Casino Royale (Ian Flemming)

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1. What is the genre?

Global—Crime > Espionage

Secondary—Love > Obsession

2. What are the conventions and obligatory scenes for the genre?

Conventions

A MacGuffin: The Villain Le Chiffre wants to win a large sum of money at Baccarat to get out of financial ruin thus preserving his own life. 

Investigative Red Herrings: There are no Red Herrings regarding the Le Chiffre case because we have the information that he is guilty of several crimes. What Red Herrings we do get are indications of Vesper’s behaviour leading to her being followed and exposed as a double-agent.

Making it Personal: Le Chiffre, after losing everything to Bond, kidnaps Vesper as revenge in order to get the money.

Shapeshifter: A SMERSH agent saves Bond from being murdered by Le Chiffre when SMERSH agents are clearly set up as the antagonists behind Le Chiffre. At the end of the novel, Vesper confesses to be a double agent.

Clock: The deadline presented hinges on the Casino being ripe with foreign money and Le Chiffre’s ability to make his deadline.

Escalating danger: What begins as a gambling job becomes attempted murder, an abduction, and a horrible torture.

Sub-Genre-specific conventions—Espionage: Creative ways of gaining evidence or clues—Bond lays traps in his hotel room to see if anyone tampers with his things, and he has a creative way of hiding money once he wins it.

Obligatory Scenes

An Inciting Crime: This happens off the page. We learn that Le Chiffre is a pimp associated with the USSR that runs illegal brothels in France after laws that prohibit them are put into place. The victims are primarily girls and women, but can include anyone who gets in the way. On top of it, he is associated with the Russians.

Protagonist actively trying to solve a crime or puzzle: James Bond is trying to gamble Le Chiffre to bankruptcy.

Speech in Praise of the Villain: The speech in praise of the villain takes place in chapter two and takes the form of several pieces of memoranda about Le Chiffre and his exploits which is provided by both the British and the United States Secret Service.

Discovering and understanding the Antagonist’s MacGuffin: The antagonist’s MacGuffin is also provided in the memoranda. Le Chiffre needs 50 million francs—the double of what he has—to save him from financial ruin. We know he is a Russian agent and one assumes they have stake in his “businesses”. It’s a smart way  to incorporate a clock.

Protagonist’s initial strategy fails: Bond loses all the funds given to him by his government. He is given funds by an American agent ally, and with that, wins everything.

Progressively Complicated Following of the Clues: Bond found that he was being recorded, that someone tried to have him blown up, and he resented the fact that his assigned partner for the mission was female. Bond gambled with Le Chiffre, lost everything, and was in a bad place. His American associate gave him another 32 million francs courtesy of the US government, and he succeeded in bankrupting Le Chiffre. His female partner, Vesper, is kidnapped, and after a chase, Bond is captured and tortured, and saved by the SMERSH agent that kills Le Chiffre and his goons, and recovered by his own people that bring him to hospital to recover. Vesper was shaken, but not injured.

Exposure of the Criminal: There seems to be a criminal Switcheroo going on in this story. We know the criminal at the very beginning to be Le Chiffre, and we know that SMERSH is behind this criminal’s doings. There are no surprises there, however, once Le Chiffre is financially defeated by Bond, and physically eliminated by a SMERSH agent, we find out that Bond’s partner and love interest Vesper is a double agent, and thus the ally becomes the criminal [shapeshifter], and we notice that she has her own very Speech in Praise of the Villain towards the beginning of the novel.

Brought to or Escapes Justice: Le Chiffre is killed by SMERSH, and Vesper kills herself because she was a double agent and in love with Bond. This means that Bond did succeed in his mission, and didn’t have to kill anyone. However clean his hands are, and as much as SMERSH was introduced early on in the novel, I still feel like Bond’s salvation was a bit of a Deus Ex Machina. If this book was written in 2019, I would have fully expected Vesper to rescue Bond, and have that be a didactic tidbit to use against misogynists. But it wasn’t, and Bond’s own misogyny is apparent. I think for this reason, it shows it’s age, and I doubt something like this would fly today.

That Vesper turns out to be a double agent and kills herself in guilt is also awfully tidy, and so tragic since both parties seem to have real feelings for each other. I think the goal of this love sub-plot will be useful in later Bond books to reinforce the cold and detached passion he is known for, since it begins in something carnal, and ends with Bond asking her to be his wife.

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3. What is the point of view?

Close Third Person Limited AKA Close Selective Omniscience. We are privy to James Bond’s internal goings-on, and details from other characters are provided through Bond witnessing body language, dialogue, and reading. (I consider the wires, memoranda, and Vesper’s suicide letter Epistolary, and are smart devices besides.)

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4. What are the objects of desire?

External/Conscious: Bond’s external need is to defeat Le Chiffre by winning against him in the Casino.

Internal/Subconscious: Bond’s internal need is to prove his prowess/masculinity/virility, maybe more so at the end of the book than at the beginning, and to achieve what he sees as authentic love. Mind that this was written in 1953 and thoughts and behaviours presented were acceptable.

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5. What is the controlling idea / theme?

The antagonist loses everything when the protagonist outwits his opponent. Penniless Le Chiffre is caught for his mishandling of funds, and is murdered by SMERSH.

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6. What is the beginning hook, middle build and ending payoff?

Beginning Hook – When he takes the case, Bond is faced with not only the task of heavy and risky gambling with a skilled opponent and must bet everything or else this opponent will win the money needed to remain notorious, but he also learns that his work partner is a woman (Vesper Lynd) which he finds this disagreeable.

Middle Build – Even after multiple attempts are made on his life, Bond gambles and wins. Le Chiffre, ruined, wants to steal Bond’s winnings and seeks revenge so he abducts Vesper. Since James Bond has become fond of her, he decides to make a rescue attempt and is himself captured, tortured, and nearly murdered, but is saved just in time by a SMERSH agent (a Russian and Le Chiffre’s “boss”.)

Ending Payoff – While recuperating in hospital Bond thinks he might resign from service. When his hospital stay is over, Bond and Vesper spend time at a French beachside Bed and Breakfast. He is planning to propose to her despite her becoming suspicious, sneaky, and cold. One night, she commits suicide and, in a letter, divulges to Bond that she was a double agent. He calls it in as an emergency.

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