What does the quote, "in great literature, no scene of violence exists for its own sake." mean?

Question

to me it means that in great literature violence doesnt just happen....theres always meaning behind a violent act. am i right?

Answer 1

Yea pretty much. Violence scenes aren't there in good literature so that we can ooh and ahh over its gory contents. There's always some kind of message that the author wants to send us. It might be because the author wants to establish how impulsive a character might be, or they want to move the plot along, or to portray how unecessary violence really is in real life. You notice that all the swordfighting and suicides in Shakespeare's work always have some sort of deeper meanings to it.  

Answer 2

Yes. It is usually due to the emotional state of one of the characters, or something that has to do with the backstory. It doesn't stand alone, without meaning.

Answer 3

I interpreted it in the same way, but I also think it means that in great lit, scenes of violence have meaning for the writer and the reader too--they represent morals or symbols, so the "meaning" isn't just applied to the characters of the story.