“Casino Royale” by Ian Fleming (post 2): Surprisingly, in first James Bond novel, he’s a loser. Of interest here, he has gratuitous multiple personality

I have just read Ian Fleming’s first James Bond novel, Casino Royale, and, coming to it with his superspy, irresistible lover, public image in mind, I found Fleming’s original conception of Bond disillusioning.

To begin with, “007” did not originally mean “license to kill” or anything so glamorous (see Wikipedia “00 Agent”). And the only major success that Bond has in this novel, winning a high-stakes card game, is pure luck. In the middle of the novel, Bond considers quitting his job as a British spy, because he feels that the right and wrong sides have become ambiguous (don’t worry, he gets over this). And at the end of the novel, Bond’s judgment of people and his luck with women turn out to have been so bad that the woman he is about to ask to marry him kills herself and confesses in her suicide note that she has been spying for the other side. In short, although Bond had reportedly had success in past missions, and has potential to do well in the future, he is mostly depicted in the first Bond novel as an unlucky, tormented loser.

Be all that as it may, the following incidental remarks in Casino Royale are of interest here, because they inadvertently reflect the issue of multiple personality, raised by the author’s biographies (discussed in the previous post).

“James Bond suddenly knew that he was tired. He always knew when his body or his mind had had enough and he always acted on the knowledge” (1, p. 169) (the first page of the novel). The way this is worded—he doesn’t suddenly feel tired; rather, he suddenly knows it— makes it appear that Bond has a separate part of his mind (a body-monitoring alternate personality), who does not feel tired, but whose job it is to know whether the body and mind are tired, and act upon that knowledge.

“With another part of his mind, he had a vision of tomorrow’s regular morning meeting of the casino committee” (1, p. 169). As I just said above, Bond’s mind has “parts,” a common euphemism for alternate personalities.

“Then he slept, and with the warmth and humour of his eyes extinguished his features relapsed into a taciturn mask, ironical, brutal, and cold” (1, p. 173). Dr. Jekyll goes to sleep and Mr. Hyde is revealed.

“At twenty minutes to nine he had exhausted all the permutations which might result from his duel with Le Chiffre [the villain he must defeat in the upcoming high-stakes card game]. He rose and dressed, dismissing the future completely from his mind” (1, p.196). Most people couldn’t do that, at least not completely. But a person with multiple personality might be able to switch to an alternate personality who is oriented to the present only.

“…she was pleased when she felt she attracted and interested him, as she knew intuitively that she did. Then at a hint that they were finding pleasure together…he had suddenly turned to ice and had brutally veered away as if warmth were poison to him” (1, p. 201). One of Bond’s personalities was repulsed by feelings and relationships.

“He seemed to have forgotten the brief coolness between them, and Vesper [the woman] was relieved and entered into his mood” (1, p. 204). He has not only switched to a personality who is interested in feelings and relationships, but may even have a memory gap (a cardinal feature of multiple personality) for the time that his other personality had frozen her out.

“Bond’s eyes narrowed and his face in the mirror looked back at him with hunger” (1, p. 220). People without multiple personality look in a mirror and simply see themselves. In contrast, people with multiple personality may sometimes look in a mirror and see someone looking back at them. (Search “mirror” and “mirrors” for past discussions of this recurrent subject.)

“Continue, my dear friend. It is interesting to see this new Bond. Englishmen are so odd. They are like a nest of Chinese boxes” (1, p. 244). Bond’s friend, in saying that Bond is like Chinese boxes, is using a metaphor for multiple personality.

Comment

Ian Fleming did not intend to imply that Bond has multiple personality. Then why does Bond have all these inadvertent, gratuitous, little indications of multiple personality? They evidently reflect the psychology of the author.

1. Ian Fleming. From Russia, With Love [1957]. Casino Royale [1953, pp. 169-270]. Live and Let Die [1954]. Diamonds are Forever [1956], Dr No [1958], Goldfinger [1959]. New York, Octopus/Heinemann, 1980.