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Isabel Harney-Davila
ENGL 3000
Hennessey
April 27, 2017

Atonement and Revenge

Atonement and revenge are the two methods that humans use to deal with wrongdoing

whether the individual(s) are the actors and/or the victims of injury. The act of atonement and of

revenge are both rooted in the idea of justice, or a perverted form of justice, differing in whom,

the perpetrator or the victim, acts first and in the end goal of the act. The end goal of a purebred

atonement is for moral transformation of not just the perpetrator but also of the victim (Calhoun)

whereas the end goal for revenge is the retribution of the wrongdoer with little to no expectation

for moral transformation. The three tiers: revenge, atonement, and true atonement appear in

works of literature, film, music, and art through various narratives ranging from graphic use of

violence to advance the plot and build character to a critical self-reflection of oneself and the

actions taken.

The attributes and/or the implications that arise in an individual to simply atone for the

wrongdoing they have caused to the injured party is partly prompted by the tapeworm of guilt

slowly torturing its host and cannot be removed until the actor repairs and amends their ill

actions. Normally when making amends the actor is aware or becomes aware of their actions,

whatever it may be, and the damage their actions have caused to the victim(s) and in that

awareness in that self-awakening- they may take the initiative to right the wrongs; but

atonement is not always done voluntarily as the primitive and modern justice system has evolved

to become both restorative and retributive although the American justice system seems to lean

more towards the retributive form of justice in comparison to Norways (Ahmed). It is here that
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Calhouns review of Radziks academic journal, Making Amends: Atonement in Morality, Law,

and Politics, she explains and distinguishes her theory about atonement and true atonement

writing that atonement is often thought in the retributively sense as self-infliction of punishment

. . . .Wrongdoers pay for their wrongdoing through painful feelings of guilt and remorse as well

as through voluntary imposed forms of suffering. If not retributive atonement is restitutive in

which the wrongdoers must pay restitution for the harms they cause (Calhoun). True

atonement, which is difficult to act upon, is the type of atonement that ends in transformation

transforming the offenders identity, future behaviors, commitment to the morality, and the

importance of the past wrongdoings (Calhoun).

The musical adaptation of Victor Hugos novel, Les Misrables, is a story of true

atonement of Jean Valjean, a man who turned from hating to loving After stealing bread to feed

his starving sister and her children, Jean Valjean is sentenced to nineteen years in prison. As a

former convict, he has trouble finding work upon his release and goes so far as to steal silver

from Bishop Myriel. When he's caught and brought to the bishop, he's surprised to be treated

with sincere kindness: Myriel provides him with a cover story (they were gifts freely given to his

"brother"), and once the officers release him, offers him shelter and food. Ultimately, he tells

Valjean to sell the silver and become an honest man. The protagonist of Les Misrables meets

the four requirements of true atonement which begins after the forgiving kindness of Bishop

Myriel during Valjeans Soliloquy.

Valjean undergoes the four requirements (transformation of the offenders identity, future

behaviors, commitment to the morality, and the importance of the past wrongdoings) that place

him on the true atonement pedestal in three songs with the first occurring after the interaction

with Bishop Myriel as he reflects of his crimes from stealing from a merchant and from God as
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his tone is soft and reflecting and then turns spitefully harsh as the treatment he has received

from the manmade justice system angrily stating that the justice system had murdered Valjean

when they chain [him] and left [him] for dead just for stealing a mouthful of bread (Schnberg).

His tone and his words imply that his identity may be change out of rage for the worst until he

again recalls Bishop Myriels actions and words of seeing the humanity in Valjean and using the

endearing term brother to testify to Valjeans humanity. Valjeans identity is transformed from

thief to an honest man and declares aloud to God, Ill escape now from this world / from the

world of Jean Valjean / Jean Valjean is nothing now / Another story must begin / (Schnberg)

to which he then rips up his criminal papers and departs; transformation of identity and future

behavior met.

