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Speaking about one of his most famous works, V For Vendetta, author Alan Moore answered a question the moral stance of the story by saying: “I actually don't think it's right to kill people. So I made it very, very morally ambiguous. And the central question is, is this guy right? Or is he mad? What do you, the reader, think about this?” (Wikiquote.org) In the Alan Moore graphic novel V For Vendetta. In the graphic novel, England is depicted as a futuristic dystopia, where human rights are nonexistent, the citizens are under the government’s constant surveillance, and the country is ruled under an iron fist by the dictator Adam Susan.
The protagonist of the story, a masked figure who calls himself V, works to overthrow the government by murdering those connected to the government, and those who helped make V into what he currently is. He takes in 16 year old Evey Hammond as his protege, and throughout the story he manipulates and molds her into becoming his successor.
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He tells Evey that his destructive actions are for tearing down the old government to make way for a new era of freedom of the people, but his methods make this claim seem rather dubious. V may claim that he is fighting for the freedom of the people, but in reality, V is just simply a terrorist.
One reason why V is more of a terrorist than a freedom fighter is the fact that he compares himself to Guy Fawkes.
In the beginning of the story, he says “Remember, remember, the 5th of November, the gunpowder treason and plot. I know of no reason why the gunpowder treason should ever be forgot” (Moore 14). This is a snippet of an old English folk poem, which is about celebrating the fact that Guy Fawkes was prevented from blowing up the English Parliament and assassinating the king on the 5th of November. V compares himself to Guy Fawkes throughout the book by dressing as him, quoting passages related to Fawkes, and causing destruction to government property as Fawkes attempted to do. When V quotes the poem, he is characterizing himself as the person that Fawkes never lived to be, the one who killed the leader of the country, destroying the government and throwing society into chaos. Because V is trying to live to be the next Guy Fawkes, however, he is also a terrorist. Both V and Fawkes resorted to violence to achieve their goals of destabilizing the government, believing that the ends justified the means. No matter how much either of them tried to justify their actions,however, using violence to achieve a political goal is the very definition of terrorism.
Furthermore, V is a terrorist because he manipulates and abuses other people in order to further his personal agenda. In the tenth chapter of book two, Evey appears to be captured by fingermen, imprisoned, and then goes through torture because she is affiliated with V. When she refuses to help her captors fight against V, she is let go. After she is freed, she discovers that V was behind everything, and her ordeal was a hoax created by V so that she could understand what he went through in his past. Despite the fact that V imprisoned, interrogated, and tortured Evey, she somehow forgives him. A true freedom fighter would not need to use such despicable tactics to get someone on his or her side. V torturing his own accomplice is something that a terrorist would use, not someone who is fighting for the good of the country. Evey may forgive him and join V’s side once again, but this may be because V’s torture has broken her down mentally and has brainwashed her to make her become dependent on him, more than Evey truly forgiving V for what he put her through. V imprisoning and torturing the closest person he has to an ally shows that he is willing to use psychological and physical abuse in order to forcibly convert someone to his viewpoints. This behavior can be considered terrorism as well, since V is furthering his political goal of overthrowing the government by abusing Evey in order to make her more like him, which sets her up to be the next V. V has made it so that Evey is powerless against him, and that she will become dependent on her abuser. These are the actions of a sociopath, not someone who really cares about fighting to make society better.
Lastly, V is a terrorist because he murders people. V carries out many murders of government officials throughout the book, and he justifies it by saying that he is doing so in the name of anarchy and vigilantism. In book one, he speaks to a statue of Lady Justice, monologuing that he has abandoned traditional justice for a new ideology, saying that “Her name is anarchy! And she has taught me more as a mistress than you ever did!” (Moore 41). V’s main target are the fascist government officials and the people who were involved with his imprisonment years before, but no matter how righteous V’s actions may seem, others get killed in the crossfire. The random faceless guards who happen to be in his path are quickly mowed down, even if they could have been forced to work for the government against their will. He does not show restraint for those who get in his way, and he acts as the judge, jury, and executioner. In addition, V seems to be acting more on his own personal vendettas by getting revenge on the ones who were responsible for his tortured past while using revolutionizing England as a justification for his manners, rather than an endgoal for society. V’s vigilante-style killings cause him to become a more morally ambiguous character than traditional freedom fighters, and his murderous actions cause him to be characterized more like a terrorist.
V is depicted as a highly unstable and unpredictable character, and that combined with his high intelligence, lack of empathy, and violent behavior makes him a force to be reckoned with. These characteristics also make for a terrible revolutionary leader, and are more fitting towards the character of a terrorist. Revolution is just an excuse that V uses to cause destruction, manipulate others into doing his bidding, and to get revenge on those who he feels have wronged him. In the age where people are growing weary of government surveillance and corruption, it is not hard to see why V has developed into a modern cultural icon of revolution, and be seen as an inspiring and sympathetic character. In the case of V’s characterization in the book, however, behind the facade of the heroic revolutionary lies a deeply disturbed and unstable individual that is not someone that anyone should aspire to become or follow.
Terrorism Or Liberation Fight? a Study Of V For Vendetta. (2024, Feb 14). Retrieved from https://studymoose.com/terrorism-or-liberation-fight-a-study-of-v-for-vendetta-essay
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