V for Vendetta, Reference Guide

These notes on Alan Moore's V  for  Vendetta  series   were prepared by an undergraduate class in Literary Research, under the direction of Dr. James Means, of Northwest Louisiana State University, during the spring of 1994. In making these notes, a system was adopted that allows the reader to follow each entry easily.

The first number indicates the page on which the original entry can be found. The second number indicates the line art, numbered from top to bottom; most pages have three lines of art, while some have less. Finally, the last number indicates the column, numbered from left to right.

PART 1

-, -, – Europa After the Kingdom (title – In the version of Ed. Globo: O Vilão)

The title of the first book refers to Max Ernst's painting Europe After the Rain, and it retains within it implications of the climatic upheavals of an upcoming nuclear attack. After the Kingdom certainly refers to the dissolution of royalty with a certain ominous ring, just as the painting's title implies a great weight upon every continent. The title page's image, of a single gloved hand (which certainly indicates cold weather) placing something heavy and shadowy beneath the surface, adds to the ominous nature. The painting, entitled L'Europe Apres la Pluie, was created between 1940 and 1942. It is depicted as a funeral scene full of decay and putrefaction, populated only by beastly creatures that roam around alone (p. 44-45). Ernst had created similar works involving the ruined, the fossilized, the inanimate;surfaces appear to be decaying, corroded by acid, and perforated with countless holes like the surface of a sponge, (p. 44).
For some time before World War II (working in the technique called decal, dating from 1936, 37, 40 – was it really before the war? Where was he now? He was being put in various camps, being replaced in others, fleeing and finally flying to America (p. 94) But it was after his "premonition of war translated into reality" that he fled to America. There, haunted by the memories of a Europe ripped to shreds, he created the composition also called Europe Nach dem Regen which translates as Europe after the Rain or Europe after the Flood (p. 44).
Ernst was born in 1891 in Bruhl, south of Cologne, on the banks of the Rhine (p. 29). His paintings often depict a world in which the history of mankind has been completely erased by a cataclysmic event in the Universe … or by the conscious act of revolution that destroyed everything (p. 8). In 1925, his best friend Paul Eluard wrote of Ernst's mental attitude, which sought to destroy all culture that was or was not inherited as a result of personal experience, as if it were a type of sclerosis in Western society: 'There cannot be no total revolution but only permanent revolution. Like love, it is the fundamental joy of living' (footnote, p. 8).
Ernst participated in Dada exhibitions where observers destroyed his art and observed its pieces nailed to walls and scattered on the floor. To reach the gallery where the event took place, spectators crossed the lavatory of a brewery where a girl dressed as a saint who had just received communion was reciting lewd verses. The exhibition was closed on charges of fraud and obscenity (based on D'rer's Adam and Eve print, which had been incorporated into one of Ernst's sculptures). It was subsequently reopened.
According to Hamlyn, the event was held to embarrass and provoke the audience (note, page 8). This element of drama and provocation is also a line followed in V for Vendetta.

1, 1, 1, the 5th of November…

This is the first reference to Guy Fawkes Day, the anniversary of the day Guy Fawkes was caught in the basement of Parliament with a large amount of explosives. Fawkes was a Catholic extremist and military hero who distinguished himself as a brave soldier of cold determination through his exploits fighting the Spanish army in the Netherlands (Encyclopaedia Britannica 705). He was recruited by disaffected Catholics who conspired to blow up Parliament and kill King James I. James had worked to institute a fine for people who refused to attend Anglican masses (Encyclopaedia Britannica 571), adding to the oppression that Catholics already suffered in England. One of the conspirators rented a house that shared part of its basement with Parliament, and the group filled that basement with gunpowder.Fawkes was chosen to start the fire, and it was determined that he must escape within fifteen minutes of the explosion; if he could not flee, he would be quite ready to die for such a holy cause, (Williams 479). One of the conspirators had a friend in Parliament; he warned his friend not to attend the opening during the day chosen for the bombing, and paranoid King James immediately discovered the plot. Fawkes was caught in the basement and tortured. He was executed directly in front of Parliament on January 31, 1606.he warned his friend not to attend the opening during the day chosen for the bombing, and paranoid King James immediately discovered the plot. Fawkes was caught in the basement and tortured. He was executed directly in front of Parliament on January 31, 1606.he warned his friend not to attend the opening during the day chosen for the bombing, and paranoid King James immediately discovered the plot. Fawkes was caught in the basement and tortured. He was executed directly in front of Parliament on January 31, 1606.

2, 3, 2, Utopia (book on shelf)

This was Sir Thomas' most famous work in 1516 (Sargent 844) in which he outlined the humanitarian characteristics of a decent and planned society, (Greer 307), a society of common property in land, liberality, equality, and tolerance (Greer 456 ).