Valjean has completed his transformation of identity and future behaviors made evident

after selling the silverware to create his new identity of Monsieur Madeleine, a businessman and

town mayor. Now as a wealthy business man and a beloved mayor, Monsieur Madeleine

(Valjean) helps to build up the town and improve the towns economy through his manufacturing

factories whom he employs women. However, Monsieur Madeleine is challenged on his path of

true atonement in his changed-for-the-better behavior and his commitment to being an honest

man when he is informed by officer Javert that Valjean has broken parole but that the man has

been found and will be tried the next day. Monsieur Madeleine, the true Jean Valjean, is at a

crossroads with himself unsure of what to do about the innocent man that Javert thinks is Valjean

and exclaims his struggles privately in Who am I.

Who am I encapsulates all the requirements of pure atonement in terms of his identity

of being an honest man, changed behavior as he responds to others with love rather than hate,

commitment to morality as he knows if he does not come forward he cannot say he is honest and
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a man of God, and lastly realizing the importance of his potential new wrongdoing which in his

revelation he knows he must right the wrong Javert had unknowingly made. Monsieur

Madeleines (Valjean) identity is again challenged as he notes that the stranger they have

found offers him an opportunity to bury his old self permanently and continue his splendid life

justifying his lack of honesty and action in the situation by questioning aloud Why should I

right this wrong / When I have come so far / And struggled for so long / (Schnberg).

He is further perplexed at what to do as he is the master of hundreds of workers

(Schnberg) where they all look to him and he wonders how they would be able to support

themselves if he is not free and the damage the towns reputation would take. He struggles in

what actions he should take noting that if [he] speaks [he] is condemned but if [he] stay silent

[he] is damned (Schnberg). This statement is a loaded gun and Valjean makes multiple points

within this sentence as he analyses how each of the actions, staying silent or coming forward,

will impact him and others. In the same breath, he is comparing the consequences of the human

justice system which would once more punish him if he does come forward but if he stays silent

and does not come forward then the justice of God would punish him in eternal damnation. The

complicated Valjean wrestles with whom and what he should act upon in which he questions

what type of justice he would rather face and have mans or Gods.

He continues to weigh the cons and benefits of each justice system leaning more towards

the redemptive act in staying true to being an honest man and keeping his high morals declaring

before a mirror my soul belongs to God, I know / I made that bargain long ago / he gave me

hope, when hope was gone / he gave me strength to journey on / (Schnberg) affirming his

identity and morality indefinitely and does not allow an innocent man to be sentenced by

appearing before the court during the trial proclaiming Who am I / Who am I / Im Jean Valjean
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/ as he dramatically unbuttons his shirt to reveal his prisoner number, 24601; he behaves

righteously and rights the wrongdoing that the innocent man would have taken in his place.

Valjean immediately flees the court to avoid capture towards his factory running into a

prostitute, not aware at first that she worked for him in the factory but was fired by the

supervisor for having an illegitimate child out of wedlock, and carries her to a hospital to get

treatment for her wounds. Fantine informs Monsieur Madeleine (Valjean) that she has a child,

Cossette, under the care of the abusive Thnardiers and begs him to care for her before dying;

Valjean does so in the mist of Frances June revolution and fleeing the persistent personification

of the law, Javert. In the plethora of events surrounding the citizens of France as the violent

revolution occurs, Valjean saves Marius, a student and citizen-soldier from harm; Marius later

marries Cossette after making peace with Valjean.

The final acts of Jean Valjeans true atonement appear again in the epilogue of Les

Misrables as he hands Cossette an envelope holding information about her mother, himself, and

everyone who loved her into being. Jean Valjean had spent the entire musical atoning for his

crimes and ends in identity, behavioral, and moral transformation when he is surrounded by

Cossette and Marius, her now husband, as he slowly dies informing her of a letter he wishes for

her to read when [] at last [he] is sleeping. (Schnberg). The importance of past

wrongdoings and correcting them, which Valjean does all in person, is the final requirement of

true atonement and is done in Valjeans swan song. To Cossette as she holds the letter he

confesses its the story of the one who turned from hating/ a man who only learned to love

when you were in his keeping/ (Schnberg) as he can now die peacefully and with forgiveness

that he has protected and raised Cossette as he has promised and continued in his path of

righteousness in staying honest.

