How we cite our quotes: All quotations are from Pulp Fiction.
Quote #1
VINCENT: Still I hafta say, play with matches, ya get burned.
JULES: Whaddya mean?
VINCENT: You don't be givin' Marsellus Wallace's new bride a foot massage.
JULES: You don't think he overreacted?
VINCENT: Antwan probably didn't expect Marsellus to react like he did, but he had to
expect a reaction.JULES: It was a foot massage, a foot massage is nothing, I give my mother a foot massage.
Vincent and Jules aren't just yakking on about the implicit meaning of foot massages (okay, that's pretty much what they're doing), but there's more to it than that. This is about Marsellus Wallace dishing out his own demented version of justice: mess with his wife and you pay the price. Now, Vincent thinks it's "excessive" but not unexpected, whereas Jules thinks it's a ludicrous overreaction. Point is that Marsellus decides what's fair.
Quote #2
(Vincent and Jules enter the apartment of a group of young men and execute them for trying to pull a fast one on Marsellus.)
Vincent and Jules don't really think twice about killing these kids. They're unarmed and ready to hand over the briefcase but what's done is done and they're all dead men. What did they do? Did they deserve it? Maybe you were too shocked or busy laughing about Big Kahuna burgers but this scene introduces us to gangster justice of Pulp Fiction. The hitmen don't really concern themselves whether this killing is fair. It's just a job they were sent to do.
Quote #3
JULES: You ever read the Bible, Brett?
BRETT: Y-yes.
JULES: There's a passage I got memorized, seems appropriate for this situation: Ezekiel 25:17. "The path of the righteous man is beset on all sides by the inequities of the selfish and the tyranny of evil men. Blessed is he who, in the name of charity and good will, shepherds the weak through the valley of darkness, for he is truly his brother's keeper and the finder of lost children. And I will strike down upon thee with great vengeance and furious anger those who attempt to poison and destroy my brothers. And you will know my name is the Lord when I lay my vengeance upon you."
Check out our "Symbols, Imagery, Allegory" section for more about this Ezekiel passage. For now, we'll just say that it's a vengeance warning from the Bible against the Philistines, and Jules uses it to imply that people who cross Marsellus will go down as a matter of justice. Of course, it's turning justice on its head, since Marsellus is a vicious mob boss.