V for Vendetta (graphic novel)

V for Vendetta is a graphic novel written by Alan Moore, with artwork by David Lloyd. It first appeared as a comic series in the Warrior magazine from 1982 on and was not yet completed when the magazine ceased to be published. From 1988 to 1989, DC Comics published the completed series in ten single magazines, later followed by a publication in book format.

Setting

The story is set in a dystopian, post-apocalyptic version of London in the years 1997 and 1998, nine years after the beginning of a global nuclear war that destroyed large parts of Europe and Africa and triggered a world-wide climate catastrophe, resulting in devastating floods, food shortage and a collapse of the British economy. In 1992, the fascist movement "Norsefire", a coalition of different ultra right-wing groups supported by the remaining big companies, took advantage of the prevailing climate of anxiety and anarchy and established a totalitarian regime. They managed to restore order and consolidated their control over the country by persecuting their political opponents, ethnic, religious and sexual minorities and all other kinds of deviants, following their motto "Strength Through Purity, Purity Through Faith" (Moore 11). The head of the Norsefire regime is the Leader, Adam Susan, who oversees the supercomputer "Fate", on which the whole government is based. All the different state apparatuses bear the names of parts of the human body: the propaganda machine, "the Mouth", the police department, "the Nose", the divisions of audio surveillance and visual surveillance, "the Eye" and "the Ear", and the secret police, "the Finger". All cultural remnants from before the nuclear war, like books, films and music, are banned.

Plot

Book 1: Europe After the Reign

Book One of the graphic novel sets in on Guy Fawkes Night in 1997. Financial problems drive 16-year-old Evey Hammond to offer sexual services to a stranger in exchange for money. The man turns out to be a "Fingerman", a member of the brutal secret police. He and some colleagues are about to rape and then kill Evey, when a mysterious figure in a black cloak and a Guy Fawkes mask appears and takes out the men while citing from Shakespeare's Macbeth. Her rescuer takes Evey to a rooftop from where they watch the Houses of Parliament explode. The masked man explains to Evey that he blew up the Houses of Parliament in commemoration of the Gunpowder Plot of 1605. He then brings Evey to his secret hideout, which he calls "the Shadow Gallery" (Moore 18) and which is full of forbidden books, paintings, and other items from before the nuclear war. He introduces himself as "V" and Evey tells him the story of her life, including the death of her mother and the arrest and assumed execution of her father. In the meantime, the government tries to cover up the real reason for the explosion by spreading the news of the scheduled demolition of the Houses of Parliament, while at the same time starting the search for the attacker. In the following, V abducts the top broadcaster Lewis Prothero from a train compartment and drives him insane and (with the help of Evey) forces the corrupt and pedophile Bishop of Westminster, Anthony Lilliman, to commit suicide, thereby eliminating two key figures of the regime. V also kills Dr. Delia Surridge, a medical researcher, and the head of the secret police, Derek Almond, who tries to prevent the murder. Those incidents are being investigated by Eric Finch, police chief of the "Nose", who ultimately discovers the connection between V and his targets: Prothero, Lilliman and Surridge all worked at the Larkhill Resettlement Camp, a concentration camp set up by the fascist regime to exterminate unwanted persons such as Jews, homosexuals or political prisoners. V is revealed to be the only survivor of the cruel medical experiments carried out at Larkhill by Dr. Surridge. He was able to destroy the camp and flee and is now taking revenge for what was done to him and the other inmates. Despite these findings suggesting that V's actions are part of a personal vendetta, the Leader is still worried that V might be planning a major terrorist attack.

