• Genre
  • About
  • Contact
  • Search
Menu

Speakola

All Speeches Great and Small
  • Genre
  • About
  • Contact
  • Search

Hugo Weaving (written by Andy Wachowski): 'I know why you did it. I know you were afraid', V for Vendetta - 2006

December 20, 2015

Release date 30 March 2006

Good evening, London. Allow me first to apologize for this interruption. I do, like many of you, appreciate the comforts of every day routine – the security of the familiar, the tranquility of repetition. I enjoy them as much as any bloke. But in the spirit of commemoration, thereby those important events of the past usually associated with someone’s death or the end of some awful bloody struggle, a celebration of a nice holiday, I thought we could mark this November the 5th, a day that is sadly no longer remembered, by taking some time out of our daily lives to sit down and have a little chat.

There are of course those who do not want us to speak. I suspect even now, orders are being shouted into telephones, and men with guns will soon be on their way. Why? Because while the truncheon may be used in lieu of conversation, words will always retain their power. Words offer the means to meaning, and for those who will listen, the enunciation of truth. And the truth is, there is something terribly wrong with this country, isn’t there? Cruelty and injustice, intolerance and oppression. And where once you had the freedom to object, to think and speak as you saw fit, you now have censors and systems of surveillance coercing your conformity and soliciting your submission.

How did this happen? Who’s to blame? Well certainly there are those more responsible than others, and they will be held accountable, but again truth be told, if you’re looking for the guilty, you need only look into a mirror. I know why you did it. I know you were afraid. Who wouldn’t be? War, terror, disease. There were a myriad of problems which conspired to corrupt your reason and rob you of your common sense. Fear got the best of you, and in your panic you turned to the now high chancellor, Adam Sutler. He promised you order, he promised you peace, and all he demanded in return was your silent, obedient consent.

Last night I sought to end that silence. Last night I destroyed the Old Bailey, to remind this country of what it has forgotten. More than four hundred years ago a great citizen wished to embed the fifth of November forever in our memory. His hope was to remind the world that fairness, justice, and freedom are more than words, they are perspectives. So if you’ve seen nothing, if the crimes of this government remain unknown to you then I would suggest you allow the fifth of November to pass unmarked.

But if you see what I see, if you feel as I feel, and if you would seek as I seek, then I ask you to stand beside me one year from tonight, outside the gates of Parliament, and together we shall give them a fifth of November that shall never, ever be forgot. People should not be afraid of their governments. Governments should be afraid of their people. Strength through unity, unity through faith! I am V. At last you know the truth. You’re stunned, I know. It’s hard to believe, isn’t it, that beneath this wrinkled, well-fed exterior there lies a dangerous killing machine with a fetish for Fawkesian masks. Vive la revolution!

Source: https://ghostline.wordpress.com/2007/09/13...

Enjoyed this speech? Speakola is a labour of love and I’d be very grateful if you would share, tweet or like it. Thank you.

Facebook Twitter Facebook
In FILM Tags V FOR VENDETTA, HUGO WEAVING, SURVEILLANCE, FREEDOM, GUY FAWKES
← James Van der Beek (written by Peter Illiff): 'Let's be heroes', Varsity Blues - 1999Richard E Grant (written by William Shakespeare): 'What a piece of work is a man!' Withnail & I, Hamlet soliloquy - 1987 →

Featured political

Featured
Deval Patrick: 'Just words', gubernatorial campaign speech - 2006
Deval Patrick: 'Just words', gubernatorial campaign speech - 2006
Esteban Gonzalez Pons: 'Europe is not a market, it is the will to live together', speech on Brexit, European Parliament - 2017
Esteban Gonzalez Pons: 'Europe is not a market, it is the will to live together', speech on Brexit, European Parliament - 2017
Fannie Lou Hamer - 'All of this is on account of we want to register, to become first-class citizens', DNC Credentials Committee Testimony - 1964
Fannie Lou Hamer - 'All of this is on account of we want to register, to become first-class citizens', DNC Credentials Committee Testimony - 1964
Thabo Mbeki: 'I am an African', On adoption of new South African Constitution - 1996
Thabo Mbeki: 'I am an African', On adoption of new South African Constitution - 1996

Featured eulogies

Featured
For Ben Cowen: 'My husband had a magical cape', by Lahra Carey - 2016
Jan 20, 2017
For Ben Cowen: 'My husband had a magical cape', by Lahra Carey - 2016
Jan 20, 2017
Jan 20, 2017
for Michelle McNamara: 'She hasn’t left a void. She’s left a blast crater', by Patton Oswalt - 2016
May 5, 2016
for Michelle McNamara: 'She hasn’t left a void. She’s left a blast crater', by Patton Oswalt - 2016
May 5, 2016
May 5, 2016
Featured
For Keith Rule: 'Solomon in a singlet', Andrew Rule - 1998
For Keith Rule: 'Solomon in a singlet', Andrew Rule - 1998
For Chris Daffey: 'I’m not ready for goodbyes when the jokes have run out', by Tony Wilson - 2014
For Chris Daffey: 'I’m not ready for goodbyes when the jokes have run out', by Tony Wilson - 2014

