I can assure you, I mean you no harm.

-"Who are you?"

Who? Who is but the form following the function of what; and what I am is a
man in a mask.

-"Oh, I can see that."

Of course you can. I'm not questioning your powers of observation. I'm
merely remarking upon the paradox of asking a masked man who he is.
But on this most auspicious of nights permit me then, in lieu of the more
commonplace sobriquet, to suggest the character of this dramatis
persona.

Voil! In view, a humble vaudevillian veteran, cast vicariously as both

victim and villain by the vicissitudes of fate. This visage, no mere veneer
of vanity, is a vestige of the vox populi, now vacant, vanished. However,
this valorous visitation of a bygone vexation stands vivified, and has
vowed to vanquish these venal and virulent vermin vanguarding vice
and vouchsafing the violently vicious and voracious violation of volition!
The only verdict is vengeance; a vendetta held as a votive, not in vain, for
the value and veracity of such shall one day vindicate the vigilant and the
virtuous. Verily, this vichyssoise of verbiage veers most verbose, so let
me simply add that it's my very good honour to meet you and you may call
me V.

Vocabulary: -

1. Remark - Say something as a comment; mention ( )

2. Paradox - A statement or proposition that seems self-contradictory or

absurd ()

3. Auspicious - Conducive to success; favourable; promising ( , ,

, )
4. In lieu of - Instead ( , )

5. Commonplace - Ordinary (, , )

6. Sobriquet - A person's nickname ()

7. Dramatis Personae - The characters of a play, novel, or narrative (

)

8. Voila - Originally a french term "Voila" literally meaning 'Look there!".

Used to call attention to or express satisfaction with something that is
presented or something that has been accomplished.

9. Vaudevillian - A performer who works in vaudeville (theatrical

entertainment consisting of a number of individual performances, acts,
or mixed numbers, as by comedians, singers, dancers, acrobats, and
magicians)

10. Veteran - A person who has had long experience in a particular field
( )

11. Vicariously - Felt or enjoyed through imagined participation in the

experience of others.

12. Vicissitude - A change of circumstances or fortune, typically one that is

unwelcome or unpleasant (, )

13. Visage - A person's face ( )

14. Veneer - Cover (something) with a decorative layer of fine wood ( -

, , , )

15. Vanity - Excessive pride in or admiration of one's own appearance or

achievements (, , , , , )

16. Vestige - A trace or remnant of something that is disappearing or no

longer exists (, )

17. Vox Populi - The opinions or beliefs of the majority, the voice of the
people.

18. Vanished - Disappear suddenly and completely ( , )

19. Valorous - Corageous, brave (, , , , )

20. Visitation - Appearance, manifestation (, )

21. Bygone - Belonging to an earlier time ()

22. Vexation - The state of being annoyed, frustrated, or worried ( , ,

, )

23. Vivify - Make more lively or interesting; enliven ( ,

)

24. Vowed - Solemnly promise to do a specified thing, swear, pledge ( ,

, , , , , , )

25. Vanquish - Defeat thoroughly ( , )

26. Venal - Corrupt (, , )

27. Virulent - Extremely severe or harmful in its effects ( , ,

)

28. Vermin - People perceived as despicable ( -, , ) and as

causing problems for the rest of society (, , )

29. Vanguard - The group of people who are the leaders of an action or
movement in society, politics, art, etc ( )

30. Vice - Immoral or wicked behaviour (, , , -)

31. Vouchsafe - Give or grant (something) to (someone) in a gracious or

condescending ( ) manner ( , )

32. Violently - Using physical force intended to hurt, damage, or kill

someone or something ( , , ).

33. Vicious - Deliberately cruel or violent (, )

34. Voracious - Excessively greedy and grasping (, , )

35. Volition - The faculty or power of using one's will ( , , ,

, )

36. Vengeance - revenge, retribution, retaliation, vendetta ( , )

37. Votive - Performed, undertaken, etc., in consequence of a vow,

Expressing or symbolizing a wish, desire, or vow ( )

38. Veracity - Conformity to facts; accuracy (, )

 39. Vindicate - Clear (someone) of blame or suspicion ( ,
)

40. Vigilant - Keeping careful watch for possible danger or difficulties

(, , , , , , , )

41. Virtuous - Having or showing high moral standards (, , ,

, , , , )

42. Verily - Truly, Certainly (, )

43. Vichyssoise - A soup made with potatoes, leeks, and cream and
typically served chilled

44. Verbiage - Excessively lengthy or technical speech or writing ( )

45. Veer - Change direction suddenly (, , )

46. Verbose - Using or expressed in more words than are needed,

loquacious, garrulous, talkative, babbling, blathering, jabbering ( ,
)

Meaning: -

As much as I enjoy simple expression, I do find language in and of itself both

beautiful and dramatic, but for it to be so takes effort and I believe this
monologue had that. So while I think Joshua Engel's answer quite apt, I want
to go through the monologue once and really analyse not just the meaning
but the emotion it is meant to elicit. I just think it's more fun and it satisfies
my nitpick-y nature.

