It's a journey; a worldly and spiritual journey, that each of us has to go through in order to obtain enlightenment,
conscious and/or subconscious.

In 'Fall Out' when number six pulls away the monkey mask, he is confronted with his own ego,( or at least the darker side of it) and it is an ugly face that snarls back at him, which means that number six is not yet ready to move on to a higher level
and therefore has to go through another cycle again and again until he finds a way to integrate his darker side into his being.
The larger wheel on the bycicle badges symbolizes the cycle of life as seen in e.g. Buddhism (Samsara).
The words uttered by the ugly face are I, I, I, I, the notation of which bears a likeness to 1, 1, 1, 1, and thus number one=
oneself, the ego.
Also in 'Fall Out' number six' gesticulation (when speaking to the policeman in the street) does resemble a monkey's , and the monkey symbolizes things that are very basic, like the beginning of evolution, whereas the rocket taking off in the village could be seen as the end of things, the pinnacle. What's next? Well, the beginning I guess.
In the court-room the members are all wearing black and white masks (good/bad, yin/yang) symbolizing the duality
of everything.
And when Leo Mckern says he feels like he's reborn, he really is because he actually died. It's like a spiritual rebirth.
His “nakedness”, hair and beard being cut off ,is also a sign of 'a fresh start', 'beginning again', re-living the cycle.
And in many religions one must let go/cut off one's ego to obtain real freedom, mainly because the ego is just a distraction. Thus, the imprisonment of number six is an allegory of the ego which limits men's individual freedom.
Even the song 'Dem Bones' seems to represent transience; death and rebirth ( in the Jewish faith when e.g. a person dies in a car accident,all the body parts/bones have to be gathered to enable the person to go on to another level, to be reborn- when the messiah comes).
Mr. McGoohan knows his religious stuff, even though being raised a catholic and all.
Having said all this the only conclusion one can come to is; “The Prisoner IS life!”

Hinduism was very much "in the air" when the Prisoner was being written and filmed, since the Beatles were meditating with the Maharishi and all. But McGoohan didn't have anything good to say about that, so I'm not sure that that is what would've been the original intention. But who knows? Fall Out is a grand allegory, so you can find a lot in it.

On another board, I posted a number of parallels between The Prisoner and the Gospels and, if you are interested, I would be happy to copy it over here.

Please do, and I never meant just the one thing like Buddhism but a lot of influences like Jung and Freud.I never mentioned Hinduism
though.

I found your post interesting, and you're not the first to see a Buddhist connection, nor Jung nor Freud. I threw in the Hinduism because your post made me reflect back to the sixties for a moment. You could easily look at the series from the perspective of the Buddha's Four Noble Truths, too.

Anyway, here is a collection of posts that I wrote looking at the show from the standpoint of _script_ure and Catholic tradition.

Post 1: Fall Out

In Ezekiel 37, God is calling the prophet to rouse the dead in the
valley of the dry bones. They need to come alive, to move, to act.
In Fall Out, McGoohan is crying out to us, "Son of man, can these
bones live?" We are living in our own Village, which is society in
general, and which bears a remarkable likeness to the valley of the
dry bones. Think back to the other episodes, maybe Free for All, for
example, or The General, or A Change of Mind. What is he saying about/
to the Villagers in those episodes? Look around at the crowd scenes
in the Village, or the background scenes. What do you see? What is
he saying? In Fall Out, through the use of Ezekiel 37, he makes it
clear: are we alive? can we think, can we feel? can we love?


Having read chapter 37, pick up the Bible and read the rest of
Ezekiel. Take note of the passages in which God calls people to
individual responsibility within the community. Surely this is a
theme that has sounded throughout the entire series.


There is more to religious imagery than churches with stained glass
windows. Religion has to impact our total lives. The use of this
particular passage in _script_ure is one of the more obvious images in
the program. It is McGoohan's battle cry!

Post 2: Hammer into Anvil

Continuing my search for religious tie-ins, I was thinking about the
episode "Hammer into Anvil" in which No. 2 and No. 6 quote Goethe's
famous line from Faust": "Du musst Amboss oder Hammer sein." I was
surprised to find that St. Dominic (born in 1170) often quoted this
same thing. Here is the entire saying:

"A man who governs his passions is master of the world. We must either
rule them, or be ruled by them. It is better to be the hammer than the
anvil."


A good de_script_ion of Number 6's character?