Book 2: This Vicious Cabaret

In January 1998, V blindfolds Evey, leads her out of his hideout and abandons her somewhere on a street. Evey meets Gordon, a criminal who takes her in and becomes her lover. In February, V breaks into the government's broadcasting station. Strapped with explosives, he forces the staff to broadcast a speech in which he calls on the people of England to turn against the regime and start to put up resistance. During V's escape, the Propaganda Minister, Roger Dascombe, is killed by the police because V has dressed him in his characteristic black coat and Guy Fawkes mask. In the meantime, Rose Almond, the widow of the killed head of the secret police, is forced to work as a showgirl in order to support herself and develops a growing hatred of the government that does not support her. While trying to avenge the death of her lover Gordon, who got killed by a gangster boss, Evey is suddenly abducted and then imprisoned. She is tortured and interrogated by the police, who know about her connection to V. One day, Evey finds an old letter hidden in a whole in the wall of her cell, written by an inmate named Valerie Page, who was imprisoned and executed for being a lesbian. Valerie's tragic fate inspires Evey to stay strong and refuse to betray V when she has to make her final choice between collaboration or death. Instead of executing her as expected, her interrogator tells Evey that she is free. Evey learns that her imprisonment and torture were in fact just staged by V because he wanted her to make an experience similar to his own ordeal at Larkhill that made him the person he is. Valerie's letter, however, is not a fake but was written by a fellow inmate at Larkhill and inspired V just the way it inspired Evey. Evey eventually forgives V, who claims he just wanted to set her free from the prison that her former life had been to her ("I didn't put you in a prison, Evey. I just showed you the bars", Moore 170). While he held Evey prisoner, V has also hacked into the government's supercomputer and started to emotionally manipulate the Leader, Adam Susan, who has formed a bizarre romantic relationship with the computer. V's mind games are slowly driving Susan mad.

Book 3: The Land of Do-As-You-Please

On the following Guy Fawkes day, exactly one year after the beginning of the plot, V blows up several important government buildings and kills Brian Etheridge, the leader of "the Ear", thereby disabling the whole surveillande system and further eroding the power of the regime. The following riots are brutally suppressed by the Fingermen. V explains to Evey that he wants to establish a "Land of Do-as-You-Please" (Moore 195), a functional anarchistic society where there is no leader but still a certain order. Eric Finch, who has been mysteriously absent all this time, is revealed to have tried to gain an understanding of V and his way of thinking by travelling to Larkhill. Back in London, he suddenly comes to the conclusion that V's hideout has to be inside the abandoned Victoria Station. Finch enters the station, but is taken by surprise by V. In the following fight, both are wounded and V withdraws to the Shadow gallery, bleeding heavily. Even though V claims that he cannot be killed since he is only an idea and "ideas are bulletproof" (Moore 236), he is mortally wounded and soon dies in Evey's arms. Evey considers taking off his mask, but decides not to, realising that V is not a man of flesh and blood but rather the impersonation of an idea. She puts on one of V's Guy Fawkes costumes, taking on his identity and resolving to finish what he started. In the meantime, the Leader is making a rare public appearance, during which he is shot by Rose Almond. The following power struggle between the remaining leaders of the regime ultimately results in all of their deaths. Dressed like V, Evey makes a public appearance and announces that 10 Downing Street will be destroyed the following day. Before disappearing, she tells the people that "tonight you must choose what comes next - lives of your own, or a return to chains" (Moore 258). The following day, Evey gives V the Viking funeral he wished for by putting his body in a tube carriage which she then blows up just beneath 10 Downing Street. The graphic novel ends with Finch walking away from the chaos that broke out in the city.

Analysis

James Kellen suggests that the graphic novel can be seen as an instance of postmodern pastiche in that it merges several genres (political dystopia, superhero fiction, Shakespearean tragedy etc.), draws from different political, philosophical, historical and medical discourses (e.g. terrorism, anarchy, fascism, biomedicine) and contains countless references to and quotes from books, films, songs etc. For example, he notes that "the identity assumed by the terrorist V is "constructed upon a Shakespearan, or, more generally, a theatrical paradigm" (123).

References

Keller, James R. V for Vendetta as Cultural Pastiche: A Critical Study of the Graphic Novel and Film. McFarland, 2008. Moore, Alan, and David Lloyd. V for Vendetta. Vertigo, 2005.