Murder most foul!



Just hated the idea of Caypor's murder. The mere idea that a person can be ordered to be killed on mere circumstantial evidence old boy gives me the shivers.

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In fact I believe Our Hero was told to "report back" when he had identified the spy, to receive orders -- although it was intimated that the instructions at this point were likely to be to kill the man, in fact when he didn't wait for orders before taking action, once the orders did come they turned out to be telling him to back off since he had got the wrong man... The intention was apparently for Headquarters to check out the circumstantial evidence first (although there is no suggestion of how they were able to do this).

But the murder seems to have been caused by a combination of the General's trigger-happy tendencies and Ashenden's amateurish urgency to get a distasteful job over and done with. Both of which could and perhaps should have been anticipated, but I'm not sure one can blame the orders.

~~Igenlode

Gather round, lads and lasses, gather round...

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The concept of orders is largely unimportant. Ashenden's reaction to the murder is really just a reflection of Maugham's own feelings of disgust and revulsion towards what people of that profession have had to do. You find the same theme in most books written by former spies. Read some of Graham Greene's books or Le Carre's "The Spy Who Came In From The Cold" and you'll get a good idea.

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