2, 3, 2, Uncle Tom's Cabin (book on shelf)

Written by Harriet Beecher Stowe and published in 1852, this novel talks about the depressing lifestyles of black slaves in the US South, contributing enormously to popular anti-slavery sentiment (Foster 756-66).

2, 3, 2, Capital (book on shelf)

This was Karl Marx's greatest work, published in 1867. It was his greatest treatise on politics, economics, humanity, society, and government; Tucker describes it as (Marx's) fullest expression of global vision.

2, 3, 2, Mein Kampf (book on shelf)

The biographical proclamation of Nazi leader Adolf Hitler's convictions, Mein Kampf (My Struggle), was written during his incarceration after his first attempted coup against the Bavarian government in 1923 (Greer 512). Without any doubt, Moore wanted to be ironic by placing this work close to that of Marx, since the Nazi extreme right was a strong opponent of communism.

2, 3, 2, Murder in the Rue Morgue (film poster)

The Rue Morgue Murders. This was a 1932 horror film produced by Universal. It was an important adaptation of the Edgar Allen Poe story, starring Bela Lugosi, a famous actor in the genre. It is about a series of gruesome murders that are supposed to be the work of a trained ape (Halliwell 678). This reference may contain some hints about V's investigation methods for his attacks against the system, and his serial killer characteristics.

2, 3, 2, Road to Morocco (film poster)

This 1942 Paramount film was one of a series of lighthearted romantic comedies starring Bing Crosby and Bob Hope as two wealthy playboys who travel around the world having silly adventures (Halliwell 825).

2, 3, 2, Son of Frankenstein (film poster)

The Son of Frankenstein. Universal's 1939 horror film Son of Frankenstein was the latest in a classic trilogy. It starred Boris Karloff, a famous horror film actor, and involved the return of the Baron's son and his subsequent interest in him (Halliwell 906).

2, 3, 2, White Heat (film poster)

White Heat, made in 1949 by Warner, starring James Cagney. The plot involved a violent gangster with a fixation on his mother who finally falls over after a government agent infiltrates his gang (Halliwell 1073). This may be another important indication of how V also topples the violent and dysfunctional party leader by infiltrating through its ranks.

3, 1, 3, …And again making Brittany great!

This is a typically “nationalist” feeling. European nationalism, which has its roots in the Hundred Years War (Greer 269-275), is the concept that each nation must hold in common a single culture and a single history and in which it is inevitably considered as one nation. it's better than the others. It was this sentiment, taken to its extremes, that led Hitler's National Socialist Labor Party (the Nazis) to try to rid Germany of the "non-Germans". (Wolfgang 246-249).

4, 3, 3, The Multiplying vilanies of nature from the swarm upon him….

This is a speech by the Sergeant in Act I, Scene II, from Shakespeare's MacBeth (766).

7, 1, 1-2 Remember, remember the 5th of November, the gunpowder, the betrayal, the ruse. So I don't see why forgetting such a vile gunpowder betrayal.

This is a version of an English children's rhyme. In search of a confirmatory poem, I searched The Subject Index to Poetry for Children and Young People (1957-1975) which features five collections of poems that included lines about Guy Fawkes (Smith and Andrew 267). One of these, Lavender's Blue, included the following version made in at least 1956:
Please to remember the fifth of November
Gunpowder, treason and plot
I see no reason why gunpowder treason
Should ever be forgot (Lines 161
)

Thank You for Remembering November 5
Gunpowder, Treachery and the Plot
I see no reason why such a gunpowder betrayal
Should forever be forgotten (line 161)
The Oxford Dictionary of Quotations attributes this version to an anonymous children's lullaby from 1826 (Cubberlege 368), and the first two lines as being traditional since the 17th century, (Cubberlege 9).

7, 1, 2, The Explosion of Parliament…

In this scene, V succeeds where Fawkes fails; his and Evey's position in opposition to Parliament is probably significant, as if it were the opposite position to the Parliament in which Fawkes was hanged (Encyclopaedia Britannica 705).

7, 2, 2, V-shaped fireworks

This refers to the common practice of exploding fireworks on Guy Fawkes' day as part of the celebration (Encyclopaedia Britannica, p.705). It's also probably a reference to 'Repent, Harlequin!' Said the Ticktockman (something like Ticktock man) by Harlan Ellison.
9, 3, 1, England triumphs
This feeling feels a lot like the impulse in a verse from James Thomson's 1740 play Alfred: A Mask (Act III, last scene):

When Britain first, at heaven's command, Arose from
out the azure main,
This was the charter of the land, And guardian angels
sung this strain:
Rule Britannia, rule the waves; Britons will never be
slaves. (Cubberlege 545)
Which translation is:

When England first, at the command of heaven, Arose from
the azure sea,
This was the writing of the earth, And guardian angels
sang this melody:
Command Britannia, command the waves; Britons will never be
slaves. (Cubberlege 545).

