V Character Analysis
Why Not Both?
Confirming the concept that no person is simply one thing, V, from Alan Moore’s V for Vendetta, manifests traits of both a hero and villain, with a sense of justice and morality V attempts to correct a corrupt government, however, his sense of morality is occasionally skewed and his sense of ethics are warped so much so that his actions can be seen as negligent at times. On a personal mission seeking the betterment of the society he lives in not only to benefit himself but also the innocent, V embodies what is seen is a common hero. The common hero is on a journey whose goal is the betterment of some situation, environment, or standard of living. Heroes have a strong conviction for what they deem ‘right’
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Generally, heroes exhibit a strong sense of morality and justice. V is a hero in the sense that he is fighting for a better life not for himself, but for all of those around him. He fights to serve the innocent. V puts others before himself as seen when he selflessly saves Evey from the no doubt unforgiving fate of the fingermen. Showing compassion when Evey recounts how she remembers her younger years during the times of war in their country, V proves that he is not truly heartless, he has the capacity for mercy and sympathy. These are undoubtedly traits associated with heroes, not villains. Speaking out against the oppression of the people, V vouches for what he knows the people crave deep down, their freedom. He understands what how it feels to be stripped of all of one's freedoms and choices. He is no stranger to oppression. Being held prisoner by the government, V was subjected to tortuous experiments with hormones that led to the loss of his true self. His mind was altered by the drugs they injected him with. Not only did they steal his freedoms by locking him up, but they stole his freedom of individualized thought and identity. They stole the most important …show more content…
The misconception that villains are all abominable, damaged beings is one that can be disproven by a deeper analysis of characters such as V. His actions may be at times malicious, however, all in good spirits. Having been tortured by the government, V finds himself fighting not just to free the citizens from their oppression but also to carry out his own retribution against those who wronged him. He seeks to hurt them just as they hurt him, taking away all of their freedoms by killing them, just as they took away his by slowly stripping him of his identity. He craves an eye for an eye, something most people view as unprincipled. In his own sense of morality, V perhaps thinks he is giving them an easy way out by simply offering them the finality of death rather than subjecting them to a lifetime of madness as they did to him. This warped sense of morality is what leads to the actions many see as heedless. Not only does he appear to somewhat mindlessly, yet systematically, kill, but he also blew up public structures and endangered the innocent. However, from his saving Evey, it is obvious his goal is not to harm the innocent. With his yearning for revenge occasionally blinding him, V’s actions appear to imply a sort of self entitlement. He acts as though he is entitled to whatever he
V’s plan or main goal in this movie is to bring freedom and justice to a cruel and corrupt society. He feels that citizens of the country are not allowed freedoms and rights which should be a must. Similarly in Civics class, we had discussed that in a democracy, citizens are assured that the government will protect interests in the form of rights (a freedom that is being protected, such as right to speech) and freedoms (power to act without unfair interference by an individual or state). So we can understand that...
Harrison Bergeron is a story that depicts a society whereby everyone is equal mentally, physically and socially. The people were forced to wear handicaps, masks, weights and headsets in order to be equal with each other in the society. V for Vendetta is a 2005 action packed film by James McTeigue which presents a society that is controlled by the government. The film and the story present dystopian societies and both are stories of the future which shows how the government will slowly start controlling its people. In all the stories, one character stands up to the government and shows significant defiance unfortunately, they end up dying trying to fight the all controlling governments.
The approach towards freedom is hard to achieve against a totalitarian government, but possible to win with the people’s belief. 1984 by George Orwell and James McTeigue’s V for Vendetta portrays the same idealism of the anti-heroes, Winston and V. An anti-hero is “a protagonist who lacks the attributes that make a heroic figure, as nobility of mind and spirit, a life or attitude marked by action or purpose” (“Antihero”). Winston is not courageous, peaceful, and self-centered along the path of freedom for Oceania, whereas the anti-hero, V, is violent in his actions, impatient and careless in his pursuit to free London from the totalitarian government. As a matter of fact, V and Winston have the opposite behaviours; this is significant because it helps to compare the approach of the anti-heroes toward freedom. At the end of 1984 and V for Vendetta, the result of their approach is different from each other; Winston gives up on the liberation of Oceania, while V dies knowing that London is freed from Norsefire Party.
