What is the meaning of the rose in V for Vendetta?

Answer 1

V was allowed to tend the garden at Larkhill, where he "grows roses. Beautiful roses."

The scarlet carsons (kind of rose) were grown by the lesbian lover of Valerie, who wrote the autobiography on toilet paper that she passed to V during their incarceration.

A quote from Valerie on the toilet paper was:

"But America's war grew worse and worse and eventually it came to London. After that there were no roses anymore. Not for anyone"

That autobiography inspired V to live without fear, and he used those flowers as a signature for the killings he committed as retribution for Larkhill.

V is throughout the movie - V, Evie (EV), Valerie etc

V is also the roman numeral for 5 - the cell number V was in, as well as a symbol for 5th November.

During World War 2, V was used as the "Victory" symbol - and morphed into the two fingered "peace sign".

Interestingly this is also linked into the music in the movie.

During the explosions the music playing is "Beethoven's 5th Symphony" - 5th = V

This song was also frequently played during world war 2 as a symbol of peace and victory.

This is an interesting movie, with so many intertwined layers and so many social comments - from terrorism, facisim, abuse in the catholic church, and loss of freedom. It is an extreme comment on humanity. The scary thing is...how close is it to where we are headed?