爱华网The Characters Analysis of《Tinker，Taylor，Soldier，Spy》
(Spoilers included)
《Tinker，Taylor，Soldier，Spy》，a film adapted from the work of JohnLe Carré,was praised by critics for itscharacters.
The film gets its name from a British folk song. Tinker, tailor,soldier and poor man referred to four important people in the topof British secret service, one of whom was a “mole”(hidden traitor)from Soviet Union. The controller failed to find the “mole”. Afterhis death, George Smiley continued the investigation with PeterGuillam and other assistants.
Due to the limited length of this passage, I’ll talk about fivecharacters, analyzing both the book and the film. And I’m not goingto talk about them completely as separated individuals but ratherin relations.
So first I’ll show their relationship by a graph:
The controller---->GeorgeSmiley---->Peter Guillam
VS
BillHaydon----Karla
As we see, the controller, George Smiley and Peter Guillam forma chain. In the beginning of the film, the controller was forced toresign his job. When asked about Smiley, he said withouthesitation:“Smiley is leaving with me.”No chance to argue. Thesetwo men are in many ways very similar to each other. Theirappearances are ordinary and plain. They don’t talk much but everyword they say has an extremely strong power. They both have quietpersonalities but have active and bright minds. Their differencelies that the controller has a potential sense of controlling whileSmiley is more obedient. Detectives and spies are all intelligentpeople, but spies know not only how to use their brains but alsohow to play with human minds. However, wandering on the edge ofabyss for many years, in the depth of their hearts, they are inurgent need of the sense of security. They need someone to leadthem or to be led by them and to share their experience, their fearand their risk. That’s how the chain is formed. The controller gotGeorge Smiley and Smiley found Peter Guillam.
Peter is a very interesting character in LeCarré’s books. His description is verychangeable. He’s said to be “a normal looking tall man”, then “atall and thin man who could be called handsome”. In the last bookabout Smiley, Le Carrédescribed him as “anabsolutely handsome man regarded as a Greek god by the trainees”.His age is changing in spite of natural rules. But there’ssomething for sure: Smiley considers him as a step-son, not thatclose as a real son, neither that distant as a colleague. He’s oneof the youngest men in the story. Among all those dark andcold-hearted agents, he’s like a breath of fresh air in the morningor a weak thread of sunshine at dawn. He lost control when he saw amissing agent who had caused a lot of trouble coming back. He weptwhen he had to get rid of his lover. He got anxious and nervouswhen he took part in the arrest. Everyone was dealing with women,but he’s gay. He’s too young to know the depth of the water, tooinnocent to remain calm and steady all the time wearing all kindsof masks. He stands for the element of hope in this story aboutbetrayal. The controller and Smiley represent the glorious historyof the secret service, while Peter shows the not so bright butreliable future.
Then their enemy: Karla, the head of the secret service inSoviet Union. He never turns up in the film in fact, but he existsevery where. This makes the man extremely mysterious, dangerous andcharming at the same time. We can easily find the Smiley is good athis job, and this makes Karla even better. He’s like the shadowhanging behind every door, waiting to put a bullet in your head atany time; a gigantic spider resting in the centre of his net andplaying with everyone around him, both his enemies and hiscompanions. He sits in darkness, gave them a puzzle and silentlywatched them dance. At last, he failed, or did he? What did Smileyand Peter get even if they seemed to be the winners? What did Karlalose even if he seemed to be the loser? The game is still on. Thegame is always on.
The connection between the two sides is Bill Haydon, the “mole”.The book is a British novel; the author used to be a British spy;the film is a purely British-made one. So Haydon is considered as abetrayer. But what do we think about him? Who is he in the eyes ofthe beholders? A sacrifice. An oblation. Someone whose whole lifeis a joke. He could have been the companion of his colleagues andbeen pinned a medal on his chest, but he choose to turn his back tohis country. He thought that he could find protection from Karla,but he forgot an important factor that he was, after all, aforeigner and a tool which could be thrown away if useless. Haydoncan be our spy into the life of those who live in conflicts andcontroversies, who is on the edge of destruction every singlesecond.
《Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy》is a confusing book as well as aconfusing film. For most people, it can’t be described asinteresting or exciting, but at least, LeCarrécreates some very lively and distinctcharacters for the readers and audience, especially for us who comefrom neither Britain nor Soviet Union.
(尝试着用英文写影评，才发觉原来心有所想到真正写出来远不是那么回事，付诸文字味道全变了，想当初看完这部影片，感觉写出来定是很有意思的一篇影评，结果用英文写来却是如此乏味。。。)
