Hero and antihero

We are used to think and see that in almost every movie, book, story, etc. there is a hero and a villain. Of course, this reinforces the plot and it gives space for a conflict and an outcome in which one of the two parts wins. However, in dystopian novels there are characters that are not able to cope with their life and who think differently from what is pre-established resulting in the co-existence of both the hero and antihero in a single character.

In the case of “V” for Vendetta the main character “V” can be seen as both the hero and the antihero. “V” acts in a way seeking the common well-being that he considers will create a better society. Although he uses violence to pursue an altruist objective, his goal is to end once in for all with the regime that they are being subjected to in order to thrive freely. For example, he attacks the “bishop” who was considered by the rest of the people as a good man (he even was his “grace”) while in fact he was a pederast who exploited young girls for his placer.

 

 “I will not hear talk of freedom, I will not hear talk of individual liberty. They are luxuries. I do not believe in luxuries”. As stated in this quote, freedom and liberty were out of the picture. “V” considers that if the existing justice can’t be believed, he will have to create one that could be, in which the only way to achieve freedom is through justice, acting as the hero. 

However, “V” at the same time is also an antihero since he ruptures with the cast that society imposes and he rebels against the stated conventions. In a way, a contradiction emerges when he follows the ways of anarchy and violence to terminate the higher violence that “the Leader” imposes.

Finally, do you think it is possible for both hero and antihero to coexist in a single character? Would one of these two have to be eliminated for the other one to remain? 

References

Lloyd, M. y D. Distopía e intertextualidad en 1984 de George Orwell y V de Vendetta de Alan Moore. 2009.

Moore, Alan y David Lloyd. V for Vendetta. DC Comics, 1989.