or cannot pay for their skill. That is a positive relationship with this archetype.

The negative influence of this archetypical behaviour is seen in acts of terrorism where an individual or group are driven to kill others in the name of a personally believed right or grudge. Like many archetypes this acts not only on an individual, but sometimes upon a government or a nation. Then we see a nation using it force to act upon another because it sees them as having committed some crime against them. As with the positive side of this archetype, for some people this is a way of life. Family feuds are an example of this.

Useful questions are:
If this archetype is active in my life, what is the wrong I am working against, and are my ways of dealing with it valid?
Anger often has very personal roots originating in personal failure in sex, in society, and these are vented on others rather than being dealt with in yourself – does that apply to me?
Could this wrong be righted by cooperation rather than destructiveness?