12, 2, 3, Frankenstein (book on shelf)

This is a famous 1818 sci/social fiction explanation by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley. According to Inga-Stina Ewbanks, it is on the eternal theme of the creation of man that lies beyond his power to control, (5).

12, 2, 3, Gulliver's Travels (book on shelf)

Gulliver's Travels. This was a utopian novel written in 1726 by Jonathon Swift, a satirical English social writer who spent most of his life in Ireland (Adler ix-x).

12, 2, 3, Decline and Fall of…? (book on shelf)

This probably must be the work of Edward Gibbs, The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, more commonly known as The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire and Fall of the Roman Empire). The six-volume collection was written between 1776 and 1788, and is regarded as one of the finest stories ever written (Rexroth 596).

12, 2, 3, Essays of Elia Lamb (book on shelf)

Elia, or Charles Lamb, first published his famous essays in the pages of the London Magazine, from 1820 to 1825, later bound in two volumes, published in 1923 and 1833. His essays are regarded as personal, sensitive, and profound (Altick 686-87) .

12, 2, 3, Don Quixote (book on shelf)

This was a satirical novel about chivalry, written around 1600 (Adler) by the Spanish author Miguel de Cervantes. His hero is a cartoonish romantic knight who is desperately idealistic (Greer 307).

12, 2, 3, Hard Times (book on shelf)

Charles Dickens wrote this almost solitary attack on… industrialization in 1854. He juxtaposes the serious and hardworking industrialists with a creative and entertaining circus that comes to the town in which the novel takes place (Ewbanks 786). It probably might have appealed to V's sense of drama and his victory over his ills.

12, 2, 3, French Revolution (book on shelf)

This volume can be about any history set during the French Revolution, or about the French Revolution itself, which took place between 1787 and 1792.

18, 2, 3, Faust (book on shelf)

Goethe's famous poem Faust was published in early 1808. It recounts a Renaissance legend about a doctor who bargains with the devil for youth and power. The second part, posthumously published, was a philosophical treatise in which Faust's soul is saved because he loves and serves both God and humanity, despite his mistakes. This Faust is considered to be the incarnation of the “modern” human being (Greer 426).

12, 2, 3, Arabian Nights Entertainment (book on shelf)

The one thousand and one nights. This book is a collection of folk stories that originated in India but were taken to Persia and Arabia. Although started in 8th or 9th century Baghdad, they retain many more features of 15th century Egypt, where they were formally translated (Wickens 164).

12, 2, 3, The Odessey (book on shelf)

The Odyssey. One of two historic Greek epic poems, written around 800 BC and written by Homer. Although Homer's identity is uncertain, and he may even have been an archetypal character of his own, The Odyssey is an adventurous story about the return of Greeks who become heroes crossing rough seas (Greer 66).

12, 2, 3, V (book on shelf)

Novel V, written in 1963 by Thomas Pynchon, is considered to be one of the first important postmodern works. He combines bits of history, science, philosophy, and pop psychology with paranoid characters and scientific metaphors. Pynchon's work is described as a variation between 'intellectual culture' and the middle ground of underground drug pop culture (Kadrey and McCaffery 19). This can also be said about both the Dark Gallery and V for Vendetta itself.

12, 2, 3, Doctor No (book on shelf)

Ian Fleming, a former British intelligence agent, wrote this spy novel in 1958. Fleming's novels were supposedly based on his life as a spy (Reilly 320).

12, 2, 3, To Russia With Love (book on shelf)

Another of Fleming's novels, this one was written in 1957 (Reilly 320).

12, 2, 3, Illiad (book on shelf)

Another poem by Homer, The Iliad is about the violent and bloody Trojan war.

12, 2, 3, Shakespeare (2 volumes on shelf)

Shakespeare was an Elizabethan theater writer whose dramas and sonnets are considered classic works of the humanist renaissance (Greer 307).

12, 2, 3, Ivanhoe (book on shelf)

One of Sir Walter Scott's dramatic historical novels, Ivanhoe, was written in 1820 (Greer 425).

12, 2, 3, The Golden Bough (book on shelf)

The exhaustive thirteenth volume of James G. Frazer's work on primitive superstitions was first published in 1890. V's bookshelf contains a single volume of the work.

12, 2, 3, Divine Comedy (book on shelf)

The divine Comedy. This is a masterpiece of Italian literature, written by Dante Alighieri. Beginning around 1306 and ending with Dante's death in 1321, it deals with the author's journey through the afterlife.

12, 3, 3, Martha and the Vandellas

A Rhythm-and-Blues musical group, produced and distributed on the Motown Record label between 1963 and 1972. They got their start as backing singers for Marvin Gaye, another Motown star, and then launched into a successful career as an artist. aggressive and extravagant. The song Dancing in the Streets was released in 1964. (Sadie 178).

