zelda2fanboy said:
I'm going to go ahead and assume you haven't read the books at all. The Millennium Trilogy is a somewhat uneven trilogy of books. The first story is not actually centred on the character of Lisbeth Salander, despite the title, and that only serves to make her parts seem even more obscure. The second and third books in the trilogy more or less deal explicitly with her character and they help to give you a greater understanding of the character.
Basically (and without huge spoilers) Lisbeth has been abused by men her whole life, physically, mentally, sexually... something which has arguably helped to shape her into the sort of introverted and highly antisocial person we see in the books/movies. In learning to cope, she has made herself a very physically capable and independant person, albeit still lacking the ability to actually interact with people successfully. She is essentially a high functioning autistic, highly intelligent and quick to grasp complicated concepts but unable to control or understand her own emotions and feelings. Her awkward relationship with Blomkvist was downplayed terribly in the USA version but the original Swedish film nails her character perfectly.
As far as the scene you mentioned goes... Because she has a violent past and is considered to have serious mental defects she is under the protection/guidance of guardian; Bjurman is her newly assigned guardian. The man is in a position of power; he controls her finances and pretty much dictates what she does under the threat of making her whole life hell. Now consider that Lisbeth has created a very carefully constructed life, everything in its rightful place, everything ballanced in such a way that she can cope with it. Bjurman comes along and threatens to upset that. He then violates her. She is presented to us as a helpless child which only serves to make Bjurman's actions even more dastardly. There is no doubt in the reader/viewer's mind that Bjurman is the lowest most despicable pile of excrement on the planet.
From then on it is simply revenge, there's no denying that. But I think it's important to look at the act that inspired such hatred and understand why, more than justifying the actions that came after.
The book's original Swedish title was "Men who hate women" and as I understand it, Stieg Larsson was quite the activist within his own country. There's no doubt in my mind that some of his own personal bias shines through in his writings, which are far from perfect in themselves. But I think it's very important to understand the character before you can apply any form of judgement on their actions. Give the books a try, they may be hard going but there is no better way to understand the character of Lisbeth Salander. You might even find yourself empathising with her before the end.
