V for Vendetta

​In V for Vendetta, V fights for a revolution against the current political state.  Though many of his actions seem rooted in revenge for his past mistreatment, he continues to revolt for what he believes to be a truly corrupt state.  He believes that his actions are necessary to bring about the revolution he wishes to see, so many of the deaths that happened by his hand were an inevitable means to his end.  In this sense, V, himself, is not evil, nor does he intend to cause harm for harm’s/evil’s sake (Kagan).  The only people that V intentionally seeks out to kill are those linked to his imprisonment and disfiguration.  The rest occur through his actions of revolting to make a less dystopic society.  

​Evey starts as an innocent, somewhat disgruntled bystander.  During the initial meeting of her and V, Evey helps V escape.  In sparing his life, V feels an obligation to help Eveywhen she is left unconscious from the ordeal.  V must outweigh the consequences of taking her with him or leaving her.  Ultimately, he takes her to his place of residence, in a sense imprisoning her.  Though there are some negative side effects on Evey’s part, V felt that her life outweighed her imprisonment since she would have most likely been taken to a concentration camp for aiding V at the news station.  This action shows how evident it is that V is concerned for the people within the dystopian society that he is revolting against, since he has already saved Evey from law enforcers at a previous point.  In this way, V is very determined to bring about some type of goodness, even if he has to produce some negative outcomes.  He is saving Evey’s life in turn for her innocence, he is bringing about death to weed out the corruptness of the political power, and he is blowing up parliament to bring about a revolution to create a better, less corrupt society.  So, in essence, his actions (though harsh) are merely a means to an end, and the deaths and other negative outcomes are inevitable to bring about his ideal state. (Nagel)  In the end, V has changed Evey’s perspective so drastically that she is the one to send the train to blow up parliament and help actually start the revolution in his absence.  His determination led Evey to believe in his cause, and led thousands of others to continue his cause when he couldn’t.