Rorschach Sexism In The Watchmen

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Due to the nature of their respective ethical systems, it is inevitable that deontology and utilitarianism will come to blows on certain issues. The final battle it holds in The Watchmen is on a rather grand scale, where Ozymandias, representing utilitarianism, plots to sacrifice millions of lives in New York to prevent the nuclear fallout that will surely be the outcome of the cold war. Rorschach, representing deontology, is so staunchly against this choice that he attempts to attack Ozymandias with a fork; unsurprisingly, this fails to do much in the way of stopping him. In the end, Ozymandias succeeds in his plan, and the lives of millions are ended prematurely for the benefit of the rest of the world. Rorschach is then killed by Jon Osterman …show more content…

In the story, we are told that Rorschach chose his name because he enjoys the black and white colors of a Rorschach. Philosophically, we can assume that they reflect his black and white world view; however, there is a hidden irony here that reflects Rorschach’s hypocrisy. Rorschach images, while indeed black and white, are highly up to interpretation. They’re used because many people interpret a Rorschach in a completely different way than the other, and these varying interpretations can give insight into the mindset of a patient to psychologists. This is quite the opposite of a black and white worldview, and we see in the story that Rorschach behaves in ways that harm other people because he believes that he must do so in order to achieve the goal he believes is more important than treating the men in those bars ethically: namely, finding out who is killing the former watchmen. In this way, Rorschach is a utilitarian. Rorschach is a utilitarian that believes in deontology only when it is convenient for him to follow it. He is, through and through, a hypocrite, and a terrible spokesperson for

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