6 Against The 1

   Does the Prisoner make a better Number 6 than Number 1, or make a better Number 1 better than Number 6? It’s difficult to judge, as we know nothing about Number 1, other than he’s the other self of Number 6. Number 6 is generally looked upon as the good guy who is abducted and incarcerated in The Village against his will, and it’s Number 1 the bad guy who is keeping him there! It’s possible that neither is no worse or no better than the other, and that each are just as much a prisoner as the other. The only difference is that Number 6 has the freedom of The Village, meaning he can leave his cell I mean cottage, and go out and about meeting people, interacting with them. Where as Number 1 is forced to conceal his face behind a black and white theatrical mask in order to hide his identity. Forced to live in a cavern like a Morlock in H.G. Well’s ‘Time Machine,’ unless of course he was to dress the same as Number 6, then go out into The Village and impersonate 6. Because there are times during ‘The Chimes of Big Ben’ when Number 6 is seen to be in two places at the same time! Number 6 is seen standing on the balcony of the Green Dome, when Number 6 is still in bed. And a second time just before Number 6 leaves the Green Dome he is seen still standing on top of the stone Bandstand.
   The only real distinction that can be made between Number 1 and Number 6, is that 1 is the jailer and 6 the prisoner, and yet if they exchanged places who could tell? Number 1 is deemed to be the villain of the piece because he keeps the other prisoner, and Number 6 the hero because he will not bend to Number 1’s will. And yet in the end Number 1 is no worse than Number 6, or indeed vice versa, they are simply two sides of the same personality.

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