Escape!

    Everyone, according to Number 8, tries to escape when their spirit’s broken. But I don’t think Number 6’s spirit was broken when he first attempted to escape in a Mini-Moke, he hadn’t been in The Village long enough for that. He did try on the next day, by helicopter, after Number 9 had given him the Electro Pass, little good it did him. And then it was during ‘The Chimes of Big Ben that Number 6 encountered Number 8 who claimed to know the location of The Village. That would be handy to know where one is escaping from, then one can calculate where one’s escaping to, again little good that did him. ‘Free For All,’ and an off the cuff impromptu escape, by boat this time, but with much the same result on the day of his arrival in The Village, another near fatal encounter with the white membranic Guardian! Then Number 6 attempted another one-off spontaneous escape, this time by impersonating Curtis, but sadly he lacked one important piece of information, that Susan died a year ago!
   Other attempted escapes followed, in ‘Dance of the Dead’ Number 6 looks to be simply running away from The Village along the beach. But he couldn’t run so fast to outpace the Guardian. Then one morning Number 6 woke to find that he was the only citizen of an otherwise deserted Village. Where was everyone? He did make a search, he climbed the Bell Tower and rang the bell so to arouse the attention of anyone who might be about. But no-one was about, just 6 and the cat. And that’s how it was for a time when Number 6 was returned to The Village, until Mrs Butterworth turned up on the scene bearing a cake she promised to bake if he came back. Well Number 6 came back alright. But I think Number 6 was under the impression Mrs. Butterworth meant No1. Buckingham Place. Next he gathered some reliable men about him, and put together a plan of escape, and it almost worked. Pity Number 6 put himself in charge of the enterprise. Had it not been for his authoritative behaviour which let him down.............And that was the last time Number 6 attempted to escape, except for ‘Fall Out’ and we know how that ended, or didn’t, depending on your perspective.
    I suppose the question might be asked why did Number 6 stop attempting to escape? After all he had one further opportunity in ‘It’s Your Funeral,’ or did he? Unlike himself who hindered the new Number 2 from removing the Great Seal of Office, as well as the bomb, from about his head and shoulders, there was no-one Number 2 could trust to do the same for him. So that cannot be included. Perhaps to have Number 6 continually trying to escape The Village would have become increasingly boring. And besides there are only so many ways to try and escape, and even those can be limited if you can’t fly a helicopter, drive a vehicle, or build a sea-going raft or navigate!
   There are some devotees of ‘the Prisoner’ who think it’s all in the mind of Number 6, and to some degree I’m one of them. So was Number 6 trying to escape The Village, or himself? Is it possible for Number 6 to escape himself? Because no matter where he goes, or how far, when he gets there, he’s still himself, because you take everything that makes you, you, with you. In that respect death is the only escape. But if it’s simply The Village Number 6 is trying to escape from, and he’s created it in his own subconscious, then simply forget it, don’t remember it, don’t keep it in mind. But perhaps it’s more than that, perhaps The Village is so engrained, so indelibly imprinted  in Number 6’s subconscious that he can be no more be free of it than he can be free of himself.

Be seeing you