Morality and Competing Ideologies in Watchmen Anonymous College

Despite it being a superhero story, within the graphic novel Watchmen there is no clear assertion of who is to be considered a hero and who is to be considered a villain. Rather, there is a spectrum of morally grey characters, and what is deemed a right or wrong action is transformed greatly depending on each character’s perception. By looking at the conflicting beliefs and actions of three characters in Watchmen, Dr. Manhattan, Rorschach, and Ozymandias, we can see that the novel creates a complex and often ambiguous world meant to subvert the pure, morally good superhero narratives that preceded it.

Dr. Manhattan does not see things as good or evil, just as meaningless events in an endless timeline, and as a result allows injustices to occur without concern. In Vietnam, when Dr. Manhattan sees the Comedian about to shoot a pregnant woman, he says, “Blake don’t . . .” (56) and “. . . do it.”(57) is carried over to the next panel. The placing of this dialogue makes it look as though Dr. Manhattan is telling Blake to do it in the second panel, the same panel where we see his gun firing. Seeing the duality of Dr. Manhattan telling Blake “dont” and then “do it” blurs the meaning of his words and allows us to consider that perhaps...