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Jean Valjean had chosen the justice system not of mans but of Gods and receives

forgiveness and his reward. The ghost of Fantine carries his soul to God singing to him Come

with me / Where chains will never bind you / (Schnberg) as the chains of Valjeans

wrongdoing have haunted him his entire life but through true atonement he is informed by

Fantine that God has removed his chains, his sins, and that he will not be bound again. As

Fantine continues down the candle-lit path she continues her prayer Lord in heaven / Look

down on him in mercy / [Valjean] Forgive me all my trespasses / And take me to Your glory /

(Schnberg). Although Valjean experiences Gods kind justice he also sees the face of God

recalling with Fantine the truth that once was spoken / To love another person is to see the face

of God / (Schnberg). Valjean had experienced love from Bishop Myriel, Fantine, and had

treated Cossette raising her in love and in loving he has seen God.

The film Atonement, based on the Ian McEwans novel, is as the title blatantly states

about the reparation for a wrong and/or injury that affects an entire family instead of the

offender, young sister Briony. Briony accuses her elder sisters lover, Robbie, of sexual assault

out of confusion as she did not see the face of the actual offender assaulting her young cousin,

Lola, as it occurred after dark. The police are called and question each family member in which

Briony falsely states that she saw who did it and Robbie is arrested. Her false accusation results

in Robbies mother, a servant of the house, to lose her job, Robbie his Cambridge education,

Cecilia (Brionys older sister) to reject her Cambridge education, the family to face public

shaming, and Lola to unknowingly marry her rapist seven years later.

Briony falls short of pure atonement and instead falls in the second tier in which she

attempts to atone retributively through painful feelings of guilt and remorse. . .through

voluntarily imposed forms of suffering (Calhoun). She does not begin her atonement until after
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Robbie is released from prison in exchange that he joins the British Expeditionary Force (BEF)

to fight against the Nazis. However, he is later wounded at Dunkirk and becomes delirious only

able to sustain himself through Cecilias letters and their hopeful future until evacuation. Back in

Britain, Briony, now 18, is riddled with guilt since realizing that it wasnt Robbie who raped

Lola but Uncle Leons friend, the Marshall and so denies herself to go study at Cambridge; she

instead becomes a nurse in London, where she cares for some of the first British soldiers

wounded in the war (Shmoop). Her becoming a training nurse is Brionys way of voluntary

imposing suffering upon herself by denying a prestige education, a family expectation and

limiting her own potential. She tries again to contact her sister in letter writing:

Dear Cecilia, please dont throw this away without reading it. As youll have seen

from the notepaper, Im here at St. Thomass, doing my nurses training. I

decided not to take up my place at Cambridge. I decided I wanted to make myself

useful, do something practical. But no matter how hard I work, no matter how

long the hours, I cant escape from what I did and what it meant, the full extent of

which Im only now beginning to grasp (McEwan).

When given a day off from her hospital training Briony decides to visit her sister to inform her in

person, as she has not received a written response, that she will retract her false statement in

front of their parents and the court. Upon arriving she discovers that Robbie is with Cecilia at her

apartment and is aggressively confronted by Robbie who asks Have you any idea what its like

in jail? Course you dontdid it give you pleasure to think of me inside? (McEwan) to which

Briony struggles to stand her ground answering shakily no. Robbie continues but you did

nothing about it. Do you think I assaulted your cousin? Did you think it then? all to which
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Briony answers yes, yes and no. I wasnt certain (McEwan). Robbie continues to interrogate

her asking what has made her so certain now and Briony responds growing up.

