Significance of the Owl in "Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy"
There's a scene in "Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy" where Prideaux (Mark Strong) is in the class room teaching, then suddenly an owl pops out of the fireplace. Prideaux quickly dispatches it. Later on, in the same class room, Prideaux is talking to Smiley (Gary Oldman) and we see a stuffed owl on the wall.
That (and the bee scene) always seemed rather random to me. Or am I missing some deeper meaning?
Best Answer
I always assumed it was a sign that an otherwise unassuming and placid teacher had a ruthless streak and could deal swiftly and, if necessary, brutally with a situation.
---The book explains it (and it was written pre-Harry Potter). The owl had been nesting in the disused chimney. When Prideaux fired it up a half-dead owl was smoked out onto the classroom floor, shocking and startling the boys. Prideaux whisks it up and out of the room. Later the boys find the dead owl on the rubbish heap, its neck neatly twisted and broken. The point is that Prideaux is a skilled killer. Also in the book, Haydon is killed by persons unknown, his neck neatly twisted and broken.
The movie version compresses the more nuanced details from the book (that also foreshadow the different details of Haydon's death). But the essence that Prideaux is a capable and ruthless killer when required are preserved in a simpler, shorter scene.
Pictures about "Significance of the Owl in "Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy""
Why did Prideaux shoot Haydon?
Prideaux does not kill Haydon because he was a traitor to his country, he kills him because he was a traitor to him personally, not just by giving him up to the Russians in Budapest, but because he refused to respond to Prideaux's homosexual feelings towards him and forced Prideaux to suppress his authentic self.What is the meaning of Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy?
An espionage agent or spy; a citizen who is recruited by a foreign government to spy on his own country. This term should not be confused with a member of an intelligence service who recruits spies; they are referred to as intelligence officers or more particularly case officers. Babysitters.Is Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy true story?
On the broadest level, Tinker Tailor too is rooted in a very real and traumatic period for British intelligence. Le Carre served in MI5 and MI6 in the 1950s and early 1960s and these were troubled times.Is Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy boring?
Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy is not the worst movie ever made. But it is a contender for the most boring. Where The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo was over-packed with too much of everything it tried to be, Tinker, Tailor suffers from offering the viewer too little.Colin Firth, Gary Oldman on James Bond, the Sexy Spy and the Big Owl/English Subtitles
More answers regarding significance of the Owl in "Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy"
Answer 2
The significance of the bee scene is that, unlike the others in the car, Smiley is totally focused on the things that matter (the mole) and able to completely ignore trivial distractions like the bee.
Answer 3
In a flashback we see Jim is tortured wearing the headphones while being exposed to disturbing screeching sounds. Something snaps when he hears the owl making a similar sound.
Answer 4
The owl scene is much more subtle, it is introduced right at the beginning of the book. At the end, it is never explicitly revealed who killed Bill Haydon but it is strongly implied "Stooping over him, he caught the smell of alcohol - he guessed gin or vodka - (Prideaux drank vodka) ... It wasn't till he tried to lift him that his head flopped over, and the rest of him followed as dead weight" (Prideaux had wrung the owl's neck). QED it must've been Prideaux wot dun it.
Answer 5
I say the owl, disturbed from his chimney, is a metaphor for betrayal or a secret let loose, a symbol of wisdom and a portent for Jim Prideaux of exposure, hence his prompt execution of the bird.
Answer 6
I'd like to keep going on the significance of the owl. In the classroom, the owl was euthanized. Very shocking to the boys, but served to further build Jim's mystique and awe among them. Jim Prideaux and Bill Haden were inseparable in their youth, possibly lovers. So, there may be an element of mercy killing on top of the revenge in Haden's murder. Add to that the owl was stuck in the chimmey and then burned, symbolic of how Haden was trapped, caught and destroyed. The TV version and the BBC audio book skipped the owl scene altogether. The movie botched both the owl scene and the death of Haden. A gun? Hurrumph.
Sources: Stack Exchange - This article follows the attribution requirements of Stack Exchange and is licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0.
Images: Brett Sayles, Brett Sayles, Brett Sayles, Brett Sayles