I would say that he probably would originally feel that justice has been served. But, after that feeling sort of starts to fade, the realization of what he did will sink in. He will most likely start to feel remorse for what he did and view what he did as an act of wrong doing.

Is there any singular answer for this? It would depend on the nature of the original offense, whether there were extenuating circumstances, whether the avenging act in turn causes pain to someone else, whether the avenger himself/herself is the remorseful type or the type who fuels on anger and pain, whether the avenging act was completed by intent or accident...

There was a series of bad movies in the 80s based on this particular theme; "Deathwish" and "Avenging Angel" are two that come to mind. The wronged person exacts revenge...but are filled with so much anger that they continue a string of vigilante "revenge" attacks against similar transgressors. Justice becomes a blurry concept at best; you don't doubt that the victims deserve to be punished, but you also start to question the anti-hero's motivations.

Quote: Original post by Terlenth
I would say that he probably would originally feel that justice has been served. But, after that feeling sort of starts to fade, the realization of what he did will sink in. He will most likely start to feel remorse for what he did and view what he did as an act of wrong doing.

It is hard to say for sure, given the lack of context in the original post, but I'd generally agree with this.

1) After his crime was revealed, the criminal tried to kill you, but in the process a) you killed him willingly, or b) as a mean to self-defend:
I'm seeing these as near-identical situations; in either event, if the criminal is trying to kill me I may feel remorse over having taken a life (it would depend on the character's moral/ethical/religious view) I'd also understand that it was self-defense. I may even question whether I could have done thing differently that would have saved his life - and then questioned whether I'd have been okay with the idea of sparing him.

c) he killed himself as an accident.
Since it was an accident, I might feel that justice was served in some way. Karmic circle. More so if it was a gruesome death.

2) After being revealed, the criminal commited suicide due to a)guilt, b) pride, or c) fear.
Again, depends - do I prefer the death penalty or life imprisonment? I might feel cheated in any event; he killed himself, rather than seeing him fry in the chair or be stuck in a prison for the rest of his life, taking away my chance to see him suffer.

3) The crime happened a long time ago, you yourself has not much feeling or memmory left about the incident. The criminal is caught and is sentenced to death.
Passing blip on the emotional radar. Maybe I'll feel some sense of closure; maybe I'll just note it with casual interest. "Hey honey, remember that guy who killed my sister 20years ago? They finally caught him. Yeah. Oh well. Where's my blue tie?" Possibly, it might drudge up memories I'd thought long buried - and with those memories, emotions I'd rather not relive.