Why did you resign? This frequently asked question litters The Prisoner in one way or another throughout the series but I believe that the man whom we see become Number Six never really resigns from his job.
In the opening titles, this man is seen to be driving in the open countryside in his sports car. The scene is repeated in the closing moments of the closing moments of the last episode, Fall Out. What I believe to be the man's thoughts of resignation and its effects on others and himself are formed into the seventeen episodes shown. We never learn the name of this man although there are many theories about this. Could he be John Drake, the character that Patrick McGoohan played just prior to creating The Prisoner? I like to think of the character as "Everyman", the name McGoohan and David Tomblin used for their production company on The Prisoner. This man decided to resign from his job - again, another theory, what job? I believe it was of a top secret nature, although not a spy. He could be working for the Ministry of Defence. I recall that some years ago in Number Six magazine, there was an article suggesting that he could be a scientist. This sounds highly possible to me.
Whatever this man's job was, I have a feeling that it was something that affected the lives of other people and he felt that the only way out was to resign since these effects were playing on his conscience too much. The most information one gains from the series is that the reason for his resignation was "for peace of mind". I feel that these thoughts and many others were on his character's mind so much that, driving along, he considers the possible outcomes of resigning. This develops into the creation in his mind of the Village and plunges the man into the darker side of his psyche. We all know that the mind can play some very nasty tricks, making you think the worst of any situation.
Whilst imprisoned in this mind trap, he often comes across people that he knows, such as Cobb and this jolts him back to reality (although you never again see him driving in the open countryside). On the surface, this village that he has created seems to be a pleasant and happy place but as the man's thoughts turn darker, the place becomes more and more a threat. Constantly the question of "why" appears and the promise of a job in authority is offered for the answer. However, the man refuses to give in and say. This trap becomes more and more real as if real life has disappeared for good and we are viewing what seem to be actual events rather than something conjured up in someone's mind.
In The Village, total control is one step away, or so it seems. Number Two is seen to be a go-between for another higher, authority and when finally this authority is shown for the only time in the series, he is revealed to be a facet of the same man whose thoughts we are observing. I have always had a theory about the characters in Fall Out. It is that Number Two and Number Forty-Eight are also facets of the same man. What he was and what he will become. The delegates can also be seen as various characteristics of this man.
At the end of the episode the man is shown to be in control of his thoughts and mind, as he is at the beginning. But is he? Those dark thoughts could return at any moment and he would be back in the Village.
Life goes round in circles and so do the episodes that form the series "The Prisoner". I am reminded of the words of the song "Windmills Of Your Mind" sung by Noel Harrison over the titles of the film "The Thomas Crown Affair"...
"Round like a circle, a circle within a wheel, never ending or beginning, this ever spinning wheel..."
The "ever spinning wheel" is a phrase that could represent The Village. How it will constantly go round in his mind and with one thought could return those threats. The threat of Village imprisonment is always there, part of the man's make-up and could be just a part of us all. We all have a dark side to our psyche and we are watching one person, or Everyman's, psyche.
Do you think that Number Six resigned, or like me, believe that he does not. Please do drop a line to TPF soon, I would be interested in your own theories.
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