History Literature / TheSecretAgent

The novel has been used as the source for Creator/AlfredHitchcock's film ''Film/{{Sabotage|1936}}'' (1936) though it took liberties with some of the plot elements.[[note]]And was ''not'' the source for Hitchcock's film ''Film/{{Secret Agent|1936}}'', which was based on the novel ''Ashenden, or The British Agent'' by Creator/WSomersetMaugham.[[/note]] A more faithful adaptation was released in 1996 and starred Bob Hoskins as Adolf Verloc. 2016, it was made into a miniseries by Creator/TheBBC, starring Creator/TobyJones. A previous BBC miniseries had been released in 1992, starring Creator/PeterCapaldi.

** [[spoiler: The bombing fails to provoke the reaction Mr. Vladimir expects, and while the Chief Inspector figures out the plot he is unable to bring it forward once the Verlocs die. Ultimately the bombing, and the Verloc’s deaths, are simply swept under the rug and life continues on as though nothing happened.

* ThreeActStructure: The first act sets up the characters and the general plot (Verloc must come up with a way to blow up the Greenwich Observatory). The second act takes place after the bomb has gone off and follows the characters piecing together what happened, and the third follows the aftermath.

Verloc runs a pornography shop and hangs out with anarchists. He also works as a secret agent for a unnamed foreign country. His new boss, Mr. Vladimir, wants Verloc to plant a bomb at the Greenwich Observatory to provoke a crackdown on anarchists, who he believes are using Great Britain as a refuge. Verloc doesn't want to do it, but the paycheck is the only thing keeping him and his family - his wife, Winnie, her mother, and her mentally disabled brother Stevie off the streets.

** [[spoiler: The bombing and the surrounding events are swept under the rug, and the couple Verloc each die alone and forgotten. Nothing changes and all the goals each character is working towards fails completely.]]

* BreakTheCutie: Poor Winnie.

* MadBomber: The Professor is this, being a sociopath and keeping a bomb on him that could kill anyone near him.

The novel has been used as the source for Creator/AlfredHitchcock's film ''Film/{{Sabotage|1936}}'' (1936) though it took liberties with some of the plot elements.[[note]]And was ''not'' the source for Hitchcock's film ''Film/{{Secret Agent|1936}}'', which was based on the novel ''Ashenden, or The British Agent'' by Creator/WSomersetMaugham.[[/note]] A more faithful adaptation was released in 1996 and starred Bob Hoskins as Adolf Verloc. In 2016, it was made into a miniseries by Creator/TheBBC, starring Creator/TobyJones.

* In the first miniseries, DVD releases gave Creator/PeterCapaldi considerable prominence on the cover despite him only having a few scenes. This was presumably used to notice fans of Series/TheThickOfIt and Series/DoctorWho
* AgentProvocateur: Verluc's mission is to provoke the anarchists he spies on to blow up the Greenwich Observatory. Unfortunately for him, they're too lazy and unmotivated to be provoked into doing anything.
* BombThrowingAnarchists: Largely subverted. The only actual bombing is carried out by a foreign government agent trying to [[FalseFlagOperation provoke a crackdown on anarchists]]. The actual anarchists are mostly harmless and don't do much more than sit in Verloc's parlor and make speeches, and are unwilling to risk disturbing their [[{{Hypocrite}} privileged lifestyles]] by actually starting a revolt.
** [[spoiler: Verloc converts his brother-in-law, a mentally retarded teenager, to violent anarchism to get him to carry out the bombing for him, but it's unlikely he would have done this on his own.]]

** The Professor, the purest example of this trope in the book, is a NietzscheWannabe who gives Verloc a bomb. He despises Michaelis's idealism and [[TheSocialDarwinist wants to create a world where the strong have free reign to crush the weak]]. But despite talking a big game he won't actually carry out anything himself.

** HandsomeLech: After he believes Verloc is dead he skulks around his residence for two full hours (he's "not exactly a bold conqueror") hoping to take advantage of the situation to bang his widow. When he finds her she appears to be drunk, which he takes full advantage of. [[spoiler: She turns out to have been driven AxeCrazy from earlier events, and the experience drives him mad.]]

* MadnessMantra: "The drop was 14 feet."

* ShootTheShaggyDog: [[spoiler: The bombing and the surrounding events are swept under the rug, and the couple Verloc each die alone and forgotten. Nothing changes and all the goals each character is working towards fails completely.]]

Verloc runs a pornography shop and hangs out with anarchists. He also works as a secret agent for a unnamed foreign country. His new boss, Mr. Vladimir, wants Verloc to plant a bomb at the Greenwich Observatory to provoke a crackdown on anarchists, who he believes are using Great Britain as a refuge. Verloc doesn't want to do it, but the paycheck is the only thing keeping him and his family - his wife, Winnie, her mother, and her mentally retarded brother Stevie off the streets.

The novel has been used as the source for Creator/AlfredHitchcock's film ''Sabotage'' (1936) though it took liberties with some of the plot elements.[[note]]And was ''not'' the source for Hitchcock's film ''Secret Agent'', which was based on the novel ''Ashenden, or The British Agent'' by Creator/WSomersetMaugham.[[/note]] A more faithful adaptation was released in 1996 and starred Bob Hoskins as Adolf Verloc. In 2016, it was made into a miniseries by Creator/TheBBC, starring Creator/TobyJones.

--> ''"Presently, passing to particular instances, we recalled the already old story of the attempt to blow up the Greenwich Observatory; a blood-stained inanity of so fatuous a kind that it was impossible to fathom its origin by any reasonable or unreasonable process of thought. For perverse unreason has its own logical process. But that outrage could not be laid hold of mentally in any sort of way, so that one remained faced by the fact of a man blown to bits for nothing even most remotely resembling an idea, anarchistic or other."''

* BreakTheCuty: Poor Winnie.

* AgentProvacateur: Verluc's mission is to provoke the anarchists he spies on to blow up the Greenwich Observatory. Unfortunately for him, they're too lazy and unmotivated to be provoked into doing anything.

* SmallNameBigEgo: Verloc regards himself as a massively important figure in British history, a prominent anarchist figure, and a man loved by everyone. His employers consider him a waste of money, his fellow anarchists consider him "more useful than important," and his wife is only with him for the financial security.