Valerie Page
Encyclopedia
Valerie Page is a fictional character from the comic book
series (later republished as a trade paperback) V for Vendetta
. She also features in the film adaptation
.
s when protagonist Evey Hammond
finds a letter the former wrote, detailing her life story.
In the letter, Valerie says she is from Nottingham
. While at a single-sex grammar school
, she meets her first girlfriend, Sara. The couple is told by their teacher that lesbianism
is "an adolescent phase that people outgrow". Valerie does not and comes out
to her parents, who disown her; a week later she moves to London to study drama.
As a young woman, Valerie stars in her first film, The Salt Flats. While filming, she meets a woman named Ruth, and the two become lovers. However, over the three years of their relationship, the situation between the United States
and the Soviet Union
spirals out of control and—after the resulting war
—chaos erupts in Britain
, eventually creating a nationwide power vacuum that the fascist
Norsefire
party exploits to seize power. Once in control, the new government criminalizes homosexuality
and sends homosexuals to "resettlement camps".
Ruth is apprehended by Norsefire's secret police
, the Finger, while buying food. Shortly afterwards, Valerie is arrested and sent to Larkhill
resettlement camp (Valerie writes that she learned that Ruth betrayed her to the authorities under torture
and later committed suicide
in her cell out of guilt; there is no mention of this in the film, but in the novelization of the film Evey finds this out while reading the letter). At Larkhill, Valerie is one of the number that Dr. Delia Surridge and Commander
Lewis Prothero use as test subjects. As the experiments progress, Valerie writes her autobiography
using a small pencil she smuggled into the camp ("inside myself
, because I am a woman") and a roll of toilet paper. Just before she dies, she passes it to the occupant in the cell next to hers, Room V. The autobiography is the catalyst that psychologically transforms the occupant of Room V into the masked "V". He then destroys the camp and escapes.
V engineers an elaborate charade in which Evey is led to believe she is imprisoned in one of Norsefire's resettlement camps. V then anonymously slips Valerie's letter into Evey's cell, hoping to trigger in her the same psychological transformation he had at Larkhill. It is successful, and Evey is thus prepared to become V's successor.
, Valerie is played by Natasha Wightman
as an adult, and by Imogen Poots
as a child.
Comic book
A comic book or comicbook is a magazine made up of comics, narrative artwork in the form of separate panels that represent individual scenes, often accompanied by dialog as well as including...
series (later republished as a trade paperback) V for Vendetta
V for Vendetta
V for Vendetta is a ten-issue comic book series written by Alan Moore and illustrated mostly by David Lloyd, set in a dystopian future United Kingdom imagined from the 1980s to about the 1990s. A mysterious masked revolutionary who calls himself "V" works to destroy the totalitarian government,...
. She also features in the film adaptation
V for Vendetta (film)
V for Vendetta is a 2005 dystopian thriller film directed by James McTeigue and produced by Joel Silver and the Wachowski brothers, who also wrote the screenplay. It is an adaptation of the V for Vendetta comic book by Alan Moore and David Lloyd...
.
In the comic book series
Valerie appears in a series of flashbackFlashback (narrative)
Flashback is an interjected scene that takes the narrative back in time from the current point the story has reached. Flashbacks are often used to recount events that happened before the story’s primary sequence of events or to fill in crucial backstory...
s when protagonist Evey Hammond
Evey Hammond
Evey Hammond is a fictional character and one of the main characters of the V for Vendetta comic book series, created by Alan Moore and David Lloyd. She becomes involved in V's life when he rescues her from a gang of London's secret police.-Biography:Evey grew up on Shooters Hill in south-east...
finds a letter the former wrote, detailing her life story.
In the letter, Valerie says she is from Nottingham
Nottingham
Nottingham is a city and unitary authority in the East Midlands of England. It is located in the ceremonial county of Nottinghamshire and represents one of eight members of the English Core Cities Group...
. While at a single-sex grammar school
Grammar school
A grammar school is one of several different types of school in the history of education in the United Kingdom and some other English-speaking countries, originally a school teaching classical languages but more recently an academically-oriented secondary school.The original purpose of mediaeval...
, she meets her first girlfriend, Sara. The couple is told by their teacher that lesbianism
Lesbian
Lesbian is a term most widely used in the English language to describe sexual and romantic desire between females. The word may be used as a noun, to refer to women who identify themselves or who are characterized by others as having the primary attribute of female homosexuality, or as an...
is "an adolescent phase that people outgrow". Valerie does not and comes out
Coming out
Coming out is a figure of speech for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender people's disclosure of their sexual orientation and/or gender identity....
to her parents, who disown her; a week later she moves to London to study drama.