Through this dramatic irony Orwell is trying to picture to the audience the selfishness of the pigs, and so criticizing the selfishness of Stalin and the leaders of the Russian Revolution. The selfishness of totalitaristic leaders is also depicted in V for Vendetta. James McTeigue draws this idea into V for Vendetta through allusions to the Nazi Party and Hitler. This allusion is established throughout the film, with direct representations, such as the close up of the Nazi flag in Gordons house and through the symbolism of the finger men logo which vaguely resembles the swastika. Allusions to Hitler are also drawn straight from Sutler himself. The rhyming of Hitler and Sutler as well as during flashbacks of
In V for Vendetta, Evey Hammond is only ready to assist society in the creation stage of their revolution after undergoing her own transformation. At the beginning of the graphic novel, she is rescued through the death of her oppressors. This, just as the destruction of corrupt institutions, creates the space for freedom. V not only creates this space for both Evey and society but also calls them out of their passivity. Particularly, he challenges Evey to be stronger than her past because “[it] can't hurt [her] anymore, not unless [she] allows it” (). Furthermore, the government has turned her into a “victim” and a “statistic,” but she has the power to free herself (). It is Evey's responsibility to find such power within herself and become “forever changed” ().
V for Vendetta is a graphic novel written by Alan Moore in the late 1980's. The novel takes place in an alternate reality; one in which Britain is ruled by a fascist government that rules over Britain, and the rest of the world is believed to be in ruins due to nuclear war. The main protagonist/villain, depending on your viewpoint, of the story is a man simply called "V". He is a mysterious man and a self-described anarchist who survived a government experiment at a compound called Batch 5. Although his face is never shown in the book, V still draws the reader’s attention by being such a dark presence.
The bulk of the praise a hero receives tends to be in response to his or her actions. People look up to the heroes who can perform the most miraculous feats. However, there is an element of heroism beyond the superficial element of a hero’s actions: the hero’s character. Both heroes and antiheroes might do great things; however, the similarities end where motivations are considered, and these differences in motivations are rooted in the differences in the character of heroes and the antiheroes. An antihero’s character is flawed, leading to actions based on selfish and impure motivations. In contrast, a hero is characterized by his or her selflessness; this can be defined as putting the interests of others above the interests of oneself, and
Henry V, like most characters created by Shakespeare, is very complex, and cannot by defined in black and white or as good or bad. However, he is the sum of his actions, and his actions and decisions during the campaign during the campaign in France lead him to be classified as a war criminal. A politician who works for his own good and through that, the good of his country, Henry’s decisions are often cold and calculated, designed to manipulate those around him.
The setting of the film, as a whole, displays Marxist ideas of capitalism. One of the foundational themes of Marxist thought is that, within a capitalist society, there will be a distinct polarization between two classes: The ruling class (bourgeoisie), and those whom they rule over (proletariats) (Korczynski, Hodson, & Edwards, 2006, p. 33). V for Vendetta takes place in a not-so-distant future version of a dystopian England.
The concept of heroism has been explored by every author in every generation of writing. The earliest heroes were “self” described heroes that existed within Greek mythology and gained the actual title “Hero” by completing feats that, while they were humanly possible, were only accomplishable by those at peak human form, both physically and mentally. For as long as heroism has been used in literature, and spoken word, they have all had the common theme of humanity. The most prominent heroes were all human, some were “underdog” heroes starting at a disadvantage, some were a manifestation, or reflection, of the average person of the time, and yet others were supposed to represent the peak of humanity. The hero embodies the ideals of the society but is often helpless at the hands of fate.
History cannot be ignored when reading V for Vendetta, which is why cultural poetic criticism goes along with V for Vendetta very well. Alan Moore’s history, the state of 1980s England, and the decades leading up to it shaped the ideologies in the novel and it was those ideologies which became the driving force behind V for Vendetta. Under Marxist Criticism, Marxists generally view literature "not as works created in accordance with timeless artistic criteria, but as 'products' of the economic and ideological determinants specific to that era" (Abrams 149). Moore first came into contact with the middle class and better educated people when he started to attend Northampton Grammar School.
