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Popular Culture Review
joke . . . you say you want to set me free and you put me in a prison . . ( 1 6 8 )
V replies, “You were already in a prison. You’ve been in a prison all your life”
(168). Despite Evey’s protestations of happiness V tells her, “Happiness is a
prison, Evey. Happiness is the most insidious prison of all” (169).
Even though V has no more right to decide Evey’s fate than Macbeth did
for the kingdom, we forgive him. We forgive him because Evey forgives him.
After recovering from her torture Evey is shown as a woman full grown. She
approaches V, kisses his mask, and says, “Thank you. Thank you for what
you’ve done for me” (174). V is forgiven because he has undeniably fulfilled the
requirements of double-effect. He does not wish people to suffer, he wishes
them “to rule themselves; their lives and loves and land.. .” (245) but this
cannot be achieved without first reducing all the their beliefs “to rubble” (245).
Most importantly, however, he offers them freedom and freedom, “the good
effect” is believed to be “disproportionately important compared to the bad
effect,” enslavement by false beliefs (Fraser, 108). V might be a hero, but he is a
hero where one is unsure if the darkness is contained. People die because of V,
good and bad alike, but the government does fall and freedom, at least V’s
definition of it, is restored.
What is the difference between V and Macbeth? Why does one merit the
title of “hero” and the other does not? Macbeth, while manipulated by his wife,
operated with his kingdom’s best interests at heart; he intended prosperity and
peace for all. He was a malleable man, a man easily persuaded, but he was not
evil. He and his wife’s logic was rationalized through double-effect. V was a
revolutionary, but he was not a clearly moral and ethical hero. While his actions
were also justified through double-effect, they were no more justified than
Macbeth’s. V for Vendetta, by creating a “dark” world with a “dark” hero has
remythologized the concept of hero. A hero is no longer one that clearly and
concisely pursues “justice, defending the defenseless, helping those who cannot
help themselves, overcoming evil with the force of good” (Loeb and Morris,
11). V presents a hero that pursues jus X