Briony and Robbie continue their dialogue as he calls her out on her false attempt of true

atonement or atonement at all asking how old do you have to be before you know the difference

between right and wrong? Do you have to be eighteen? Do you have to be eighteen before you

can bring yourself to own up to a lie? There are soldiers of eighteen old enough to be left to

die (McEwan). Briony is visibly uncomfortable as she answers yes with Robbie finishing the

discussion stating, five years ago you didnt care about telling the truth. (McEwan). Once

calmed by Cecilia before harming Briony, Robbie tells her:

Youll go to your parents as soon as you can and tell them everything they need

to know to be convinced that your evidence was false. Youll go and see a

solicitor and make a statement and have it signed and witnessed and send copies

to us. . . Youll write a detailed letter to me, explaining everything that led up to

you saying you saw me by the lake and Cecilia adds Try and include whatever

you can remember of what Danny Hardman was doing that night (McEwan).

Briony regretfully informs them that it wasnt Hardman but the Marshall who raped Lola and

that Lola wont be able to testify against him now. Hes immune (McEwan) because the two

have wedded days before.

Briony attended the engagement with the intent of preventing the wedding when the

priest asks if anyone has any objections as to why the two should not wed in which Briony stays

completely silent during that scene. Her jaw moves slightly implying that she is going to speak

the truth and inform Lola that she is about to marry her rapist but instead lowers her head.

Because Lola and the Marshall are married Robbie cannot disown the crime he was wrongly
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committed of and Briony tearfully cries before forced to leave Im very, very sorry for the

terrible distress that I have caused. Im very, very sorry (McEwan). Both Cecilia and Robbie are

infuriated that Briony has not taken any action to come forward in the past seven years but it is

revealed at the end to the audience that she, Briony, never visited or spoke to her sister out of

cowardice and admits that the apartment scene with Cecilia, Robbie, and herself was invented

and knew that that scene couldnt have happened because

Robbie Turner died of septicemia at bradens on June first, 1940 the last day of

evacuation. And I was never able to put things right with my sister Cecilia

because she was killed on the fifteenth of October 1940 by the bomb that

destroyed the gas-water mains about Balum tube station. So, my sister and Robbie

were never able to have the time together they both so longed for and deserved.

Which ever since Ive always felt I prevented (McEwan).

Briony while interviewed for her last novel admits at old age (after diagnosed with a form of

Alzheimers) that she is responsible for the misery of Cecilia and Robbie and finally accepts her

role in preventing their happy ending as both are dead and resolves the issues by ending her

novel with them together reasoning in the book, I wanted to give Robbie and Cecilia what

they lost out in life. Id like to think this isnt weakness orevasion but a final act of

kindness. I gave them their happiness (McEwan). However, it is evasion of responsibility

because she never did atone, make right, her wrongs and believes so thoroughly that since she

took away their happiness in reality that by simply writing in pen that they lived happily

somehow excuses her or is an acceptable payment for her crimes. That because Briony has

voluntary imposed suffering to herself and with her Alzheimer diagnoses she has atoned because

her memory is deteriorating thus ending her literary career. Briony does not go through identity,
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behavioral, or commitment to morality transformations as she does not confess her crimes which

she made at 13 until old age approximately, 70 years of age, and does not mend her wrongdoings

with the injured party out of fear which places her act of atonement in the commonly understood

form of atonement through imposed suffering in the second tier.

Lastly the third tier is revenge acted upon when the justice system fails in the

appropriate atonement of wrongdoing. The injured party may take upon themselves to bring the

appropriate response through the act of revenge but not necessarily expecting the offender to

atone, if at all as atonement is done by the offender voluntary whether it is pure atonement (first

tier) or atonement (second tier); but revenge is acted upon by the injured party through their

perverted form of justice. The theme of revenge is popular in story telling in classic literature and

pop culture today such as Gladiator, Braveheart, Harvey Dent in The Dark Knight, The

Magnificent Seven, A Series of Unfortunate Events, and The Count of Monte Cristo.

As the common known idiom, says dont get mad, get even but why do humans desire

to get even? Why engage in revenge? Well it is often said that revenge is sweet and new

research confirms theres a reason why it balances out our previously negative mood

(Andrews). In the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology by University of Kentucky

researchers their study included 156 participants who were asked to write an essay of their

choice and then swap it with others to receive feedback. One of the participants was a researcher

(not known to the 155 participants) who gave the most gloriously awful feedback (Andrew).

