"The Secret Agent"

Paper Summary:

This paper looks at Joseph Conrad's 1907 novel "The Secret Agent." Specifically, the paper discusses how Conrad's use of aliases and nicknames for the characters gives them anonymity. The paper focuses on the character of 'The Professor' and describes his role in the novel and particularly, how he relates to the main protagonist in the novel, Adolph Verloc.

From the Paper:

"Thus, Verloc once again joins his fellow anarchists, but he is always conflicted, because unlike The Professor, he cannot help but perceive human beings on an individual level rather than merely see other people as ideas, a necessary condition, Conrad implies, to the ruthlessness of belonging to an anarchist terrorist group. Thus, in The Secret Agent, Conrad does not merely paint a frightening picture of a man in the form of The Professor who lives only for a political ideal, but suggests a future type of human character that has, unfortunately, become more and more common in modern life. Conrad suggests, by showing the absurdity of The Professor, that to love ideas more than the human beings those ideas are supposed to help is an exercise in lunacy and futility."

Sample of Sources Used:

• Conrad, Joseph. The Secret Agent. New York: Oxford's World Classics, 1998.

More papers on "The Secret Agent":

• Analytical Essay # 4432 : "The Secret Agent": Human Nature vs. Morality"
• Book Review # 115547 : "The Secret Agent" and Sexism"
• Book Review # 98775 : "The Dangers of Fanaticism"

APA Citation:

MLA Citation: