Through the character the
professor, Conrad conveys his view on “revolutionists” as shams. In doing so,
Conrad aligns The Secret Agent with his letters with to R.B Cunninghame
Graham. In both, the author explains not only his view on revolutionists but
also the shortcomings of the social institution itself. In short both were a
sham in Victorian London. Joseph Conrad showed that he understood the working
of the social institutions, and that revolutionizing would not change the
institution because of the way the institutions established themselves in the
mind of the people.
Joseph Conrad in the first
couple pages does not mention the professor by name but instead establishes him
as a character of confidence. . The mystery emphasized on the importance of the
character’s role in order to establish the author’s own point of view.
Furthermore the author gave a very consistent account of the character. The
account ranged from the actions of the Professor to the reason of the character
being the way he was meant to be. To introduce the Professor the author did not
mention the name, but instead choose to explain the character through his
actions and his physical being. Osspian’s observation of The Professor’s
physical attributes was, “The little dingy man” (The Secret Agent, pg 81).
Osspian himself was a man that was “large” and could intimidate anyone.
However, the irony shown here is that the “When talking with his comrade- which
happened but rarely- the big Osspian suffered from a sense of moral and even
physical insignificance”(The Secret Agent,pg 81). The professor is shown
as a character that is very certain of his actions and thoughts, which would
make someone who is less certain, feel inferior. Through this quote Conrad adds
to the characterization of The Professor, ‘“The game isn’t good enough for any
policeman of them all. To deal with a man like me you require sheer, naked,
inglorious heroism”, through this he is shown as a person with high
self-security (The Secret Agent ,pg 83). This high security is build
through a series of mistrusts. one of the mistrusts that the author
mentions is,‘His oddities were that he insisted on being present when him room
was being swept, and that when he went out he locked his door’. However, this
account also helps put emphasis on the character’s narcissism.
The author eventually does
explain the reason behind The Professor’s strong desire to become the perfect
anarchist, which promotes the reader’s empathy. In two different workplaces,
the Professor bosses mistreated him: ‘His title to that designation consisted
in his having been once assistance demonstrator in chemistry at some technical
institute. He quarreled with the authorities upon a question of unfair
treatment. Afterwards, he obtained a post in the laboratory of a manufactory of
dyes. There too had been treated with revolting injustice… The Professor had
genius, but lacked the great social virtue of resignation’(The Secret Agent,pg
90). This account of the professor’s life helps the reader to connect with the
professor in some way. Even though his actions would be questionable the reason
behind the action gives him leverage with the readers. This is mostly because
like Lombroso said Human Beings have an inert nature towards being a criminal due to inert
primitive nature of humans (Criminal Man According to the Classification of
Cesare Lombroso, pg 160). The reader can connect more because in this account
he seems more human and less stoic. This account foreshadows the end of the
book where the professor reveals his main plan.
Due to the mistreatment he
went though, the Professor , understood the social institutions in a different
way and saw the revolutionists as ‘shams.’. And due to this his view on being
‘the perfect anarchist’ was also quite different. This view on
“revolutionaries’ parallels with Conrad’s knitting machine metaphor.: ‘“You
revolutionists”, the other continued, with leisurely self-confidence, “are the
slaves of the social convention, which is afraid of you; slaves of it as much
as the very police stands up in the defense of that convention. Clearly you
are, since you want to revolutionize it. It governs your thought, of course,
and your action too, and thus neither your thought nor your action can ever be
conclusive.”’(The Secret Agent,pg 86) .He called them a “sham” because
even he felt that they were a part of the knitting machine . The
Professor's view ‘Nor your action can ever be conclusive’ is in direct
with the view that ‘you cannot by any special lubrication make embroidery with a knitting machine’(A letter to R.B Cunninghame Graham, pg 264). The
metaphor connects with the inconclusiveness because both talk about the fact
that the revolutionaries are playing within the knitting machine. And the
knitting machine is powerful enough to withstand itself. The same is
mentioned in “ Like terrorism and the policeman both come from the same basket.
Revolution, legality- counter moves in the same game; forms of idleness at
bottom identical. He plays his little game- so do you propagandists. But I
don’t play” (The Secret Agent, pg 86) , this shows the
dedication the professor had to his work. Furthermore, through this the author
wanted to show that The Professor believed that he himself was not a part of
the ‘knitting machine’, but the revolutionaries were. The metaphor of ‘the
game’ was to prove with point of trying to change ‘the machine’.
