Ambiguous Moralism: Loyalty and Betrayal

Abstract

Le Carré’s characterization of the relationship between loyalty and betrayal (or disloyalty) is particularly expressed through his perception of the tension, if not contradiction, between personal and institutional loyalty. As a motif that runs through le Carré’s work, it is both a deeply felt personal issue for the author and inherent in the very nature of espionage and of politics in general. Le Carré’s poignant concern and self-division results in a fairly unique form of ambiguous moralizing that is similar to the seventeenth-century Dutch artist Jan Steen, whose moralizing and self-parody are visual analogues of le Carré’s novels.

Unfortunately there are many kinds of loyalty, and we cannot serve them all at once.

I hate the idea of causes, and if I had to choose between betraying my country and betraying my friend, I hope I should have the guts to betray my country. (E. M. Forster, 1951:78)