Daredevil vs. Punisher: Means and Ends is basically a story about Punisher fighting himself. He is struggling with his demons and tries to fix himself through what he calls justice. During the first three issues, we experience Punisher struggle to maintain his control. He had to keep reminding himself to stay focus and forget about all the stuff that might jeopardize the mission. When he meets Mary, he can no longer stay focus. Once he sees Mary’s face he can no longer suppress the memories.
Of course what he is doing is not ethical. Killing people, even if they are scum, is still bad. Last class we discussed how Rick from
The Walking Dead went from “You kill? You die” to “You kill--you live.” He did it out of necessity, he needed to commit those horrible acts in order to survive. In Bishop’s article there is a quote from Rick to Carl “I do things… a lot of bad things, to help you, to help you and all the other people in our group… That’s the world we live in now… but Carl, you need to never forget… when we do this things and we’re good people… they’re still bad things… You can never lose sight of that. If these things start becoming easy that’s when it’s all over. That’s when we become bad people.” (Bishop 83). There is no doubt that Rick is a good guy, we sympathize with him and we understand why he is doing it. We may even admire his courage and his dedication to his family.
Punisher on the other hand, he is a bit hard to sympathize with because he is not doing it out of survival. I don’t even think he is doing it just to protect the city and bring justice. He has selfish reasons. He is trying to fill the gap his family left. He is trying to bring justice for his own family.
Punisher is trying to release the pain and anger in him. He may not want to admit it, but he enjoys the killing. I think it scares him how much he likes it. It feels good to kill the bad guys. Does that make him a bad person? No it does not. It is very easy for him to kill them because he has a reason. Those criminals have lost all humanity according to Punisher. He is not going around killing people, he is killing monsters. He is killing people who deserve to be killed. He is in control about who he kills. If he loses control, tragedy will strike like it did here:
He starts firing… he is trying to control it… and then…
He lost it. Look at his face. Imagine all that pain being released from his body. Imagine how he must feel after all this time suppressing everything. Imagine how good it feels to pull that trigger and let those bullets flow. Imagine how it feels to lose control. But of course, that comes with a price.
Now look at his face. Look at his pain. He knows why he has been hiding this side. He knows why he cannot let go. Imagine how horrible it feels to pull that trigger and let a bullet hit an innocent man. Punisher did not enjoy that and it was not easy for him. He hated himself for shooting an innocent man. He sees himself becoming the type of person he hates. That is why he is not a bad guy. He is just a man who does bad things. Punisher is complex. He is not a bad guy, but I cannot say that he is a good guy. All I can say is that I sympathize with him, but I know that he will not be able to control himself forever. Eventually and unfortunately, he will be a bad guy. He will never be satisfied and he may not care about who he kills.
Sources:
Bishop, Kyle W. “Battling Monsters and Becoming Monstrous: Human Devolution in The Walking Dead." Ed. Marina Levina and Diem-My T. Bui. Monster Culture in the 21st Century: A Reader. New York: Bloomsbury Academic, an Imprint of Bloomsbury Plc, 2013. 73-85. Print.
Karen, you made a lot of really great points in your blog post. I agree with your thought that Punisher likes the thrill of the kill. I think we see that even more when he kills the men in Sticks and afterwards comments that his shakes have gone away. Like yourself, I, too, sympathize with Punisher. I agree with his mission of ridding the city of the bad men, the type that killed his family, but I don't agree with his methods. But then again, are Daredevil’s methods any better? I don't condone killing or making a decision about another human life but the question remains, what do you do when there are bad people who are taking lives? How do you rid the city of evil people with no morals who will stop at nothing to get what they want?
ReplyDeleteKaren! You made some really great points. It seems that Mary did trigger suppressed emotions to arise within punish and that's really sad to see because all the killings in the book seem to be so full of sadness, hate, and rage all at once. I think a father losing his kids is a reasonable reason for him to be the way he is. I really like the quote you added from The Walking Dead. Once they start killing without regret without any feeling then that when they have lost their humanity. I still believe the Punisher still has his humanity because he does it to save people who are good.
ReplyDeleteRegardless of one feels about the two characters, I think Punisher is more complex than Daredevil, and your post laid out why in a clear and concise manner. He's motivated by the deaths of his loved ones, but inflicts death upon anyone in his way, not considering any loved ones they might have in the process. As cathartic as killing criminals may be for him, he clearly is horrified and disgusted with himself for hurting a passerby. I love how he's somewhere between a tragic villain and an anti-hero. You're right, though: his war on crime is quixotic, and he will never be satisfied with it to the point of ending it.
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