There is a game sometimes played, it’s called “truth and consequences.” There is a truth that the Prisoner resigned, he resigned for peace of mind, but whose peace of mind, his? There is the truth that the man known as the Prisoner held a job of a top secret, confidential nature. The truth is he lived in a large house, too large a house for one man. The truth of the matter is the Prisoner could not have expected to hand in his letter of resignation and then simply walk away, he must have known that there would be consequences. The consequences being that he was abducted to the Village, his identity taken away from him, and was given the number six.
Prior to his abduction, the man known as the Prisoner, was “pushed” into resigning from his highly secret, confidential job. He was “filed, his “index“ card “stamped,” and dropped into a grey filing cabinet marked RESIGNED, and at the same time the Prisoner’s card was “stamped!” On the morning of his arrival in the Village, he was “debriefed” by No.2, and later “briefed” about the Village during an aerial tour. Here we discover another of the butler’s skills, at being able to pilot a helicopter! And later numbered by the Supervisor-No.26, as the prisoner attempted to escape the Village in a Village taxi, and fast approaching the Outer Zone! The truth of the matter is, No.6 has to face the consequences of his actions.
Cobb’s death had to be faked because of his encounter with the Prisoner on that hospital ward. And if No.6 had not tried to escape, he would not have had the suffocating encounter with the Village Guardian, he had been warned about that, you will recall the earlier demonstration in the central Piazza.
Nadia Rakovsky. Here were more consequences, because No.6 never allowed himself to consider what the truth is. Nadia didn’t tell him the truth about the location of the Village. No.6 didn’t think to ask how Nadia had been able to make contact with the man waiting in the cave, while Nadia had been a prisoner in the Village! No.6’s desire for escape clouded his judgement, and suffered the consequences, by finding out that not only had be been betrayed, by Nadia but by the Prisoner’s own people, the Colonel and Fotheringay.
However this game of “truth and consequences” can be played the other way. The Prisoner was determined to escape the Village, to find out the truth. He did manage to escape, and suffered a debriefing about the Village from the Colonel and the sceptical Thorpe. They all have their problems. The Prisoner isn’t sure which side runs the Village, and the Colonel and Thorpe aren’t sure which side the Prisoner is batting for now! But they all want to get to the truth, and all three agree to work together to find that truth. And the consequences? The prisoner now knows the location of the Village, although little good it will do him. As once back in the Village, he will be afforded one more chance of escape, and the consequences of failure will be severe.
The doctor-No.40, in his search for information, as he experimented on the mind of Roland Walter Dutton. But the truth was, Dutton had already told them all he knew, and he was telling the truth. The trouble was the doctor couldn’t see the truth, and for that Roland Walter Dutton suffered the consequences of a living death, as a brainwashed imbecile!
The truth of the matter is, can No.6 be trusted? The white Queen offers to help No.6 with his escape plan, if it’s a good one. But he does not trust her, what’s more the Rook-No.53 had his doubts about No.6, but the Rook got it wrong, because No.6 is really a prisoner. The consequences being, that No.6 is the only one out of the group of escapees to be returned to the chessboard. We don’t see No.14 the chess champion again, or the white Queen, nor the Rook for that matter. As for the Shopkeeper-No.19, he’s replaced by a weasel type of character, No.112.
Truth and consequence, not so much a game anymore, because for every truth there is a consequence that must be paid.
I’ll be seeing you
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