Bond the meek

© Sydney Morning Herald

From today’s Sydney Morning Herald comes a rather unique take on the James Bond character.

Elizabeth Farrelly’s essay Secret agent of restraint examines Bond — specifically, Ian Fleming’s literary character — as a model of the ancient virtue of (get ready for it)… meekness.

Not the “meekness” of the downtrodden, of course, which wouldn’t do at all for ol’ 007, but rather the meekness of the ninja, or of the Templar knight. A soul disciplined by harsh experience and sacrifice, cultivating an inner strength and power to be used only when necessary and for good. You know… a hero.

The Bond of the books, being both less assured and more fallible than Albert R. Broccoli’s action man is, if anything, more heroic. Failure and sacrifice give his heroism a pathos that only increases its stature, lifting it from the merely physical to something almost spiritual.

For those of us who view James Bond as the modern version of the classical Single Combat Warrior, this is all going to make perfect sense. Those who have a different viewpoint will at least learn something new and interesting. You can READ IT RIGHT HERE.