12, 3, 3, Motown

Motown was an African-American-owned independent record label founded in Detroit (also known as Motortown, or the City of Motors), Michigan. The word also describes the distinctive style of pop-soul music that brought the label's success. This Motown sound was drawn from blues, rhythm-and-blues, gospel and rock, but unlike these other African American music styles, it also relied on some of the socially accepted Anglo-American popular music practices, and this obscured some one of the most powerful features of African American music (Sadie 283).

13, 1, 2, Tamla and Trojan

I have not been able to determine any references for Tamla and Trojan. As Motown refers to both the label and the style of music it helped to popularize, I don't know what relationship Tamla had with the other groups mentioned. As the other individuals mentioned are real, I believe Tamla and Trojan existed, but I couldn't find any records of them.

13, 1, 2, Billie Holiday

Famous jazz singer Billy Holiday was extremely popular among New York left white intellectuals. She has recorded with some of the best in jazz, including Benny Goodman and Count Basie. She ended up in a world of drugs, alcohol and abuse, and died in 1959 at the age of 44 (Sadie 409-410).

13, 1, 2, Black Uhuru

This group was one of the most famous reggae bands in Jamaica. It was formed in the year 1974 in Kingston (Sadie 46-47). Reggae is a typical Jamaican dance music style, influenced by both Afro-Caribbean music and American Rhythm-and-Blues (Sadie 464).

13, 1, 2, The Voice of the Owner...

The RCA logo featured a dog staring at the cone of a gramophone (one of the first record players), symbolizing the recognition of the animal by its owner's voice.

13, 3, 3, Aden

Aden was both the other name for the inhabitants of the Democratic Republic of Yemen (South Yemen) and the capital city of the country. The country that is now merged with North Yemen, occupied the southern tip of the Arabian Peninsula in southern Saudi Arabia. The British colonized it, and maintained partial control there until the country became a Marxist republic in 1967 (Encyclopaedia Britannica 835). Although Prothero's age is not mentioned, he appears to be around 50 years old; it is likely that he served as a soldier immediately before the Yemen revolution. So he would have been a young man during the 1967 revolution, and about 40 during his years as a chief at Larkhill Rehabilitation Camp.

18, 3, 1, V in a circle

This symbol bears similarities to the anarchy sign of an A in a circle, and also to Zorro's dramatic initial (Stolz 60).

19, 1, 2, Roses "Violet Carson"

Violet Carson is a hybrid rose introduced in 1963 (Coon 201) or 1964 (Modern Roses 7432) by S. McGredy. It is one created by the crossing of a Madame Leon Cuny and a Spartan. It is described as a colored flower, with cream (Coon 201) or silver (Modern Roses 7 432) under the petals, and has a robust, widespread shrub. It does not appear to be of a very common variety, and is listed in publications of reputable rose societies but not in books aimed at the casual reader, so it is uncertain how Finch might have recognized it immediately.

20, 1, 3, The Cat (film poster)

The poster for a movie called The Cat hanging on the wall seems to depict a man holding a gun. The only film I could find with that title, however, was a 1973 French drama about the uncommunicative relationship between a bitter trapeze star and her husband (Halliwell 168).

20, 1, 3, Klondike Annie (film poster)

A 1936 Paramount film, Klondike Annie starred Mae West as an ardent runaway singer who, disguised as a missionary, revitalizes a mission in the Klondike (Halliwell 542). Some of the movies depicted on the posters seem to have attracted V for entertainment purposes only. However, this one may give the reader a clue as to V's character. He is both on the run, in disguise, and trying to revitalize an entire nation.

20, 1, 3, Monkey Business (movie poster)

This 1931 Marx Brothers film, made by Paramount, chronicles the antics of four stowaways on a ship who disrupt a social party on board, where they capture some crooks (Halliwell 666). This is another clue, as V is a stowaway in a social system that messes up the system and captures various enemies.

20, 1, 3, Waikiki Wedding (film poster)

Waikiki Wedding was produced in 1937 by Paramount. Its plot involves a press agent who is in Hawaii to promote a competition for The Queen of the Pineapple (Halliwell 1050).

21, 3, 2, Save a Whale (T-shirt)

Because of the threat of extinction from whales, many people in the 1970s began wearing t-shirts and buttons proclaiming that someone should Save a Whale. This sentiment came to be associated with “liberal” politics and environmentalism.

22, 1, 1, …When Labor came to power…

According to the Encyclopaedia Britannica, the British Labor Party is a socialist reformist party with strong institutional and financial ties to the trade unions. In January 1981, due to vast internal changes, the elected Labor Party Leader was Michael Foot, a socialist activist whose policies included unilateral nuclear disarmament, nationalization of key industries, uniting power and heavy taxes (82) of the the way Moore describes it in Behind the Painted Smile (271).

