Poetic Deaths

As we had discussed in class, there are many literary works that influenced or are at least mentioned in V for Vendetta. One of these works is the Divine Comedy. We already talked a bit about the presence of Dante’s Inferno in the graphic novel but I would like to use it to analyze the deaths of the three from Larkhill. I think that each of these characters met with a poetic end that reflected either a sin they committed or a vice they had.  

“The Damned in Dante’s Inferno are punished in a fashion that illustrates the nature of their sins.” (Keller) This is clearly reflected in what eventually happens to Lewis Prothero. As stated in the graphic novel, Prothero was “the camp commander who had chosen him (V) to receive batch 5, the preparation that destroyed his mind”. So what happened to Prothero? He was kidnapped by V and was administered the same drug (batch 5). In addition, V destroyed Prothero’s doll collection, something which he adored and obsessed over. The end result was that Prothero lost his mind and became incapacitated. Lewis Prothero’s punishment reflected both his sins (choosing V to receive the drug and destroying his mind) and his vice (the doll collection).

According to Bradley J. Birzer “V not only kills his victims, but he does so with immense poetic justice. Each person assassinated – reminiscent of Dante’s Inferno – dies according to his or her vice.” The second of the three from Larkhill to cross paths with V is Bishop Anthony Lilliman. Lilliman had worked at Larkhill as a priest, giving spiritual support to prisoners. V “visited Bishop Lilliman and made him swallow a poisoned communion wafer.” (Birzer) This bishop’s death reflects both what he had done in Larkhill and the fact that he is a priest.

The third of V’s victims had an end that was quite different from the previous two. “He can temper his killing with mercy, but he kills nonetheless. When confronting Dr. Delia Surridge, once so disgusted by all deviations from the norm but now repentant, V murders her without pain.” (Birzer) Delia Surridge had also worked at Larkhill, she was a camp doctor. Out of the three victims she is the only one to show remorse for what she had done. This change in her is evidenced not only though her apology to V but also in the contrast between what she had wrote in diary and her final words. She has once considered V as ugly, but before she dies she looks upon his face and says it is beautiful. The remorse that the doctor feels and the change she had undergone is what allows her to die a painless death.

As you can see, each character had a poetic end similar to what happens with sinners in Dante’s Inferno. V gives them an end that they each deserve. Allow I chose to compare Danre’s Inferno with what happens to the three from Larkhill, I think the panel that is shown above can be further analyzed. As was said in class, there is a complementation between what we read and what we see. So, I have a question regarding the last three images in the panel. What do you see?

References:

Birzer, Bradley. “V for Vendetta: The Graphic Novel at Its Best.” The Imaginative Conservative, 2014. Web. 20 Nov. 2014. <http://www.theimaginativeconservative.org/2014/09/v-vendetta-graphic-novel-best.html>. 

Keller, James. V for Vendetta as Cultural Pastiche: A Critical Study of the Graphic Novel and Film. Jefferson: McFarland & Company, 2008. Print.

Moore, Alan and Lloyd. V for Vendetta. New York: Vertigo, DC Comics, 1982. Print.