V For Vendetta Rhetorical Analysis

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Terrorism has been long regarded as an atrocious act of mankind, one of the worst possible actions that could be done by human beings, yet, V for Vendetta, created by James McTeigue, depicts a terrorist who fights for freedom, revenge, and what he finds to be just, completely different from the characteristics of terrorists that all people believe is true. In, V for Vendetta, the main character, known only by the letter V, represents revenge for a society wronged by its government and fights as a terrorist for freedom. V himself had been wronged by the government and knows of the corruption in its ranks, and as such, V has taken it upon himself to take revenge on the government that has wronged him and the people. Through taking it upon …show more content…

The use of irony in V for Vendetta is extremely prevalent and is demonstrated many times over by the actions of characters such as Lewis Plethora, BTN news network, and the government itself. The way McTeigue uses irony demonstrates the flaws in the government and the way the government takes away the personal liberties of the citizens. In V for Vendetta, Lewis Plethora is a news anchor on BTN news network and is known for his passionate support of the government and hate for terrorist, anarchists, and all others who oppose the government. Lewis Plethora fought in many wars and worked in government facilities, such as Larkhill, and he is depicted as a strong supporter of the government and is a representative of the government himself. Of the scenes we see with Lewis Plethora, we see that all his accusations against V directly relate to what the government actually does. At one point, Plethora says “I'll tell you what I know. I know this is not a man. What is he? A man does not wear a mask. What is he? A man does not threaten …show more content…

V himself claims that he is a symbol, a symbol for the people to follow, so as to stop the corruption of the government. An important characteristic of V is that he is always found in a Guy Fawkes mask which although it represents Guy Fawkes’s plot to blow up parliament, V’s mask also represents the calling for revenge that is shared by V and the people of Britain. On the day V planned to carry out his plan to blow up parliament, V sent out Guy Fawkes masks to tens of thousands of British citizens, so as to start a revolution and gain support from the people. The thousands of citizens willing to put on the Guy Fawkes mask are showing they are united in their call to freedom and united in their anger against the government. V is the embodiment of the people’s anger, he is a symbol of their desire for freedom, and his mask represents his unity with the citizens’ desire for freedom and feelings of anger. Another important symbol that is used by McTeigue is Tchaikovsky's 1812 Overture, which V uses as his theme music when he blows up the government’s statue, and also when he blows up parliament. If taken as a literal parallelism between the situation the 1812 Overture is used on, the meaning of the music becomes quite ironic, as Tchaikovsky created the music to commemorate Russia’s, thereby the Russian Government’s, defense from an attack by Napoleon Bonaparte; This is ironic as V uses the

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