22, 1, 1, …President Kennedy…

The implication is that the President of the United States is either Ted Kennedy, Democratic Senator, or John Kennedy Jr, respectively, the nephew and son of former President John F. Kennedy.

23, 2, 1, Nordic calls

This is probably the name of a state party, with all the flags and uniforms displaying big N's. Nordic derives from the Norsemen or Vikings from the Scandinavian countries who invaded Europe in the 5th and 6th centuries (Greer 183). They were fierce, strong, and “Aryan” – the population “idealized” by Hitler's Nazi party: blond and blue-eyed (Greer 513-514). Choosing this image helps to identify government policy.

27, 2, 3, The world is a stage!

This is a quote from Shakespeare's As You Like It, Act II, scene VII. (Bartlett 211).
40, 2, 3, …we're back at five.

A popular expression for taking a break comes from a show business phrase, although union laws now require a ten-minute break (Sergal 219).

46, 3, 2, Mea Culpa

I confess to Latin or it's my fault (Jonas 69).

47, 1, 3 – Bring me my bow of burning gold, Bring me my arrows/ of desire, Bring me My spear, The clouds unfold, Bring me my chariot of fire…I will not cease from mental/ flight Nor shall my sword sleep in my hand 'Till we/ have built Jerusalem In England's green and pleasant/ land.

This is part of William Blake's poem And Did Those Feet, from the preface to his Milton collection. Blake's preface to this work was a call to Christians to condemn the classic writings of Homer, Ovid, Plato, and Cicero, venerated in place of the Bible. He declared: We do not want Greek or Roman models in England; rather, he said, his fellow Christians should strive to create those worlds of eternity in which we will live forever, (MacLagan and Russell xix). V is, in his own way, trying to create his idea of ​​Jerusalem, a free world, in England. The translation is as follows:
Bring my bow of burning gold,
Bring my arrows of desire,
Bring my sword, O unfurling clouds,
Bring my chariot of fire…
I will not cease my spiritual struggle...
Nor will I rest the sword in my hand...
Until we have raised Jerusalem...
In the green and pleasant lands of England.

54, 2, 2, Please let me introduce myself. I am a man of means... and good taste!

This is the opening of the Rolling Stones song Sympathy for the Devil, released in 1968.
56, 3, 3, I am the Devil and I came to perform the demonic work!
Finch describes this quote as coming from a famous murder case nearly twenty years before 1997. A search of almanacs from 1974 to 1979 reveals that the only famous murder case at that time was that of the Son of Sam/David Berkowitz. Berkowitz was convicted of killing six people and injuring seven others in random attacks on the streets of New York between July 29, 1976 and July 31, 1977. There was no apparent motive behind the killings; Berkowitz explained them by saying it was a command. I got a sign and followed it (Delury, 1978, 942). Considering this quote, and Berkowitz's apparent insanity, in which he made him interrupt his trial with violent attacks, it is likely that this quote comes from this case.

57, 2, 1-2: The Lord is my shepherd: and I shall lack nothing; In a place of pastures, there he placed me. He led me to a meal water. He converted my soul, led me along the paths of justice, for the love of his name!

This is the translation of the following English version of the 23rd Psalm from the biblical book of Psalms, originally used in the English version of V for Vengeance:
The Lord is my shepherd: therefore I can lack
nothing; He shall feed me in green pasture and lead
me forth beside the waters of comfort. He shall
convert my soul and bring me forth in the paths of
righteousness, for His name's sake…
This seems to be a strange version of this psalm. It's nothing like the King James version:

The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want. He maketh
me lie down in green pastures; He leadeth me
beside the still waters. He restoreth my soul: he
leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for his
name's sake. (Bartlett 18)
I looked in several bibles and found that each had a different version. A very common version of the Holy Bible (Standard Catholic Version of the Bible) reads:

The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not be in want. He
makes me lie down in green pastures, he leads me
beside quiet waters, he restores my soul. He guides
me in paths of righteousness for his name's sake. (310)

PART 2

9, 3, 1, The Magic Faraway Tree, by Enid Bla?? (in the translation of Ed. Globo – The distant tree)

While many of the books in V for Vendetta are real, this one seems to be one of Moore's inventions. Neither the Oxford Companion to Children's Literature nor the Science Fiction Encyclopedia includes its title.

15, 1, 3, I heard about an experiment…

The experiment, which was not as dramatic as described in V for Vendetta, was administered at Yale University in 1963 by Stanley Milgram. Volunteers were not really believing they were killing victims, and 65% (26 of 40 volunteers) continued to administer what they believed to be dangerous and severe shocks to their victims (Milgram 376).

23, 2, 3, … a mixture of Pituitary and Pineal extract.