The moods of all the participants were measured before the workshop and after and were given

the chance after the feedback to demonstrate how angry the feedback did or did not make them

(Andrew) with a virtual voodoo doll that partly resembled the participant that had so savaged

their essay writing skills [and] then they were permitted to poke some needles through it
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(Andrew). The results revealed that the most aggrieved participants manage to regain their

original, happier mood after engaging in a little bit of doll torture, but for some people, their

mood was indistinguishable from those who had received positive essay feedback (Andrew)

thus in this study the people are seeking revenge for their social rejection in order to fix their

mood (Andrew).

The researchers did an additional study with 154 new participants who were asked to play

a videogame that involved being passed a ball between themselves and two other partners in

which in one game the ball was passed successfully by the computer-controlled partners to the

human players half the time; in another, they were passed the ball just 10 percent of the time

(Andrew). Again the participants were asked to describe how they felt before asked if they would

like to seek revenge against the partners in the game which required another game to be played:

racing the opponent to a buzzer where the winner would be able to blast noise into the opponents

ear and amp up the volume those that did just that were the participant(s) who were rejected

earlier and more frequently in the videogame (Andrew) and so revenge is truly sweet because

humans use it to knowingly give [their] wronged selves a positive emotional boost (Andrew).

V for Vendetta is a film of getting even enacted upon by a cloaked figurine wearing a

Guy Fawkes mask known as V on his quest for revenge and his desire to right the wrongs in his

society done to him (Moore). Through a long alliteration V introduces himself Voil! In view,

a humble vaudevillian veteran, cast vicariously as both victim and villain by the vicissitudes of

Fate. This visage, no mere veneer of vanity, is a vestige of the vox populi, now vacant, vanished

(V for Vendetta) which in simpler terms V is both the villain and the victim as he states in his

riddles introductory and symbolizes through this visage that he is the vox populi, Latin

meaning the voice of the people although it is not revealed until further in the film who the
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voices he represents are. He continues his alliteration explaining what he plans to do and why

stating The only verdict is vengeance; a vendetta, held as a votive, not in vain, for the value and

veracity of such shall one day vindicate the vigilant and the virtuous. Verily, this vichyssoise of

verbiage veers most verbose, so let me simply add that it's my very good honor to meet you and

you may call me V (V for Vendetta).

2015 London is ruled by a fascist dictatorship who uses extensive means to control the

people [and] as a result, the populate slinks into a mode of enforced contentment, making no

effort to take back their freedom (Moore) which V calls the government venal and virulent

vermin who have coerced the populi into submission and he vows to one day vindicate the

vigilant and the virtuous (V for Vendetta). He begins his revenge by blowing up the old bailey

where Madame Justice, similar to Lady Liberty of America, stands and reasons for her

demolition because Madame Liberty no longer represents what she should: freedom. Vs

vendetta stems from a period in his life, when he was detained at the Larkhill Resettlement

Camp (Moore) where anyone who was different which included immigrants, Muslims,

homosexuals, terrorist, disease-ridden degenerates (V for Vendetta) were sent and detained for

cruel human experimentation. Five individuals, now holding high office in the government, are

responsible to what happened in Larkhill and are the targets of Vs vendetta with the first target

being the Voice of London, Prothero who is permanently silenced in his home.

Inspector Prothero is in the process of showering while watching a tape of his most recent

show of him criticizing the masked terrorist ironically yelling a man does not threaten innocent

civilians (V for Vendetta) turning the telly off to see Vs reflection in the screen and falls

backwards. V greets Commander Prothero who nervously asks why V keeps calling him that.

