Brighton Rock And The Third Man

"In what ways do 'Brighton Rock' and 'The Third Man' represent the power or powerlessness of individuals?"

The "Third Man" and "Brighton Rock" are texts that share similar characteristics in the sense that there are three central characters in both storylines. The characters can also be matched between the texts. Pinkie Brown is similar to Harry Lime, Holly Martins is similar to Ida Arnold and Rose is similar to Anna. The relationships between the characters are also similar. The characters of Pinkie/Harry are the 'villains' in their separate stories. The characters of Ida/Holly play the 'detective' roles and Rose/Anna complete the triangle as the love interests for the villains. Each individual is represented as both powerful and powerless during his or her story.

Brighton Rock, as a book, has literary techniques to portray power or powerlessness, rather than visual techniques such as those in The Third Man. Graham Greene emphasizes powerlessness by building up weaknesses for the characters throughout the book. We learn that Pinkie dislikes sex and alcohol at an early stage of the novel, and when situations arise surrounding either of these themes, we know that Pinkie is powerless because of his lack of experience with sex or alcohol. In this way, Pinkie's powerlessness is represented.

Despite Pinkie's powerlessness in sex or alcohol related situations, he is relatively intimidating in all other circumstances. His strength is fear; he scares people into doing what he wants. His violent disposition makes him a powerful figure. He becomes the leader of his gang when Kite is murdered, he orders around men that are three times his age and is generally feared and respected. Power is represented when Pinkie threatens people; his history of murderous nature ensures that he gets his way.

Ida is powerful in the sense that she doesn't give up on her mission to find out what happened to Hale. She uses her sex appeal to gain as much information as she can. She has some power over Pinkie because she knows that he is involved with Hale's murder, and therefore poses a threat to him. Power is therefore represented through knowledge and sex appeal rather than force.

Ida's powerlessness is all about her inability to convince Rose that Pinkie does not love her. She also has no influence on Pinkie's choices or decisions. Her powerlessness is represented by her lack of force; the Police do not help her, she is virtually alone in her quest for justice.

Rose is only powerful in one way; she knows what Pinkie has done and she can use her knowledge to persuade Pinkie to love her. Although she appears to be unintelligent, she convinces Pinkie that he needs to marry her. She further stamps her authority when Pinkie's violence doesn't intimidate her. She simply states that he can keep hurting her if he wants to. This represents her power over Pinkie because she wont let herself be walked over with threats and pain.

Rose is powerless when Pinkie does intimidate her; she crumbles under his pressure and obeys everything he says. She doesn't stand up for herself enough and is on the brink of committing suicide for Pinkie before she is rescued. Her powerlessness is represented through her shy nature.

The Third Man's Holly Martins is powerless on several occasions. He is new to the city of Vienna, he came by request of Harry Lime and he is thrown into confusion when he is notified of Harry's death. Vienna is not welcoming for Holly; his only acquaintance is dead, he is immediately in hot water with the police and he is lied to by Popescu. The tilted camera angles are used when Holly is being lied to and emphasize the fact that all is not well in Vienna. When the camera angle is severely tilted, the lies are more deceitful, and when the lies are less deceitful the camera angle is adjusted accordingly. The severity of the tilt matches the severity of the lies. Physical barriers such as closed windows and bed frames between Holly and other characters represent mental barriers that keep Holly from the truth about Harry. When Holly is accused of murdering the porter, the accusations are in a dialect he does not understand and so he is forced to run away, powerless to do anything else. Holly's powerlessness is further highlighted when Major Calloway manipulates Holly by showing him the innocent children at the hospital. This causes Holly to change his mind about Harry and he agrees to work together with the police to catch Harry. These techniques portray Holly as powerless and vulnerable; he is in an unfamiliar city that is shrouded in lies.

Holly's power comes from his loyalty to Harry; he is intent on finding out the truth about his