Moore refers to a mixture of substances extracted from the Pituitary and Pineal glands, although I doubt that such a mixture has the effects that Moore describes in the series. It must be just Moore's creation.

24, 3, 3, ammonia fertilizer

Some fertilizers contain ammonia which, in the presence of certain bacteria, can be turned into nitrate, which is used by plants (Chittenden 99).

24, 2, 2, mustard gas

This gas was created to be used as a chemical weapon during World War II. Causes severe skin blisters and eye irritation. Its chemical structure is (Cl2CH2CH2)2S (1,1-dichloro-ethyl sulfide) (Encyclopedia Americana 679).

24, 2, 3, napalm

Napalm is a gasoline-derived explosive, also used during World War II (Encyclopedia Americana 724). I don't think a person can make Napalm or mustard gas from gardening ingredients. (T.N.: As others have pointed out, there is the possibility of producing such substances with garden products, depending, of course, on the production conditions. But as we are talking about a work of fiction, the author must have admitted that, due to his impressive mental nature, character V would be capable of such scientific feats).

53, 3, 2, The Dunes of Salt

This is not a real movie. Halliwell gives no reference to this movie, and seems to serve only as a minor plot point, like a popular Valerie Page movie.

57, 2, 3, Storm Saxon

This television show is (thankfully) another invention. The Complete Encyclopedia of Television Programs from 1947-1979 does not include any similar programs. The choice of the Saxon (Saxon) name is important; the Saxons were the descendants of the Scandinavian conquerors who populated France and England in the fifth century (Greer 178-179). Note that Storm's companion is a white, blonde-haired woman named Heidi – the Aryan Purity's model of perfection!

58, 2, 2, …on NTV one!

Apparently, NTV stands for Norse Fire Television, and is the replacement for BBC-TV, the British state television and broadcasting corporation (Greene 566). The one refers to the channel number. The BBC currently airs on Channels One and Two (Greene 566).

62, 1, 3, …We pay, and for what?!

The BBC is not a commercial channel; it is maintained by the sale of broadcasting licenses, paid for by owners of television and radio sets.

PART 3

4, 1, 2, Spatial image

This is Neil Armstrong, walking on the surface of the moon. Armstrong, the first person to walk on the moon, took his historic step in 1968.

6, 3, 1, Hitler

One of the images in the background collage is of Adolf Hitler, leader of the German Nazi Party, the far-right line of government that ran Germany from 1933 to 1945 and executed approximately 6 million people, including Jews, Gypsies, homosexuals and other prisoners politicians (Sauer 248).

6, 3, 1, Stalin

Josef Stalin's picture is included because, like Hitler and Mussolini, he is associated with violent tyranny. He controlled the former Soviet Union from 1929 to 1953; during the years between 1934 and 1939, he arrested and killed his political enemies, who were almost all members of the country's military, political, and intellectual strata (Simmonds 571-74)

6, 3, 1, Mussolini

Benito Mussolini, another leader featured in the collage, was an Italian leader who was almost equal to Hitler in despotism. Although he started out as a pacifist socialist, during the First World War he formed his right-wing fascist party. He was the dictator of Italy from 1922 to 1943, and controlled northern Italy from 1943 to 1945, before being executed (Smith 677-78).

7, 2, 1, Image of troops marching (in the background)

These are the Nazi troops from Hitler's army.

From now on, we will follow, for convenience, the numbering of the pages of book two by V de Vingança, published by Via Lettera.

17, 2, 1, … someone who looks up to a red flag…

Historically, red flags symbolized the anarchist or communist movement, or both.

17, 3, 1, …I want the emotion… of the triumphant will…

 

This line of the song in the cabaret refers to the famous Nazi propaganda documentary film The Triumph of the Will (The Triumph of the Will, produced by Leni Riefenstahl in 1934. The film describes an open-air Nazi party rally in Nuremburg as a mystical, almost religious experience, just as the singer is enacting (Cook 366).

18, 1, 2, …if a blond cat…
Another reference to the Aryan breed ideal.

18, 1, 2, The Kitty-Kat Keller

The club's name is a reference to the burlesque club Kit Kat Klub, from the movie Caberet during Hitler's rise to power in pre-World War II Germany. Both bear the initials KKK, which leads to an inevitable association with the infamous racist organization Ku Klux Klan.

18, 3, 1, Do 'heil' for me...

One more reference to Nazism; heil was the verbal greeting given to Hitler with the right arm raised and the palm facing downwards.

43, 3, 2, …a very special puppet show…

The show that Evey's father mentions, and which we see represented on page 34, is a type of puppet show known as Punch & Judy, which originated in Italy before the 17th century. It is an extremely violent spectacle; the Punch dummy usually beats other characters to death. Like V, Punch always destroys his enemies (Encyclopedia Americana 6).