V walks slowly towards him that was your title remember? When we first met all those year
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ago. You wore a uniform those days (V for Vendetta) and scenes from the Larkhill Detention

Center are shown with Commander Prothero admiring his suit and then violently tazing a test

subject. Prothero recognizes V as the test subject in Roman numeral cell 5, and as the figure that

stood amongst the blown up burning facility. Prothero is killed because the virus created at

Larkhill was, by orders of a spider, to be used against the citizens of London in order to sway

the populace to vote for Adam Sutler the now high chancellor, whom held the cure the entire

time; Prothero was the owner of the pharmaceutical company that owned and distributed the

virus and the cure profiting millions. The irony of it all was the moments before his murder he

critiqued V for threatening innocent citizens but is guilty as he, in an indirect subtle manner,

threatened the people to vote for Sutler or he would withhold the cure.

V must kill these people instead of allowing the justice system to do so because there is

no court in this country for men like Prothero as the party members involved in the crimes

committed at Larkhill will not face the court because they are the court. They are the justice

system and the only individuals who are tried at court and then executed are non-white and non-

heterosexuals as the new government continues its ethnic cleansing with no challenge by the

coerced citizens who simply turn the other way and ignore the crimes of their government. Next

on Vs righteous revenge he hunts down Bishop Lilliman, who 20 years ago was the highest paid

worker, more than the doctors, at Larkhill where he was to monitor for rules and rights violation

which is assumed that he did not prevent any violence towards the subjects and did nothing to

stop the experiment. He is promoted to Bishop by the government and participates in presuming

pedophilia of young girls although the age of the girls brought in is not stated but the Bishops

agent informs him of his guest arrival whom Bishop Lilliman thanks Dennis of his actions a

noble example for all those who labor in the name of our Lord (V for Vendetta). Dennis informs
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the Bishop there was some confusion at the agency and they sent a new girl who Im afraid is a

little older than usual and the Bishop responds Older? Oh, dear I hope shes not too old, I

trust? (V for Vendetta). V however is not killing Bishop Lilliman for his pedophilia but for not

protecting the subjects the government viewed as vermin and not enforcing his role as protector

and a man of Godly virtue. When V breaks the door down of the Bishops room Lilliman runs

for his bible where he keeps a pistol but V is not harmed by the bullet and grips Bishop

Lillimans arm who pleads for mercy and quoting Shakespeares Richard III, V responds And

thus I clothe my naked villainy With old odd ends stolen forth from holy writ And seem a saint

when most I play the devil (V for Vendetta) using Richard IIIs quote to describe the Bishop

whom is displayed as a saint but in actuality is the devil; the line is also in reference to V who

also plays the devil in regards to murder.

With each party members death V leaves a Scarlet Carson, a red rose, whom the third

target, the governments coroner, recognizes when she is asked to research the rose because she

started out as a botanist. Dr. Delia Surridge, the coroner, experimented on the subjects at Larkhill

to create a virus for war purposes as nuclear power is meaningless in a world where a virus can

kill an entire population and leaves its wealth intact (V for Vendetta). She documents in

detail what occurred at Larkhill in her red journal writing

May 27th. Commander Prothero toured the lab with a priest, Father Lilliman, who

I was told is here to monitor for rules and rights violations. It made me nervous,

but the commander assured me there would be no problem. June 2nd. I kept

wondering if these people knew how they might be helping their country, if they

would act any differently. They're so weak and pathetic. They never look you in
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the eye. I find myself hating them. August the 18th. Of the original four dozen,

over 75 percent are now deceased. No controllable pattern has yet emerged. (V

for Vendetta).

Whenever a test subject died their cells, numbered by Roman numerals, were marked with an x

to signify death as she continued her research for biochemical enhancement for human soldiers

which subject from cell V was her first and last positive response because on November 5 the

medical section of the building experienced an explosion. As other workers and herself escaped

she saw amongst the burning buildings him, the man from room V writing he looked at me

not with eyes- there were no eyes but I knew he was looking at me because I felt it (V for

Vendetta).

