Hell and Perspicacity
While watching an episode of Monk today, one of the characters says this to another: I’ll see you in hell.
My question is this: where does that phrase place the speaker? Is that phrase meant as “I’ll do everything in my power to send you to hell?” Or does the phrase imply that both parties will be in hell, the speaker thus being able to “see” the other because they’re standing side by side?
I tend to hear it most at the end of cheesy action movies, typically spoken by the hero to the villain right as he’s about to deliver the coup de grace. The first interpretation provides a clear delineation between good and bad. In the first, evil is punished and exiled accordingly. The second interpretation, however, suggests some degree of taint to the hero, suggesting that the hero himself is damned to eternal suffering… but will be taking the villain down with him.
I don’t know why my brain suddenly locked on this particular phrase. Maybe today’s heat wave melted something in my head, while I was out and about.
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