PART 4

15, 2, 1, Arthur Koestler, The Roots of Coincidence

Koestler was a humanist and intellectual journalist from the beginning of the 20th century. This work deals with paranormal phenomena [Encyclopedia Americana (530-31)].

34, 3, 1, 1812 Overtune Solennelle

This musical piece, written in 1880 by Peter Ilich Tchaikovsky, was the consecration of the Cathedral of Christ in Moscow. The cathedral was built in thanks to Napoleon's defeat in 1812. The work incorporated an old Russian anthem, and included both the French national anthem, the Marseillaise, to represent Napoleon's invasion and God Save The Czar (God Save the Czar) for symbolize the victory of Russia. Moore probably chose this work both for its revolutionary sound and for an unusual reason: the original orchestration included sounds of battlefield gunfire that the conductor produced by flipping electrical switches (Adventures in Light Classical Music 34), an action that V imitates with their bombs.

48, 3, 1, Ordnung

German word that means, in this case, order, discipline (Betteridge 452).
Apparently, in the Via Lettera edition, the spelling is wrong: the word is written as Ordung.

48, 3, 2, Verwirrung

German word for confusion, perplexity, disorder (Betteridge 686).

49, 1, 1, Rotating ever wider, / The falcon does not listen to the falconer; / Everything crumbles… / … the center does not hold.

These words are from William Butler Yeats' poem The Second Coming, which talks about a Christ/anti-Christ figure who sustains mankind's chaotic history (Donoghue 95-96). This illustrates V's vision of a chaotic world, but V believes that as a result of chaos, order will come. This is also foreshadowed, as V represents a Christ/anti-Christ and Evey is the second coming. The English excerpt of the original poem is as follows:
Turning and turning in the widening gyre the
Falcon cannot hear the falconer.
Things fall apart…
the center cannot hold.

54, -, – However, as they say, anything goes in love and in war. As, in this case, they are both, the greater the validity./ Although he bears the horns of a betrayed, they will not be/ they will not be a crown that I will wear alone./ As you see, my rival, although inclined to spend the night,/ I loved The woman I had at home./ You'll regret it/ The villain who stole my only love,/ When I know that, many years ago…/ I'll lie with yours.

V often speaks, as he does here, in iambic pentameter, which is a rhythmic scheme. Each line consists of five metric feet, each of which contains two syllables, one short (stressed) and one long (stressed), (Encyclopedia Americana 688). Simply put, an iambic pentameter is a column of five stanzas, each formed by an iambo, which is a measure – a foot of verse – made up of a short and a long syllable. Speaking in white verses, characteristic of Jacobean pieces, V pays homage. Jacobean dramas were often a revenge play, which V imitates in deadly adaptation throughout the story. The original English text is as follows:
Still all in love and war is fair, they say,
this being both and turn-about's fair play.
Though I must bear a cuckold's horns, they're not a crown that I shall bear alone. You see,
my rival, though inclined to roam, possessed
at home a wife that he adored. He'll rue
his promiscuity, the rogue who stole
my only love, when he's informed how
many years it is since first I bedded his.

56, -, – The Fall of the Dominoes (image)

The dominoes, which V has been standing on since the beginning, are ready to fall. In Harlan Ellison's little story 'Repent, Harlequin!' said the Ticktockman (Repent, Harlequin! Said the Tick-Tack-Man), the first act of Harlequin terrorism is described this way:
He had played the first dominoes on the line, and one after the other, in a 'chik , chik, chik', they had fallen.
'Repent, Harlequin!' said the Ticktockman demonstrates a ridiculous dystopia where time is both the means and the end for fascism; in this, delay is eradicated by the constant demand of biblical revenge: if an individual is ten minutes late, ten minutes are taken from the end of his life. In this world, Harlequin, disguised in a clown costume, manages to disrupt the weather by spilling $150,000 worth of chewing candy on a crowd of passersby waiting on a moving sidewalk. The chewing candies, which are a mystery since they were no longer made more than a hundred years ago (like the fireworks in V and the chirping of Big Ben on page 145 of V for Vendetta), literally shut down the sidewalk. and nullifies the entire system of that world for seven minutes. This act makes Harlequin a terrorist against the state,and the Time Controller Master (the title's Tick-Tack-Man) must discover the troublemaker's identity before the system is totally destroyed. Many of V's tricks are similar to Harlequin's: both use fireworks to communicate with the masses, and both appear over buildings to mock the masses with songs or poems. Ticktockman knows, like Finch, that Harlequimé's identity is less important than understanding what he is. The Harlequin and V fundamentally represent ideas opposed to those who run their worlds, and both, though they use destruction, sow those who hold the power to demolish the realities that consume them. Both are, in a way, celebrities,and both are enemies of the state because they want to be reformers of the state [a reference to Henry David Thoreau's Civil Disobedience].