Featured commencement

Featured
Larissa Martinez: 'America can be great again without the construction of a wall built on hatred and prejudice', McKinney Boyd High School - 2016
Larissa Martinez: 'America can be great again without the construction of a wall built on hatred and prejudice', McKinney Boyd High School - 2016
Ursula Le Guin:  'We are volcanoes', Bryn Mawr - 1986
Ursula Le Guin: 'We are volcanoes', Bryn Mawr - 1986
Mark Zuckerberg: 'Finding your purpose isn't enough', Harvard University - 2017
Mark Zuckerberg: 'Finding your purpose isn't enough', Harvard University - 2017
Helen Mirren: 'No good can ever come from tweeting at 3 a.m.!', Tulane University - 2017
Helen Mirren: 'No good can ever come from tweeting at 3 a.m.!', Tulane University - 2017
Peter Dinklage: 'I am happy to talk about the parallel lineages of the Targaryens and Lannisters later at the bar', Bennington College - 2012
Peter Dinklage: 'I am happy to talk about the parallel lineages of the Targaryens and Lannisters later at the bar', Bennington College - 2012
Ellen de Generes: 'You’ve already survived a hurricane. What else can happen to you?', Tulane University - 2009
Ellen de Generes: 'You’ve already survived a hurricane. What else can happen to you?', Tulane University - 2009

Featured sport

Featured
Bob Uecker: 'My mother and father were on an oleo margarine run to Chicago back in 1934', Fricke Award, Baseball Hall of Fame - 2003
Bob Uecker: 'My mother and father were on an oleo margarine run to Chicago back in 1934', Fricke Award, Baseball Hall of Fame - 2003
Scott Quinnell: 'And those dragons this year, I am convinced are going to breathe f*cking fire!' School of hard Knocks documentary - 2012
Scott Quinnell: 'And those dragons this year, I am convinced are going to breathe f*cking fire!' School of hard Knocks documentary - 2012
Alex Marcou: 'Fabulous at the Lodge', Spirit of Carlton luncheon - 2012
Alex Marcou: 'Fabulous at the Lodge', Spirit of Carlton luncheon - 2012
Angela Pippos: 'Being bad at sport doesn’t give you license to belittle it', Ian Potter Debate - 2014
Angela Pippos: 'Being bad at sport doesn’t give you license to belittle it', Ian Potter Debate - 2014

Fresh Tweets

  • Tony Wilson
    RT @mrtonymartin: @byTonyWilson @thepotsnpans Thanks, Tone! And looks what's happened now. Dave can't believe it. https://t.co/TVNb2uDSIi
    about 3 hours ago

Featured weddings

Featured
Bill Murray: 'Take that person and buy a plane ticket', advice to bachelor party - 2014
Bill Murray: 'Take that person and buy a plane ticket', advice to bachelor party - 2014
Kerryn Baker: 'But here tonight, in my love story, with you who surround me, there is nothing to be sorry for', Gabe and Gabi's engagement - 2016
Kerryn Baker: 'But here tonight, in my love story, with you who surround me, there is nothing to be sorry for', Gabe and Gabi's engagement - 2016
Alan Kohler: 'Likes yum cha and Chinese on Sundays, tick!', for daughter Phoebe and Leigh - 2015
Alan Kohler: 'Likes yum cha and Chinese on Sundays, tick!', for daughter Phoebe and Leigh - 2015

Featured Arts

Featured
Brian Eno: 'Singing: the key to a long life', NPR essay - 2008
Brian Eno: 'Singing: the key to a long life', NPR essay - 2008
Bette Midler:  'Shut that crap off!', Best Actress Tony Award - 2017
Bette Midler: 'Shut that crap off!', Best Actress Tony Award - 2017
Larry David: "I not only hate writing the shows, I hate all kinds of writing", WGA Awards, Paddy Chayefsky Laurel Award - 2011
Larry David: "I not only hate writing the shows, I hate all kinds of writing", WGA Awards, Paddy Chayefsky Laurel Award - 2011

Featured Debates

Featured
Napoleon Beazley: 'No one wins tonight. No one walks away victorious', Last words before execution -  2002
Napoleon Beazley: 'No one wins tonight. No one walks away victorious', Last words before execution - 2002
Shelli Whitehurst: 'I live in a place of constant unknowing, and that's what cancer feels like', Tour de Cure Snow Ball - 2015 ',
Shelli Whitehurst: 'I live in a place of constant unknowing, and that's what cancer feels like', Tour de Cure Snow Ball - 2015 ',
Rich Bartlett: 'The constant charade that was my life had become too much', Pride Assembly, Melbourne Grammar School - 2017
Rich Bartlett: 'The constant charade that was my life had become too much', Pride Assembly, Melbourne Grammar School - 2017
Lupita Nyongo'o: "What is fundamentally beautiful, is compassion", Black Women in Hollywood event - 2014
Lupita Nyongo'o: "What is fundamentally beautiful, is compassion", Black Women in Hollywood event - 2014