Watchmen Essay

Berumen 1
Ivan Berumen
Professor Jackie
4 February 2015
English 114b
Watchmen Essay #1
At times, we lose sense in what defines us as a good individual and
that is why our morals and ethics may be shifted. Many factors come into
play when we are asked why we act and think the way we do. Childhood
background, tragic experiences, and personal problems can all come into
play. For some, their actions may be morally correct but just unclear and
questionable. The book Watchmen, by Alan Moore, is about a group of
costumed crime fighters that with their existence have unwillingly affected
many world events. Aside from what the story is about, the decisions and
actions each characters face have readers questioning their morals and
ethics. Throughout this book, the audience is able to analyze and see the
morals and ethics of each of the characters by the way they are portrayed.
Although fighting crime, many of these characters experience personal
decisions that will cause them to do the wrong thing in many situations.
Characters including Rorschach and Adrian Veidit have morals that seem to
be twisted and obscured. They are fighting for good and justice, but just
doing it in a weird way. The morals and ethics of these characters are
confusing and leaves readers wondering whats going on in these heroes
heads.
Berumen 2
Rorschach to me is a hero who fights for justice but just does it in a
weird way. As a hero, Rorschach makes it clear that he is out in the world to
fight off villains and keep the world criminal free. However with his actions,
readers are halted and thrown off that a so-called hero would have such
twisted and obscured ethics. As seen in pages 23-24, Rorschach has a
confrontation with Dr. Manhattan. This is because Rorschach is a closeminded individual and views everything as a blank slate. He treats
everything around him the same without any compassion and is why his
ethical behavior is unclear. Instead, Rorschach should be compassionate to
the world he is protecting, but he is the opposite. In addition, Rorschachs
behavior and ruthlessness towards criminals leaves readers questioning if he
really is fighting for good and not just killing off criminals for his personal
satisfaction. His crazy and uncaring behavior portrays a twisted hero whos
ethics and morals are confusing. However, there is a reason to why
Rorschachs morals and ethics are the way they are. Through his childhood,
he was rejected and uncared for but was deep down a good individual.
Although going through a troublesome past might be the reason for his
uncaring characteristic, he is still set out to do good for the world.
Rorschachs morals and ethics may be twisted, but he still fighting off evil
villains. Again, he just shows and does it in a weird way.
Another characters whos morals and ethics are twisted and confusing
is the character Adrian Veidt. As the smartest man alive, readers are thrown
off to why such an amazing individual who could be helping out the world be
Berumen 3
so corrupt and unethical. This shows that even the most perfect man in the
world can have morals that ethics that are wrong. This includes not using his
super powers for good and to help out the society around him. Instead,
Adrian Veidt uses his ability for his own personal growth, something that is
not looked at as ethically correct. Someone with good ethics should use their
ability to strengthen the world around them not just for themselves. An
interesting quote by Adrian is, Killing millions to save billions. As this
individual single handedly killed off millions of people, he also saved billions
of people who would have died in the future. This puzzled and had its
audience wondering about the situation of the nuclear war that couldve
broken out. What Adrian said couldve have been agreed or disagreed upon
others. If he didnt do what he had did many people would have died in the
future. However, some might say the world could have been saved without
Adrian killing off millions of innocent residents. This decision made by Adrian
had people asking if his ethics and morals were correct and ethical. Some
people might agree with Adrians decision, but others might bash on this
individual because of the mass killings he did. The morals and ethics of this
individual can be twisted and corrupt to some.
The last character whos morals and ethics are questionable are those
of the Comedian. This man died a few scenes in when the book had just
started, but along the way the audience was able to discover and find out a
little history about this man. Through the history and information I was given,
I perceived the comedian to be an evil and bad man, but he was far from it.
Berumen 4
Although the Comedian fought and killed criminals without any thought and
compassion, he was still out fighting evil. However, he thought of society as
nothing more than just an idea sort of resembling Rorschach perceptions in a
way. This man fought for good, but he just had his own way of doing it. Both
the comedian and Rorschach were insensitive when it came to fighting
criminals but still were doing the right and ethically correct thing to do. The
comedian and Rorschach can be similar in their actions and thoughts
towards society. However, the comedian differs from Rorschach with his
attitude that he puts off. With his arrogance and ways to do things the way
he wants to do, the Comedian has readers questioning his morals and ethics.
A man who is able to help fight off evil for the world should be humble with
the power and identity he has.
The characters in the book Watchmen have morals and ethics that
heroes should have, but may be questioned by their audience. They may
also be perceived as corrupt and twisted with the way these characters think
and act. However, many reasons apply to why they might be ethically and
morally incorrect. Their morals and ethics may be misguided because of
personal problems, tragic experiences, and a bad childhood background.
Many of these characters include Rorschach, The Comedian, and Adrian Veidt
whos morals and ethics are twisted in a way. Although fighting for good and
keeping criminals off the street, they lose sense in why they really are
fighting off evil. Rorschach and The Comedian had no compassion towards
Berumen 5
society and is seen as not ethically correct. The characters listed above are
perfect examples of individuals who have twisted and confusing morals.
Works Cited
Moore, Alan, and Dave Gibbons. Watchmen. New York: Warner Books,
1987.
Print.

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