V’s vendetta against the government is legitimised after the audience discovers that V was tortured and experimented on by the government. When V obliterates the Old Bailey no resulting human causalities are shown in order to minimise the explosion’s negative impacts. After V’s offensives on the Old Bailey and Jordan Tower, the audience is immediately shown the government propaganda response to the attack which the audience knows to be false, distracting the audience from resenting the atrociousness of V’s acts and instead turning their anger towards the government for lying. As previously mentioned, Prothero and Lilliman are made to be villains resulting in the audience having little for compassion for them when they are murdered by V. The one person who was remorseful for her actions, Daisy, is killed painlessly with an injection and has her apology accepted by V, illustrating that V only uses violence on those who do not recognise the fault of their actions resulting in his methods appearing to be fair. In order to advance their agenda by striking fear in the population giving them an excuse to increase control, the government blamed a virus, that they purposefully released and had the only cure, on terrorists. Similarly, the government performed human experiments on civilians whose only crime was not conforming, to eradicate any threats to their dominance. The film intentionally portrays the gravity of the human experiments and biological attack as greater than V’s killing of those who have done serious wrong, and his destroying of empty buildings. Moreover, the gravity of the government’s actions is increased by causing the audience to again negatively associate them with the Nazis, who too performed human experiments and,
In the novel 1984 and the film “V for Vendetta”, the protagonist for both stories are captured while performing various acts of rebellion against the totalitarian government, of which is controlling their city. In punishment, the government tortures them with harsh, inhumane methods that are similar to those used in dictatorships during the 1900s like the USSR under Stalin’s rule. However, both protagonists are tortured by different sides, and by people from completely opposite ends of the political ladder: one a government agent, the other a rebel. Although the themes disclosed in relation to the purpose and meanings of torture are similar, the overall message and final opinion that is expressed and conveyed to the recipients are complete opposites.
Chancellor Sutler is the leader of the London government and the setting of London helps us get a better understanding of how Sutler is leading a dystopian society. This dystopian society is a very big impact on why V is wanting revenge on the government. In this society, there are many banned items, for example, certain pieces or art, butter, and god save the queen. 7 pm is the curfew for the citizens which takes away a lot of the freedom from the citizens. All of these bannings and curfews supported V wanting to have revenge on the government as he felt as if this was totally unfair. When Chancellor Sutler is talking on the BTN a panorama is used. As the panorama is panning across all the people watching Sutler we see the facial expression of the people which shows fear, sadness, and discomfort. This shot helps to support the action of why V would want revenge, if the people are unhappy with what the government is doing then something will need to be done about it. At the end of the film when V was blowing up parliament, all the people of London were dressed up with the Guy Fawkes mask on. When the masks were lifted off we saw the faces of people who had been killed by the government. The support that was shown to V while he was blowing up parliament shows us that V’s revenge was for the good of all people and it was needed to be done. During the film, Butter said, “when we catch this terrorist we will show him what terror really means”. This quote shows how culture has no respect for his people and he won't listen to what the citizens have to say. Sutler gives no right for the free trail so to get around this V had to do evil to do good. McTigues purpose of this part of the film was to focus on current events that are happening in our world today. Islamophobia in America is a big problem people are having to face, people have been discriminated because of their religion. According to
What is considered evil depends upon each individual’s view of morality, which constantly changes through the course of that person’s life. Roy Perrett’s “Evil and Human Nature” explains this by elaborating on the customary interpretation of moral evil. This evil, caused by an intentional bad action or harm, opposes another type of evil, natural evil, which occurs without intervention of a human agent. While natural evils, such as hurricanes and disease, may allude to the existence of a greater evil power, moral evils rather exist due to human decision and are more commonly recognized. However, Perrett claims that even the acknowledgement of moral evils, “does not seem to capture what many people have in mind when they talk of evil. Evil is instead often understood to be a very special kind of moral category: it involves not just wrongdoing, but a special kind of intentional wrongdoing” (304). This familiar definition of evil expands upon the vague topic of moral evil, in that the perpetrator of this sinister action enjoys and does not regret ever committing the action. Correspondingly, in order to comply with the currently recognized definition of evil, the action must be done solely because it is wrong and harmful. Therefore, it can be argued that the government in Alan Moore’s V for Vendetta is not evil in the modern sense. While some believe that murdering innocent peo...