Rorschach, also known as Walter Kovacs, seems morally frozen in his stances of what is good and what is evil. Rosen speaks to this as she states, “Rorschach is the dark side of nostalgia” and “It is clear that Moore and the creators meant for us to read Rorschach as the vessel of an outdated morality” (90). The morality in Rorschach’s view of the world not only pertains to how he judges things in his life, but how he perceives visual images as well, especially the image that is often repeated in his life, the one of distorted intimacy in a couple’s embrace.
Walking in on his mother having sex was to him a source of “Dirty feelings, thoughts and stuff” which “upset him, physically” and made him “feel bad just talking about it” (6:32). While he seems to want to avoid the subject of the “Siamese twins, joined at the face and chest and stomach,” he cannot escape the imagery as he sees it splashed in his vision at any sight of intimacy (6:32). He psyche is scarred by the scene of his mother with that man who was a stranger to him and the subsequent trouble he gets into from breaking up their brief union. It seems so scarred that, in Rorschach’s mind, all instances of intimacy or of romantic embrace is now deemed to be solely on the side of evil, or if it is not that far, it is surely a sign of immediate discomfort when Rorschach sees these encounters.
This can be seen when he sees the silhouette of a couple in a doorway. Immediately, Rorschach’s response is “Didn’t like it, makes the doorway look haunted,” as seen in the picture below. The image is echoed so often when dealing with Rorschach that it sees like the word “scarred” wouldn’t do his mental disposition justice. “Haunted,” as he put it, would seem more appropriate.
Yet, the ghost is also catching. Following the lover’s inkblot and Rorschach’s story from his childhood, Rorschach’s therapist’s mind view becomes considerably altered by his time with Rorschach (6:3). Dr. Malcolm Long’s marriage deteriorates. He is distracted, almost consumed by his need to understand Rorschach and his obsession with being Rorschach instead of Walter Kovacs. I say it is catching because the therapist seems to have caught the image of intimacy that echoes so often with Rorschach. The therapist sees two people embracing in an image of graffiti, and his comment about them is that “On 7th Avenue, the Hiroshima lovers were still trying inadequately to console one another” (6:27). He may not be as haunted as Rorschach is by the image, but he does view the embrace as “inadequate,” which may be also echoed in the subsequent problems of his marriage.
The haunting image seems so engraved in Rorschach that it becomes a part of him. This can be seen near the end of Watchmen, when Rorschach sees Laurie and Dan embracing after hearing Veidt’s plot. The distorted image of the couple’s embrace that has been following him throughout the novel is displayed on his mask immediately following him seeing the two together. He himself displays the image, only to have it disappear right after.
It would seem that the image of the couple is a visible marker of both Rorschach’s possibly instability when it comes to looking at the world and his distorted view of intimacy in general based on his upsetting childhood.
~Kelley
I think you’re absolutely right in saying that Rorschach’s interpretation of the silhouette is evidence of his distorted perception, and also of his effect on his psychiatrist’s perception. I wonder too, if the fact that his mask is an ever changing inkblot underlines that point – he sees what he wants to see, not what’s really there.
“Not what’s really there?” I think Rorschach’s entire character is built upon Moore’s using him to channel Moore’s grimmest viewpoints on what’s really “real” in this world.
It’s a pretty damning view.
I like how you gravitate toward that “Hiroshima silhouette.” I’ve been thinking a lot about that image lately, and I’m realizing how much work it does for Moore. The image has both definite and ambiguous aesthetic, historical, sexual, and philosophical implications (among other things), which I hope we’ll have a chance to look at in class.