She knows it is him because of the roses as he grew them when detained in Larkhill and

waits for her death in her home and senses him asking youve come to kill me, havent you?

and V appears from the shadows handing her a red rose prompting her to ask, are you going to

kill me now? as V shows her a syringe I killed you 10 minutes ago while you slept (V for

Vendetta). Dr. Surridge shows remorse telling him that she wanted to kill herself for what she

did but she hoped that her creation would help mankind but V interrupts her stating Ive not

come for what you hoped to do. Ive come for what you did (V for Vendetta) and in her final

moments with V she asks him is it meaningless to apologize? and V assures her it is never too

late as she stills and her hands loosen their grip on the rose. Vs first two kills are done in a cold-

blooded manner and with physical violence resulting in a painful death but with Delia he kills

her in more endearing, for lack of a better term, in which she wont experience any pain and she

thanks him for that even though she did not offer the same for the victims of Larkhill.
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With each kill V feels that he is balancing not only his injury but societys as well as

they are also the victims and the accomplices of their governments aggression. Evey, a young

woman under the care of V, is angered by his actions of murdering people particularly when V

show her a shrine in Valeries memory surrounded by Scarlet Carson; Valerie was at Larkhill

with V for being gay and was in the cell next to V, possibly cell IV, as in Latin the I is

pronounced as a strong e which is possibly why V took Evey in. Her name pronounced as the

roman numerals would be if each word, I-V was spoken individually. Once Evey understand

how Valerie plays a part of his vendetta she turns to V angrily you were in the cell next to her.

That's what it's all about... you're getting back at them for what they did to her... and to you as

she does not fully understand his vendetta thinking that its only for personal gain. Evey does not

see the full picture of how Valerie, V, and the subjects at Larkhill were not the only victims of

the government but so is she and all of Britain. V responds What was done to me created me.

It's a basic principle of the Universe that every action will create an equal and opposing reaction

with Evey asking Is that how you see it? Like an equation? (V for Vendetta). Fitting enough

her view of his vendetta as an equation is fitting in his revenge and why as the study of revenge

revealed that revenge provides the injured party to balance their rejection, their injury and

equations, like chemical equations, must always be balanced.

V in the beginning informs the country through means of high jacking the broadcast

systems certainly there are those who are more responsible than others, and they will be held

accountable referring to the five individuals, but again truth be told, if you're looking for the

guilty, you need only look into a mirror (V for Vendetta) as the citizens willingly gave up their

rights and consent which allowed for the violent acts of the government to continue without

question and to rise in such power. The spider and right hand man of the High Chancellor, Mr.
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Creedy, and High Chancellor, Adam Sutler, are the most difficult to infiltrate as both are heavily

guarded so V quietly breaks into Mr. Creedys private garden turning off the lights to avoid

detection from the cameras inside and surprises Creedy with his dagger near his throat as Creedy

hisses what do you want? V responds arrogantly Sutler. Come now, Mr. Creedy, you knew

this was coming. You knew that one day, it'd be you or him. That's why Sutler's been kept

underground, for "security purposes". That's why there are several of your men close to Sutler.

Men that could be counted on. All you have to do is say the word (V for Vendetta) V bargains

with Creedy that if he brings Sutler he will surrender himself to Creedy which Creedy agrees and

is then instructed by V to put an "x" on [his ] door (V for Vendetta) a deliberate reenactment

of how the doors were marked to signify death in Larkhill on the subjects door.

Mr. Creedy was the man responsible for suggesting that the deadly virus be used not

against enemies of the country but to the country itself. The epidemic and amounting deaths

made fear erupt within the country and Adam Sutler with the help of Mr. Creedy were able to

sway the election and win. Creedy and Sutler promised the people order, peace, and a cure

(processed through Protheros pharmacy) and the people obliged. V has prepared a train of

explosives to head to parliament and awaits for Creedy and Sutler. Sutler is terrified as he is un-

bagged and then shot by Creedy as Sutler was going to hold Creedy personally responsible for

not capturing the masked terrorist. V watches Sutler die and defiantly tells Creedy that the only

thing they have in common is that they are both going to die. Creedys men shoot at V until their

guns require reloading and V uses this opportunity to kill the men surrounding him with knives

and snap Creedys neck. His Vendetta is complete and he refuses medical help from Evey, a

young woman he took under his wing, telling her that he must die with this old world for he

cannot be a part of the new which belongs to Evey and the revolutionaries. The film ends with
 Harney-Davila 18

parliament being blown up as all the citizens, wearing Guy Fawkes mask, watch on November 5

fireworks erupt forming a v at the building collapses.

