ABSTRACT
The portrayal of Bill Haydon in Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy translates the ideological treason of Philby into a story about the betrayal of personal relations. Le Carre Forsterizes the Philby story. Despite the presence of the great political issues of national decline and the Cold War it is the human betrayal, and the human price paid for that betrayal, which give the book its central focus. Karla the absolutist is undone by ‘excessive love’ and ‘compassion’ while Smiley, the reasonable man, pursues and destroys his foe with unbridled ‘fanaticism’. The presiding metaphor is of frontiers breached, values drained, ideologies confused and confounded. After his painful pursuit of Haydon, Smiley shrugs off the difficulties of fathoming the man’s nature. Smiley is a man of conscience in a service more comfortable with technical than ethical questions. Smiley accepts the logic of the service; however, he tries to temper it with compassion and humanity.