Just prior to the monologue he says:

But on this most auspicious of nights, permit me then, in lieu of the more
commonplace soubriquet, to suggest the character of this dramatis persona.

So here he's basically saying that he wants not to tell Evey who he really is
but what he stands for. All of it, his theatrics, his ideas, everything is based
on the idea that he is a symbol and it is THAT which must be propogated, not
himself. As an aside, though I don't remember her doing it in the movie, in
the comics Evey actually picks up the mantle, she becomes V after he dies
(but he never really dies does he?).

Voil!
"All the world's a stage, and all the men and women merely players: they
have their exits and their entrances; and one man in his time plays many
parts, his acts being seven ages." -- William Shakespeare

To V this is a show, a dramatic performance where he gets to show himself

off, dust off his own beliefs and clarify what he thinks is right.

In view, a humble vaudevillian veteran cast vicariously as both victim and

villain by the vicissitudes of Fate.

Try saying that, no really, please try. I absolutely LOVE how the words roll off
the tongue in this sentence, they're not sharp, they're soft syllables but they
have such a wonderful gravitas about them that it feels terrific. "Vaudevillian
veteran" basically says he's an actor, someone with a history of theatrics. The
latter half as already pointed out refers to how he has been both hurt by the
actions of others and how he will hurt others as time will come to pass.

This visage, no mere veneer of vanity, is a vestige of the vox populi, now
vacant, vanished.

He doesn't want anyone who sees him to be detracted from the original
purpose of him wearing a costume; he's not vain, he doesn't wear his
costume just cause he feels good doing it. He's wearing what he's wearing
because it's representative of the people's opinion(vox populi) which is no
more heard nor cared about. I love his gestures in the video at this point - he
makes you really imagine how people would've been loud and rancorous in
the past and now it's like the mute button was hit and everyone got shut
down in the Big Brother-eque, dystopian fantasy of his world.

However, this valorous visitation of a bygone vexation stands vivified and has
vowed to vanquish these venal and virulent vermin vanguarding vice and
vouchsafing the violently vicious and voracious violation of volition!

Whenever I say this I just feel so good inside, try memorising this, it wasn't
easy for me at all, felt it was quite worth it at the end though. The thing with
this line is that you can't recite it from memory, at least you don't have the
time to consciously retrieve from memory, it has to be be automatic, well
rehearsed. But once you get it, whoo! Yes I do agree that this sentence has a
lot of frills, but without the frills there's no true drama . "Valorous visitation of
a bygone vexation" - him saying this is Guy Fawkes coming to visit again, the
"stands vivified" means brought back to life; so Guy Fawkes' image has been
brought back to life as a symbol of what he stood for and vivified is such a
wonderful word to use for it. And this is where the emotions really start
pouring out, all the anguish and torment that he has faced, all the empathy
he has for the people suffering diligently under an autocratic rule that he
wants to do nothing with spews out in a torrent, a deluge of words that
compound on one another and make you truly feel for the horrific nature of
the current ruling class. He demolishes them calling them stupid and
disgusting "vermin" who propagate wrongdoing and support the overarching
"big brother" type of control of people's actions.

The only verdict is vengeance; a vendetta held as a votive, not in vain, for the
value and veracity of such shall one day vindicate the vigilant and the
virtuous.

This part is tremendously positive and in the video he says this part quietly,
the line before this was the crescendo of all that he thinks ails the current
system. Now he speaks of why this must be done, what it's consequences will
be and how we can deal with them. He believes that there is but one path
possible and that is the one of action, of violence and of agitation against the
oppressors where revenge is the one and ONLY motive held as though it were
your entire life's philosophy -vendetta held as a votive. And don't worry,
doing this will surely not be in vain, whatever happens to you, because how
strongly you believe in it and how truly you believe in it will be what sets free
everyone else who is of a "virtuous" nature. The "vigilant" seems to represent
those people who are willing to stand by and struggle quietly but with
courage through all of the government's oppressive actions.

Verily, this vichyssoise of verbiage veers most verbose, so let me simply add
that it's my very good honor to meet you and you may call me V.

This is where he's just having fun. He has said all that he wanted to,
conveyed all the emotions he feels coursing through himself so now this is
the apology for having made anyone, who did pay attention, listen to how
convoluted he made everything. "Vichyssoise" funnily enough is just soup, so
like alphabet soup this is a "veritable" word ("verbiage") soup which has gone
on too long so he completes the pleasantries to end a most wonderful
monologue.

I really hope I managed to convey everything I felt as I went through this over
and over again, if I haven't do tell me how I could add to it to make sure you
do feel for these lines because I don't believe you have understood this
monologue until you feel for it.