Rorschach's Watchmen

Watchmen - Chapter 1

Summary Chapter one opens with the death of Edward Blake. It becomes apparent that the cause of death had been that he was thrown from his apartment by an unknown suspect. The chapter is picked up in the point of view of two detectives who are investigating the crime scene and discuss several motives for the burglary/murder.
Soon after, the point of view is turned over to Rorschach, a mysterious man who is identified by the police as an outlaw of sorts. After investigating the crime scene, Rorschach uncovers that Edward Blake is the true identity of the masked hero known as the Comedian: a former Minuteman.
From there, Rorschach spends the remainder of the chapter going to extreme lengths in order to discover who
it was that eliminated the Comedian, as well as his motives for doing so. In this process we get to really glimpse into Rorschach’s mindset (with occasional cutaways to Rorschach’s journal entries) as well as accurately weigh his morals (eg. in one instance, he even goes to extreme lengths as to break a man’s fingers in order to uncover the truth of the Comedian’s death).
We are also introduced to many key characters such as Adrian Veidt, Daniel Dreiberg, Dr. Manhattan (the big blue man), and Laurie Jupiter: all retired Minutemen
-death of the Comedian (raises the question of motives and suspects; leads the direction of the novel)

Character Analysis - Rorschach
-Rorschach is a reclusive detective and a former member of the Minutemen.
His inner monologue is fairly dark and cynical. He thinks of his city as a gutter (shit hole) and feels that it is his job to “clean the streets”. Although we don’t learn much about Rorschach’s origin at first, he is first introduced as a sort of vigilante by detectives investigating the murder of Eddie Blake. From the detectives’ conversation, we learn that he is “crazier than a snake’s armpit.” They imply that he is morbidly fascinated in crime cases, and that he goes through violent means to solve them. When we finally see Rorschach in the novel, we see him as a dark and mysterious man who takes it upon himself to solve Eddie Blake’s murder. Upon investigating, Rorschach finds that Eddie Blake is the Comedian, another former member of the Minutemen. This gives Rorschach incentive to keep investigating the murder because he fears for former masked heroes who are his friends (including himself?). He shows no superhuman qualities, but through his investigations and his interactions with others we learn that he is very inquisitive and can easily piece things together to get to a final
decision.
-p.
14-16
→ breaks a man’s fingers trying to find out what happened to the Comedian. exemplifies the measures he’d go through (and he’s actually frickfracking INSANE) - he doesn’t know the man, he’s not even a suspect, but he still broke his fingers in hopes that someone will speak out and tell him what he needs. -journal
entries
→ shows his inner angst and hatred for the world he lives in

3. Page Analysis -beginning/ending (parallels, adds drama) -p.1 dialogue is eerie and unsettling, carries a lot of drama and sets the tone of the novel (focused on button) -final page dialogue is more light hearted, however the presence of the button reminds the audience that there is still a lot of drama taking place despite the fact that they (Dreiberg and Jupiter) are not at the center of it. Symbols/Themes
-p. 6
-Rorschach mask
-Comedian’s button

Discussion questions

significance of Comedian’s button?
Rorschach’s mask?
Why he wears it? motivation to kill Eddie?