The Secret Agent

The Secret Agent is a novel by British Polish writer Joseph Conrad, first published in 1907. Set in London in 1886, it portrays Adolf Verloc as the titular secret agent who works for a powerful but unnamed country, likely Russia. The novel has been adapted for film and television under various titles.

This guide uses the 2008 Oxford World Classic’s edition of The Secret Agent.

Content warning: This text discusses suicide, abuse, and ableism.

Plot Summary

Adolf Verloc owns a small shop where he sells birth control devices, pornography, and various items of dubious legality. He shares his home with his wife, Winnie, Winnie's mother, and Winnie's brother, Stevie, who has an unnamed cognitive disability. Winnie takes care of Stevie, acting more as though she is his mother than his sister. Meanwhile, Verloc maintains friendships with Comrade Ossipon, Michaelis, Karl Yundt, and the Professor, a motley assortment of anarchists from various backgrounds. Though they are failures as terrorists, their behavior—publishing and distributing a pro-anarchist pamphlet—has drawn the attention of the local police.

Though Verloc fraternizes with anarchists and radicals, he is secretly a spy for an unnamed foreign country. Mr. Vladimir, his boss, summons Verloc and explains that because Verloc is not very good at being a secret agent, he must prove himself by successfully pulling off a major job: He must blow up the Greenwich Observatory. Verloc meets with his anarchist friends and they talk about the current legal and political climate in Britain as well as the need for protest and revolution. Stevie overhears their talk and is excited by his brother-in-law's views.

In London, a bomb explodes in Greenwich Park, and a person is killed in the blast. The Professor tells Ossipon that he gave explosives to Adolf. He also talks about the bomb that he, the Professor, always carries with him—a set of explosives in his coat that he can set off with the squeeze of a small rubber ball. After leaving Ossipon, the Professor runs into Chief Inspector Heat of the police force, who is investigating the Greenwich explosion. He tells the Professor that Michaelis is a suspect in the bombing.

Heat then goes to the Assistant Commissioner and tells him that Adolf Verloc, their secret contact, might be able to help bring Michaelis to justice. Since the Assistant Commissioner knows Michaelis via their mutual high-society friends (in particular, Michaelis’s wealthy female benefactor), he wants to get to the bottom of the case to prevent any untoward reflection on his reputation.

The story goes back to the period before the Greenwich bombing, this time told from the point of view of Winnie. Verloc returns from his meeting with Mr. Vladimir. Winnie explains to him how much Stevie looks up to him and that she would like to see Adolf and Stevie spend more time together. Adolf agrees and appears to forge a stronger relationship with Stevie, which Winnie compares to the relationship between a father and a son. However, in reality, he is using Stevie to carry out the Greenwich bombing, exploiting Stevie's naïveté and trusting nature by radicalizing him through contact with his revolutionary associates. Verloc sends Stevie to the Greenwich Observatory to detonate the bomb, but Stevie trips, inadvertently setting off the Professor's device, which Verloc had put in Stevie's coat. Stevie dies instantly and a piece of his coat is found at the scene of the bombing, which Heat uses to connect the Verloc family to the attack.

Afterward, Heat arrives at the Verloc home. He informs Winnie that he found a piece of Stevie's coat at the site of the bombing; he would like to learn more from her about her husband’s involvement in the attack. Winnie stands outside the parlor and listens as Verloc confesses his crime to Heat, who is hesitant to arrest him right away. Winnie is horrified that her husband has caused her brother’s death. She originally only married Verloc because she believed that he would be able to support her, her mother, and her brother. She turned down proposals from men whom she really did love in order to be with Verloc. As Verloc bemoans his problems and contemplates leaving the country, she thinks about her newfound freedom. Verloc has withdrawn all his money from the bank to flee the country, but Winnie does not listen as he talks about his plans. Instead, she fetches a knife and stabs him to death.

Distraught after realizing what she has done, Winnie runs. In the street, she crosses paths with Ossipon. She asks him for help. Ossipon agrees, going so far as to admit that he has always been in love with her. However, he has ulterior motives: He wonders whether he can manipulate her into giving him Verloc’s money. Together, Ossipon and Winnie make plans to leave England, and they buy passage on the ferry. Winnie's emotional shakiness, coupled with her confession that she killed Verloc, begins to give Ossipon second thoughts. He abandons Winnie, taking Verloc’s money. Later, reading the newspaper, Ossipon learns that Winnie may have vanished from the ferry; a woman matching her description threw herself overboard and drowned, leaving only her wedding ring behind as identification. He mulls over the matter with the Professor and then loses himself among the crowd.