However, as mentioned before
The Professor understood the loophole of the machine and this was because he
looked at it from the outside of it as a mocking spectator. Therefore his view
was cynical: ‘To break the superstition and the worship of legality should be
our aim’ (The Secret Agent, pg 89), this spectator understood that
the machine no god because it was only capable of only one thing. And his
agenda was to expose the fact that the machine has it’s own faults in order to
destroy the faith in the machine. To that The Professor also adds ‘But
you revolutionists will never understand that. You plan the future, you lose
yourselves in reveries of economical systems derived from what is; whereas
what’s wanted is a clean sweep and a clear start for a new conception of
life’ (The Secret Agent,pg 89), Conrad suggests a
similar view in the letter written to RB Cunninghame. Conrad mentions that “You
are a most hopeless idealist- your aspirations are irrealisable. You want men
from faith…to truth in themselves and others’(A letter to R.B Cunninghame
Graham, pg 264). Thus both as spectators pointed to a darker truth that the
people in the machine are quite blind towards change. And through such a revelation
Conrad wanted to impose a certain understanding of ‘revolutionaries,’ which was
the fact that they were “shams”. “Shams” because they did not understand
revolutionaries would not be able to revolutionize a piece of work that was
already so stable due to their lack of understanding of the power of the social
form.
Conrad also uses the scene of
the bomb at Greenwich to stress the fact that no ‘special lubrication’(A
letter to R.B Cunninghame Graham, pg 264) would help change the machine.
The point he makes there is if someone from the machine itself tries to break
the machine, one would fail. Because, the machine knows itself thoroughly thus
if one of the parts were to fail, the machine would recognize the malfunction.
The Professor also talks upon this point. “ I was worrying myself about that
sort of failure mostly. But there are more kinds of fools that one can guard
against. You can’t expect the detonator to be absolutely fool-proof’(The
Secret Agent,pg 91). He calculated such a failure due to his mistrust and
he knew that he was the only one that understood the ‘detonator’. Because
Verloc was someone who was part of the system thus would not know how to use
the ‘detonator’ to his advantage.
Once we understand the
Professor’s view of revolutionaries, the reader gains a deeper understanding of
the Professor’s fanaticism towards being ‘the perfect detonator’. The need for
a clean sweep made The Professor want to become ‘The perfect detonator’. He
believed that, “It is a good definition. You couldn’t find anything half so
precise to define the nature of your activity with all your committees and
delegations. It is I who am the true propagandist”(The Secret Agent,pg 86 & 87).
The detonator did not have to be a part of the institutions or follow the rules
that everyone had to thus making him a completely different game. A game that
no one understood thus could fear. He believed himself to be a ‘true
propagandist’ because he did not want to change the way the institution but
wanted to completely wipe it out. he believed to be deadly due to his
accomplished narcissism, “Force of Personality”- “ I have the means to
make myself deadly, but by itself, you understand, is absolutely nothing in the
way of protection. What is effective is the belief those people have in my will
to use that means. That is their impression. It is absolute. Therefore I am
deadly”(The Secret Agent,pg 85), The fact that he way not part of
the knitting machine is the reason behind his deadliness, because the machine
itself could not control him. It is human nature to be scared of something that
does not follow the same morals that it does.
However, to impose his last
view of the machine, Joseph Conrad gives the more human element of fear to the
Professor. The Professor throughout the book has known to someone who is
without fear due to the fact that he carried a bomb with him all the time and
also feel confident enough that he wont be caught. However, this fear opens up
questions about his perfection. But it is no ordinary fear; it’s the fear that
his actions won’t matter. This thought also goes parallel with the fact that he
is an existentialist thus; it is not surprising that the professor felt the
same. The existentialist part of him helps him view the world as ‘to be, or not
to be’ and beyond that there is no other meaning of life. And because he wants
‘to be’, his ‘fear’ becomes relevant to him. The metaphorical observation of
The Professor “They swarmed natural force, pushing on blind on orderly and
absorbed, impervious to sentiment, to logic, to terror too perhaps. That was
the form of doubt he feared the most’(The Secret Agent,pg 94),
connects with the machine metaphor because the machine is also known as force
that is impervious and has the same monotonous method as ‘blind on orderly’. In
order to show that this fear was actually the truth the author at the end the
book with “the incorruptible professor walked too, averting his eyes from the
odious multitude of mankind. He had no future… he walked insignificant, shabby,
miserable…Nobody looked at him. He passed unsuspected and deadly, like a pest
in the street full of mean’(The Secret Agent,pg 253), through this irony
Joseph Conrad, keeps the image of the professor are ‘deadly’ and
‘incorruptible’. However, devalues the professor by using the diction
‘insignificant, shabby, miserable’. Joseph Conrad in his letters addresses the
fact that even if he wanted to do something about the machine it would not
matter(A letter to R.B Cunninghame Graham, pg 264). This is because he was
the only one to understand the true power of the machine as the spectator. One
spectator would not be able to destroy the machine. It would take everyone
single part of the machine to understand the fallback of the machine. And till
that does not happen and it perhaps may never happen, the machine will still
hold the crown.