As a young woman, Valerie stars in her first film, The Salt Flats. While filming, she meets a woman named Ruth, and the two become lovers. However, over the three years of their relationship, the situation between the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
and the Soviet Union
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....
spirals out of control and—after the resulting war
World War III
World War III denotes a successor to World War II that would be on a global scale, with common speculation that it would be likely nuclear and devastating in nature....
—chaos erupts in Britain
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
, eventually creating a nationwide power vacuum that the fascist
Fascism
Fascism is a radical authoritarian nationalist political ideology. Fascists seek to rejuvenate their nation based on commitment to the national community as an organic entity, in which individuals are bound together in national identity by suprapersonal connections of ancestry, culture, and blood...
Norsefire
Norsefire
Norsefire is the fictional fascist political party ruling the United Kingdom in Alan Moore and David Lloyd's V for Vendetta comic book series...
party exploits to seize power. Once in control, the new government criminalizes homosexuality
Homosexuality
Homosexuality is romantic or sexual attraction or behavior between members of the same sex or gender. As a sexual orientation, homosexuality refers to "an enduring pattern of or disposition to experience sexual, affectional, or romantic attractions" primarily or exclusively to people of the same...
and sends homosexuals to "resettlement camps".
Ruth is apprehended by Norsefire's secret police
Secret police
Secret police are a police agency which operates in secrecy and beyond the law to protect the political power of an individual dictator or an authoritarian political regime....
, the Finger, while buying food. Shortly afterwards, Valerie is arrested and sent to Larkhill
Larkhill
Larkhill is a garrison town in the civil parish of Durrington, Wiltshire, England. It is a short distance west of Durrington village proper and north of the prehistoric monument of Stonehenge. It is about north of Salisbury....
resettlement camp (Valerie writes that she learned that Ruth betrayed her to the authorities under torture
Torture
Torture is the act of inflicting severe pain as a means of punishment, revenge, forcing information or a confession, or simply as an act of cruelty. Throughout history, torture has often been used as a method of political re-education, interrogation, punishment, and coercion...
and later committed suicide
Suicide
Suicide is the act of intentionally causing one's own death. Suicide is often committed out of despair or attributed to some underlying mental disorder, such as depression, bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, alcoholism, or drug abuse...
in her cell out of guilt; there is no mention of this in the film, but in the novelization of the film Evey finds this out while reading the letter). At Larkhill, Valerie is one of the number that Dr. Delia Surridge and Commander
Commander
Commander is a naval rank which is also sometimes used as a military title depending on the individual customs of a given military service. Commander is also used as a rank or title in some organizations outside of the armed forces, particularly in police and law enforcement.-Commander as a naval...
Lewis Prothero use as test subjects. As the experiments progress, Valerie writes her autobiography
Autobiography
An autobiography is a book about the life of a person, written by that person.-Origin of the term:...
using a small pencil she smuggled into the camp ("inside myself
Vagina
The vagina is a fibromuscular tubular tract leading from the uterus to the exterior of the body in female placental mammals and marsupials, or to the cloaca in female birds, monotremes, and some reptiles. Female insects and other invertebrates also have a vagina, which is the terminal part of the...
, because I am a woman") and a roll of toilet paper. Just before she dies, she passes it to the occupant in the cell next to hers, Room V. The autobiography is the catalyst that psychologically transforms the occupant of Room V into the masked "V". He then destroys the camp and escapes.
V engineers an elaborate charade in which Evey is led to believe she is imprisoned in one of Norsefire's resettlement camps. V then anonymously slips Valerie's letter into Evey's cell, hoping to trigger in her the same psychological transformation he had at Larkhill. It is successful, and Evey is thus prepared to become V's successor.
In other media
In the 2005 film adaptation of the novelV for Vendetta (film)
V for Vendetta is a 2005 dystopian thriller film directed by James McTeigue and produced by Joel Silver and the Wachowski brothers, who also wrote the screenplay. It is an adaptation of the V for Vendetta comic book by Alan Moore and David Lloyd...
, Valerie is played by Natasha Wightman
Natasha Wightman
Natasha Wightman is an English actress, who trained at Elmhurst Ballet and Theatre School in Camberley, Surrey.She has appeared in movies such as Gosford Park and played Valerie Page in V for Vendetta....
as an adult, and by Imogen Poots
Imogen Poots
Imogen Gay Poots is an English actress, best known for playing Tammy in the 2007 film 28 Weeks Later, Prue Sorenson in the 2010 remake of the controversial TV drama Bouquet of Barbed Wire and as Jean Ross in the BBC's Christopher and His Kind.-Early life:Poots was born in Hammersmith, London,...
as a child.
External links
- Valerie's Letter, from the book