The Clash of Ideology and Social Norm in The Secret Agent
One of the focal points of The Secret Agent is the way that Joseph Conrad articulates the various clashes of extremist ideologies across the spectrum and the challenging of social norms through exploration of character. Many characters boast of a very strong and firm ideological base, such as Stevie and the Professor, who one could call ideologically pure. There are also characters that maintain an ideological bent, yet are still caught within the entanglements of the social norms of the day. Larger overarching ideological themes are also essential to the core of the novel, such as the juxtaposition between anarchy and civility, rebellion and order, science and emotion, etc. Degeneracy and obsessive fixation are characteristic of many of the ideologically driven characters. Conrad also examines some of these ideologies in various ways, such as presenting the criminal and the police officer as two sides of the same coin, or using irony and a nearly cartoonish portrayal of a man obsessed with science in Ossipon in order to demonstrate his apparent distaste for the institution. The disturbance of the status quo and its relation to ideology lies at the heart of the importance of this novel.
Ideology is the driving force of Conrads The Secret Agent in that all of the characters are marred by an obvious ideology. Mr. Verloc is described as the victim of a philosophical unbelief in the effectiveness of every human effort, and Conrad goes on to say that such a form of indolence requires, implies, a certain amount of intelligence (52). Verloc is very set on maintaining the status quo, as is exemplified by his extreme laziness, and does his best to make sure that everything stays the same that is, as long as it does not require an extreme amount of physical exertion. For example, as he walks along the road to the Embassy, he is struck by a fit of fancy, boldly declaring that all these people needed to be protected. Protection is the first necessity of opulence and luxury, and in addition, the source of their wealth had to be protected in the heart of the city and the heart of the country; the whole social order favourable to their hygienic idleness had to be protected (51-2). And yet, he could not even rub his hands together in celebration of the grand thought because he is constitutionally averse to every superfluous action (52). Much like Verloc, his revolutionary compatriots largely follow the same formula of extreme verbal exertion with a notable absence of physical activity. They are idealists at heart, but not in body, and thus rarely is any action taken outside of printing some pamphlets. However, what separates Verloc from the idealist revolutionaries is that loafing was all for [them], who knew not Mr. Vladimir, and had women to fall back upon; whereas he had a woman to provide for, and for this, he felt a degree of envy (82).
Unlike Mr. Verloc, who is helplessly intertwined within the claustrophobic web of society, two characters in this book are largely independent from the influence of social pressure and social norms: namely, the Professor and Stevie, the former due to a pure sense of anarchy, the latter due to a form of mental retardation. The Professor in particular actively distances himself from society, as exemplified by his many ostentatious, meandering declarations on society:
I am not impressed by them. Therefore they are inferior. They cannot be otherwise. Their character is built upon conventional morality. It leans on the social order. Mine stands free from everything artificial. They are bound in all sorts of conventions. They depend on life, which, in this connection, is a historical fact surrounded by all sorts of restraints and considerations, a complex, organized fact open to attack at every point; whereas I depend on death, which knows no restraint and cannot be attacked. My superiority is evident. (93).
On the other hand, Stevies divergence from society is not one of explicit intent, but rather a natural side effect stemming from his degenerate condition (76). An analysis of Stevies condition as a mentally degenerative individual is important because it also sheds light upon the obsessions found in many other characters in the book, which highlights their ideological beliefs.
One of the key characteristics described in The Secret Agent about Stevies mentally deficient behavior is an obsessive compulsive tendency to become obsessed with a fixated idea, like drawing circles in his case; innumerable circles, concentric, eccentric; a coruscating whirl of circles that by their tangled multitude
suggested a rendering of cosmic chaos, the symbol of a mad art attempting the inconceivable (76). Many other characters come in contact with this psychopathic fixation at various points in the novel, such as the Professors fixation upon building the perfect detonator, Mrs. Verlocs obsession with the guillotine and the 14 foot drop, or Ossipons focus upon a line from a newspaper article detailing Mrs. Verlocs suicide. This obsessive compulsive behavior is characteristic of degenerate behavior and is meant to link these characters to that idea of degeneracy, for instance in the case of Mrs. Verloc gaining a resemblance to her brother when she fixates upon the knife, only subsiding once she finally murders her husband. These idea fixations are paramount to the ideologies that they represent, and demonstrate the characteristic of becoming obsessed with a given ideology. For example, the Professor is so fixated upon anarchy and constructing the perfect detonator that all of his time is spent aiming toward that goal, and results in highly degenerate behavior; and likewise with Mrs. Verlocs fixation upon the news article, described as a cruel burning pain into her head, as if the words The drop given was fourteen feet had been scratched on her brain with a hot needle (238). Mrs. Verloc became obsessed with the gallows because she so feared that she would be caught and punished for murdering her husband. So not only does Conrad make ideology an integral force that drives his characters to action, but he also highlights these actions and their relation to the obsession that the characters have with the ideology creating that action as degenerate behavior.
Finally, Conrad further explores these various ideologies in many ways. He frequently makes reference to the relative similarity between seemingly polar opposites, such as the criminal and the police officer. There is a very important moment in the novel between Chief Inspector Heat and the Professor during which Conrad embellishes this point. He says that [criminals] were his fellow citizen gone wrong because of imperfect education
he could understand the mind of a burglar, because, as a matter of fact, the mind and the instincts of a burglar are of the same kind as the mind and the instincts of a police officer (110). He says that the mind and the instincts of a burglar are of the same kind as the mind and the instincts of a police officer. Both recognize the same conventions, and have a working knowledge of each other's methods and of the routine of their respective trades (110). They are products of the same machine, one classed as useful and the other as noxious, like two sides of the same coin (110). In this sense, Conrad brings to light the natural juxtaposition of ideological forces inherent to our societal structure. For as long as the status quo is maintained, there will always be criminals, or the hungry, and there will always be police officers, protecting the general citizenry, or the overfed (78). Such is the same formula for many other conflicting ideologies, such as capitalism and socialism, religion and secularism, science and superstition. They all relate in some way and are, in a sense, two sides of one coin; the key is to maintain a balance between the two ideological forces, to maintain the status quo of society. Conrads challenging of social norms, such as Mrs. Verlocs submission into a loveless marriage and maintaining her duties as a respectable wife, only to ultimately revolt against that notion when she kills her husband, or of course the Professor who stands opposed to nearly everything that society represents, is crucial to this novel and to its conception of ideologically driven characters. The status quo of society and the practicing of social norms both ingratiate and hinder the ideologies of the characters throughout the novel, an example of the former being the Professors hatred of the status quo fueling his own obsessions, and an example of the latter being Mr. Verlocs lazy acceptance overriding any sense of ambition he might have.
Whether Conrad meant to make a particular political statement or encourage any specific ideology is not entirely clear, but what seems apparent is his desire for people to question. To question not only the norm and the accepted, but also to question those who oppose the norm and accepted. As exemplified in The Secret Agent, there are many sides to every issue, and extreme leanings to either side often result in a sort of degeneracy of thought and result only in a reversion of progress. Ideology plays as significant a role in the real world as it does in the London of this novel, so what Conrad was saying is still important today. Ideology shapes the actions and perceptions of all people, and The Secret Agent is an exaggerated representation of that.
Id help aswell.