Inspector Finch, who has been uncovering the crimes of the government, is invited by

Evey to watch the display and asks her who was he to which she responds he was Edmond

Dantes. And he was my father and my mothermy brothermy friend. He was you. . .and me.

He was all of us (V for Vendetta) explaining that V did all of this for them. In the screen shot

the crowds remove their mask to reveal Valerie and her girlfriend, Deidrich, test subjects, and

black people as Sutlers administration had killed any non-white individuals. V symbolized the

voice of the dead, the victimized, the future, and an idea as he told Creedy before his death

behind this mask there is more than just flesh. Beneath this mask there is an idea and ideas

are bulletproof (V for Vendetta). Although V and those killed by the government are dead their

ideas of freedom and self-expression are alive for ideas cannot die and it is why they are present

to see the emergence of the new world.

 Harney-Davila 19

Citations

Ahmed, Beenish. "The U.S. Has A Lot To Learn From Norway's Prisons." ThinkProgress.

ThinkProgress, 03 Sept. 2015. Web. 22 Mar. 2017. <https://thinkprogress.org/the-u-s-has-

a-lot-to-learn-from-norways-prisons-681fd194b6e1#.mus8hhyvl>.

Andrews, Robin. "This Is Why Revenge Feels So Good, According To Science." IFLScience.

IFLScience, 20 Feb. 2017. Web. 21 Mar. 2017.

<http://www.iflscience.com/brain/revenge-feels-good-according-science/>.

Atonement. Dir. Joe Wright. Prod. Tim Bevan, Eric Fellner, and Paul Webster. By Christopher

Hampton. Perf. James McAvoy, Keira Knightley, and Romola Garai. Focus Features,

2007. DVD.

Calhoun, Cheshire. "Notre Dame Philosophical Reviews." Rev. of Making Amends: Atonement

in Morality, Law, and Politics, by Linda Radzik. 2009: n. pag. Notre Dame Philosophical

Reviews. Web. 22 Mar. 2017. <http://ndpr.nd.edu/news/making-amends-atonement-in-

morality-law-and-politics/>.

Combating the sting of rejection with the pleasure of revenge: A new look at how emotion

shapes aggression.

Chester, David S.; DeWall, C. Nathan

Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, Vol 112(3), Mar 2017, 413-

430. http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/pspi0000080.
 Harney-Davila 20

Knowles, John. Separate Peace. Place of Publication Not Identified: Simon & Schuster, 2016.

Print.

Lindsey, Richard. "Les Mis and the Doctrine of Atonement." Pop Theology. Patheos, 14 June

2013. Web. 21 Mar. 2017. <http://www.patheos.com/blogs/poptheology/2013/02/les-

miserables/>.

McEwan, Ian. "Quotes." IMDb. IMDb.com, n.d. Web. 23 Apr. 2017.

<http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0783233/quotes>.

Moore, Alan. "V For Vendetta Summary & Study Guide." BookRags. BookRags, n.d. Web. 25

Apr. 2017. <http://www.bookrags.com/studyguide-v-for-vendetta/#gsc.tab=0>.

Schnberg, Claude-Michel. "Valjean's Soliloquy: What Have I Done?" Genius. Genius Media

Group, 2017. Web. 19 Apr. 2017. <https://genius.com/Claude-michel-schonberg-valjeans-

soliloquy-what-have-i-done-lyrics>.

Shmoop Editorial Team. "Atonement Summary." Shmoop. Shmoop University, 11 Nov. 2008.

Web. 20 Apr. 2017. <http://www.shmoop.com/atonement/summary.html>.

 Harney-Davila 21

V for Vendetta. Dir. James Teigue. Screenplay by Lily Wachowski, Lana Wachowski, and David

Lloyd. By Alan Moore. Perf. Natalie Portman, Hugo Weaving, and Stephen Fry. Warner

Home Video, 2006. DVD.