In modern society, many share the view of Joseph Conrad. The new larger group
fighting against society is ‘terrorism’. However, to terrorism Conrad and the
Professor would say ‘it’s a sham’, because the terrorists want to break down
one institution to build another. Both trap people into one. Anyone who is as
individualistic as The Professor would see every social machine in the same
way. In conclusion Joseph Conrad created a very cynical, but very accurate
character to help relate to every social sham that is created due to people up
in the hierarchy.
Citations:
1. Conrad, Joseph. The
Secret Agent. Toronto, Ontario: Broadview Press, 2009
2. Conrad,
Joseph. "A letter to R.B Cunninghame Graham." In The Secret
Agent. Toronto, Ontario: Broadview Press, 2009
3. Ferrero
Lombroso Gina. "Criminal Man According to the Classification of Cesare
Lombroso". In The Strange Case of Dr. Jykell and Mr.Hyde. Toronto,
Ontario: Broadview Press, 2005.
Joseph Conrad in the first
couple pages does not mention the professor by name but instead establishes him
as a character of confidence. . The mystery emphasized on the importance of the
character’s role in order to establish the author’s own point of view.
Furthermore the author gave a very consistent account of the character. The
account ranged from the actions of the Professor to the reason of the character
being the way he was meant to be. To introduce the Professor the author did not
mention the name, but instead choose to explain the character through his
actions and his physical being. Osspian’s observation of The Professor’s
physical attributes was, “The little dingy man” (The Secret Agent, pg 81).
Osspian himself was a man that was “large” and could intimidate anyone.
However, the irony shown here is that the “When talking with his comrade- which
happened but rarely- the big Osspian suffered from a sense of moral and even
physical insignificance”(The Secret Agent,pg 81). The professor is shown
as a character that is very certain of his actions and thoughts, which would
make someone who is less certain, feel inferior. Through this quote Conrad adds
to the characterization of The Professor, ‘“The game isn’t good enough for any
policeman of them all. To deal with a man like me you require sheer, naked,
inglorious heroism”, through this he is shown as a person with high
self-security (The Secret Agent ,pg 83). This high security is build
through a series of mistrusts. one of the mistrusts that the author
mentions is,‘His oddities were that he insisted on being present when him room
was being swept, and that when he went out he locked his door’. However, this
account also helps put emphasis on the character’s narcissism.
The author eventually does
explain the reason behind The Professor’s strong desire to become the perfect
anarchist, which promotes the reader’s empathy. In two different workplaces,
the Professor bosses mistreated him: ‘His title to that designation consisted
in his having been once assistance demonstrator in chemistry at some technical
institute. He quarreled with the authorities upon a question of unfair
treatment. Afterwards, he obtained a post in the laboratory of a manufactory of
dyes. There too had been treated with revolting injustice… The Professor had
genius, but lacked the great social virtue of resignation’(The Secret Agent,pg
90). This account of the professor’s life helps the reader to connect with the
professor in some way. Even though his actions would be questionable the reason
behind the action gives him leverage with the readers. This is mostly because
like Lombroso said Human Beings have an inert nature towards being a criminal due to inert
primitive nature of humans (Criminal Man According to the Classification of
Cesare Lombroso, pg 160). The reader can connect more because in this account
he seems more human and less stoic. This account foreshadows the end of the
book where the professor reveals his main plan.
However, as mentioned before
The Professor understood the loophole of the machine and this was because he
looked at it from the outside of it as a mocking spectator. Therefore his view
was cynical: ‘To break the superstition and the worship of legality should be
our aim’ (The Secret Agent, pg 89), this spectator understood that
the machine no god because it was only capable of only one thing. And his
agenda was to expose the fact that the machine has it’s own faults in order to
destroy the faith in the machine. To that The Professor also adds ‘But
you revolutionists will never understand that. You plan the future, you lose
yourselves in reveries of economical systems derived from what is; whereas
what’s wanted is a clean sweep and a clear start for a new conception of
life’ (The Secret Agent,pg 89), Conrad suggests a
similar view in the letter written to RB Cunninghame. Conrad mentions that “You
are a most hopeless idealist- your aspirations are irrealisable. You want men
from faith…to truth in themselves and others’(A letter to R.B Cunninghame
Graham, pg 264). Thus both as spectators pointed to a darker truth that the
people in the machine are quite blind towards change. And through such a revelation
Conrad wanted to impose a certain understanding of ‘revolutionaries,’ which was
the fact that they were “shams”. “Shams” because they did not understand
revolutionaries would not be able to revolutionize a piece of work that was
already so stable due to their lack of understanding of the power of the social
form.
