Watchmen Character Analysis

If they are informal authority, people should look up to them during the crisis and the leader should know what to do in the situation. The masked heroes in Watchmen, however, were not only condemned by people in society, but also did not work with others to solve societal problems. The society that lacks the rule of law caused the masked vigilantes to impose their authority to “protect” the society where there are full of violence and crimes. Although they have police force and the government structure, the law enforcement does not work well. By showing each superhero’s way of putting justice without law enforcement, Watchmen criticizes corrupted government and anarchy where there is an absence of state or government, that does not apply

It poses the question whether if exchanging freedom for gaining peace and security in the end is acceptable. Veit’s decision to bomb the New York City might produce the outcome of peace between the US and the Soviet Union and temporary security from the nuclear threat. Veit certainly believes that security and peace are more valuable than freedom. Not all the masked heroes, however, agree with his point of view. It was not fair for many people that they did not have a choice in Veit’s plan. By valuing security more than freedom, many innocent people became the victims of bombing. Watchmen’s dystopia shows the consequences of a society that exchanges freedom and involvement in policymaking with an authoritarian environment in the name of

Manhattan whether he did the right thing, and Dr. Manhattan answers that nothing ever ends. As he has no interest in saving humanity due to his pessimistic belief, his answer indicates that Veit’s action would not stop further problems in the world. There will be continuous problems with humanity and there will be no way to fix it.
Watchmen’s dystopia fails to elaborate its critique clearly due to the double standards and moral dilemma the characters face. Rorschach, one of the heroic characters who is determined to fight for the goodness, dies by giving up his moral standings. The villain Adrian Veit kills and frames innocent people, however, he has the intention to create goodness in the world. The moral contradictions in Watchmen fails to make clear what values the dystopia is criticizing.
In conclusion, the masked heroes emerged to work for America driven by patriotism in order to protect citizens from themselves. The masked heroes are normal humans too and most of them have pessimistic view of humanity that human nature would always bring problems to the world and the peace is impossible. By showing the masked heroes constantly dealing with the moral dilemma, the dystopia criticizes the authority’s power and poses the question of whether if exchanging freedom over security is justified and whether if is sacrificing many people is justified to achieve the greater