PART 5

1, 2, 2, Lysergic Acid Diethylamide

Also known as LSD or LSD-25, this drug is a psychotropic drug that induces a state of psychosis. It was first isolated in Basle, Switzerland, in 1938 by Albert Hoffman, who synthesized it from a fungus that attacks cereals, causing a disease known as grass rust (Stevens 3-4).

2, 1, 1, Four tablets

Hoffman was also the first person to try LSD-25. In his first experiment, he used 250 milligrams (Stevens 4). He experienced a violent trip and subsequent doses were reduced to less than two-thirds of the initial amount (Stevens 10). So Finch's four tablets, each 200 milligrams, was a very, very excessive amount.

5, 3, 1, …in nomini patri, et filii, et spiritus sancti…

Latin, from the Christian Mass: In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the holy spirit.

7, 2, -, La Voie… La Verite… La Vie.

These words are French, and mean, respectively, the way (or the road), the truth, the life.

7, 3.1, Stonehenge

One of England's largest and most complete laid-out stone monuments. Its origin and purpose are unknown, but it is believed to have been either a place of astrological observation or a place for religious ceremonies, or both.

9, 1, 3, Everytime we say goodbye…I die a little./ Everytime we say goodbye, I wonder/ why a little. Do the gods above me, who must/ be in the know think so little of me they'd/ allow you to go?

The quote is from a Cole Porter song entitled Ev'ry time we say goodbye (Every Time We Say Goodbye) from Porter's 1944 show Seven Lively Arts. Porter (1891-1964) was an American composer who wrote works jazz symphonies and musicals. He is best remembered for his adaptation of Shakespeare's The Taming of the Shrew in the musical Kiss me, Kate (Lax and Smith 611; Havelince 200).
A free translation for this excerpt of the song is as follows:
Every time we say goodbye… I die a little bit. Every time we say goodbye, I wonder a little bit why.
Do the gods above me,
who know so much of everything, think so little of me as
to let you go?

9, 2, 2, Do what you want, Eve. That will be the only law!

This is Aleister Crowley's Law of Thelema in his 1904 publication The Book of the Law. Crowley was a controversial and misunderstood wizard and occultist of the mid-19th and early 20th centuries. He declared that this book was dictated to him by his guardian spirit, a demon god, the incarnation of Set, an Egyptian god, whom Crowley called Aiwas. Although some interpret the law as permission to do pure anarchy, it can actually mean that someone has to do what he or she is supposed to do and nothing else (Guiley, 76).

13, 1, 1, … a Ray Bradbury story you read to me, about a wheat field…

The story is The Sickle, from The October Country. The book contains another nine short stories, and here in Brazil it was published under the name Other Tales from the Country of October.

15, 2, 1, I'm waiting for the man.

This is a quote from Velvet Underground Heroin (Heroin) about an addict who waits for his hookup that will bring him more of his drug to sell.

15, 3, 3, Farewell, My Beloved (Poster)

This 1945 film, whose English title is Farewell, My Lovely, was produced by RKO. It was one of the first film noirs, a style characterized by the violence and depravity of its characters, its complex plots and its dark, high-contrast photography. This film was adapted from a novel by Raymond Chandler, and is about the search for a private detective by the girlfriend of an ex-convict (Halliwell 314).

21, 2, 2, Eva Perón…, Evita…and Don't Cry For Me, Argentina…
Eva Perón was the wife of Juan Perón, former president of Argentina, from 1946 to 1952. Eva Perón, also known as Evita, controlled the union Labor, and purged them of their leaders, thus making them completely dependent on the government. She also suppressed groups that insulted her. However, she was very dear to many in Argentina. Eva Perón inspired a musical, Evita, written by Andrew Lloyd Webber, and first staged in London in 1978.

23, 1, 1, …and took these steps in ancient times…

The first lines of the poem And Did Those Feets, by William Blake.

27, 2, – …then how can you tell me that you are alone…/ …and claim that the sun doesn't shine for you?/ Give me your hands and come with me through the streets of London./ I'll show you a few things…/ … that will change your mind.

This can be a real song; however, I was unable to determine its origin or any other information about it.

41, 3, 1, … a Viking funeral.

Vikings buried their dead first by placing the corpse on a ship and, after setting fire to the vessel, pushed it into the sea.

41, 3, 1, bird until it's worth

Latin, which means, hello and goodbye (Simpson 63, 70, 629).

52, 1, 2, Les Miserables (poster)

This poster belongs to Les Miserables (Les Miserables), a modern opera piece by Claude-Michel Schonberg, based on the novel by Victor Hugo and first performed in London in 1980. , becomes a revolutionary leader (Behr 391).

55, 2, 2, The news of my death was… exaggerated.

This quote is from a telegram sent from London to the Associated Press by Mark Twain, an American writer, in 1897 (Bartletts 625).

By Madelyn Boudreaux – April 27, 1994.