Conrad also uses the scene of
the bomb at Greenwich to stress the fact that no ‘special lubrication’(A
letter to R.B Cunninghame Graham, pg 264) would help change the machine.
The point he makes there is if someone from the machine itself tries to break
the machine, one would fail. Because, the machine knows itself thoroughly thus
if one of the parts were to fail, the machine would recognize the malfunction.
The Professor also talks upon this point. “ I was worrying myself about that
sort of failure mostly. But there are more kinds of fools that one can guard
against. You can’t expect the detonator to be absolutely fool-proof’(The
Secret Agent,pg 91). He calculated such a failure due to his mistrust and
he knew that he was the only one that understood the ‘detonator’. Because
Verloc was someone who was part of the system thus would not know how to use
the ‘detonator’ to his advantage.
Once we understand the
Professor’s view of revolutionaries, the reader gains a deeper understanding of
the Professor’s fanaticism towards being ‘the perfect detonator’. The need for
a clean sweep made The Professor want to become ‘The perfect detonator’. He
believed that, “It is a good definition. You couldn’t find anything half so
precise to define the nature of your activity with all your committees and
delegations. It is I who am the true propagandist”(The Secret Agent,pg 86 & 87).
The detonator did not have to be a part of the institutions or follow the rules
that everyone had to thus making him a completely different game. A game that
no one understood thus could fear. He believed himself to be a ‘true
propagandist’ because he did not want to change the way the institution but
wanted to completely wipe it out. he believed to be deadly due to his
accomplished narcissism, “Force of Personality”- “ I have the means to
make myself deadly, but by itself, you understand, is absolutely nothing in the
way of protection. What is effective is the belief those people have in my will
to use that means. That is their impression. It is absolute. Therefore I am
deadly”(The Secret Agent,pg 85), The fact that he way not part of
the knitting machine is the reason behind his deadliness, because the machine
itself could not control him. It is human nature to be scared of something that
does not follow the same morals that it does.
However, to impose his last
view of the machine, Joseph Conrad gives the more human element of fear to the
Professor. The Professor throughout the book has known to someone who is
without fear due to the fact that he carried a bomb with him all the time and
also feel confident enough that he wont be caught. However, this fear opens up
questions about his perfection. But it is no ordinary fear; it’s the fear that
his actions won’t matter. This thought also goes parallel with the fact that he
is an existentialist thus; it is not surprising that the professor felt the
same. The existentialist part of him helps him view the world as ‘to be, or not
to be’ and beyond that there is no other meaning of life. And because he wants
‘to be’, his ‘fear’ becomes relevant to him. The metaphorical observation of
The Professor “They swarmed natural force, pushing on blind on orderly and
absorbed, impervious to sentiment, to logic, to terror too perhaps. That was
the form of doubt he feared the most’(The Secret Agent,pg 94),
connects with the machine metaphor because the machine is also known as force
that is impervious and has the same monotonous method as ‘blind on orderly’. In
order to show that this fear was actually the truth the author at the end the
book with “the incorruptible professor walked too, averting his eyes from the
odious multitude of mankind. He had no future… he walked insignificant, shabby,
miserable…Nobody looked at him. He passed unsuspected and deadly, like a pest
in the street full of mean’(The Secret Agent,pg 253), through this irony
Joseph Conrad, keeps the image of the professor are ‘deadly’ and
‘incorruptible’. However, devalues the professor by using the diction
‘insignificant, shabby, miserable’. Joseph Conrad in his letters addresses the
fact that even if he wanted to do something about the machine it would not
matter(A letter to R.B Cunninghame Graham, pg 264). This is because he was
the only one to understand the true power of the machine as the spectator. One
spectator would not be able to destroy the machine. It would take everyone
single part of the machine to understand the fallback of the machine. And till
that does not happen and it perhaps may never happen, the machine will still
hold the crown.
Citations:
1. Conrad, Joseph. The
Secret Agent. Toronto, Ontario: Broadview Press, 2009
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