Memes

Park Chan-Wook's vengeance trilogy (Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance, Oldboy, Lady Vengeance) is a deconstruction of this genre. It explores basically all the contradictions of revenge that people in this thread mentioned.

Word of warning that it's extremely gross in several ways though.

Stardust ends up with the main character beating up his bully.

The House of the Spirits has characters that fit this description to a tee. The book was written by Isabel Allende, a cousin of Salvador Allende, and is a stylized retelling of life through the transition in Chilean politics post-colonialism through Salvador Allende to Pinochet.

The book ends with the character and narrator Alba saying that, despite previously organizing for Allende's socialist party, and getting raped by the military coup forces after, she will not seek vengeance on those who have injured her, choosing to believe in the hope that one day the human cycle of hate and revenge will be broken.

Yes, let me lie down and let myself get run over by capitalists because then maybe they won't also run over my children.

Because of her simplistic writing on 'cycle of violence bad' while ignoring Marxist analysis, Isabel Allende seems to be a darling in liberal circles. Obama gave her a Presidential Medal of Freedom.

Not sure it fully fits the description but there is the classic french novel The Count of Monte Cristo that is known for its Machiavellian vengeance plot. It was adapted to cinema recently, not bad imho

If you like sci-fi read Red Rising.