Post 3: Number 6 is Number 1

So, just for
fun, here's a quote I found which could apply to Number 6, and
therefore, to us as well:


"This is indeed the hardest of all struggles; for while we strive
against self, self is striving against us, and therefore is the
victory here most glorious and precious in the sight of God." (from
"Spiritual Combat Revisited," page 239). Number 6 as Number 1...our
better side against our evil inclinations...McGoohan said someplace
that we are all prisoners until we die, and then what happens after
that depends on what kind of prisoner we were in life, or something to
that effect.


We can't be really free in this life, but the continued struggle and
striving are what counts, I think.

Post 4: I am not a number!

Continuing to muse on religious themes in the series, I was thinking
recently about how names are used in the Bible and how numbers and
_title_s are used in place of names in The Prisoner.

In _script_ure, names:


(1) are personal -- names have faces attached to them;
(2) have meaning, both literal and symbolic -- e.g. Adam means
"earth", Peter means "rock";
(3) have power -- e.g. the sacred name for God, YHWH;
(4) are de_script_ive -- Emmanuel describes a relationship that God has
with his people; Esau sounds like the word for 'hairy' in the original
language;
(5) are prophetic -- what a person would do--e.g. Jesus' name
indicates that he will save His people from their sins;
(6) indicate relationships -- a person's family name is a connection
to an extended group -- Israel indicates the family which became the
nation.


In the Prisoner, _title_s indicate a role or function, a slot to be
filled. _title_s are impersonal because one person can replace another
in the same role. People become expendable. Examples in the show:
the Supervisor, the long string of 'new' number 2.


Numbers also represent slots to be filled. They are place-holders
which may be manipulated, altered, and replaced. For example, there
were several characters with the number 8.


Numbers are interchangeable; they quantify but don't identify.


I can see why it was important that people in the Village were
numbered rather than named. They were disposable tools, rather than
people. Numbered, they were more easily controlled, more easily
manipulated, more easily isolated from each other and from society.


"I am not a number; I am a person." Truly that sums it all up.

Sorry this is so long; there is one more post, but I will copy that into another answer box.

Post 6, on intersections of The Gospel and The Prisoner:

McGoohan said, "Every hero since Jesus Christ has been moral. He wasn't a coward. Like John Drake He fought His battles fiercely but honourably. I hope it won't sound blasphemous when I say that I think He might have enjoyed a program like Secret Agent." (Langley, p. 81) I thought that if he saw a parallel between John Drake and Jesus, then mightn't there be a corresponding parallel between Number 6 and Jesus, too? It is not an exhaustive one- to- one correspondence, because The Prisoner is an allegory, but there are some interesting similarities.
(1) Background: The Temptation in the Desert -- Jesus is offered complete power if he will only sell out to the devil. Fall Out -- Number 6 is offered leadership of the Village, but this, too, would be a sell out. (2) Early Work: Jesus went about doing good; He saved people from physical harm (the storm on the lake, curing diseases, multiplying the loaves and fishes) and from spiritual death (cast out demons, forgave people*s sins, died and rose again to open heaven to us sinners. Number 6 laid his life on the line (Girl Who was Death) to save the people of London from the mad scientist. He chased death, and in turn was pursued by death to save others. He tried to rouse their dead souls(Dance of the Dead, Free for All, The General, Dry Bones in Fall Out). Jesus and Number 6 each fought their battles "fiercely but honourably." (3) Jesus was betrayed by the authorities. Number 6 was betrayed by his employers (Arrival, Chimes of Big Ben, Many Happy Returns). (4) Jesus was betrayed by his co- workers and close friends, Judas, Peter, and the others who ran away when the soldiers came for Him at Gethsemane. Number 6 was betrayed by people he thought he knew, such as Cobb and Dutton, as well as by Allison (Schizoid Man) and Nadia (Chimes of Big Ben) and Cathy (Living in Harmony) (5) Jesus was subjected to physical (scourging at the pillar) and mental (crowning with thorns as well as the mocking and insults) torture by the "powers that be." Number 6 was subject to torture of some sort in just about every episode. (6) Jesus stood in heroic silence before Pilate. Number 6 never gave anything away. (7) Jesus died on the cross. There were many references to Number 6's death (especially Dance of the Dead). (8) Jesus rose from the dead. It was a little different for Number 6. The authorities weren*t trying to kill his body, but rather to kill or co- opt his spirit. While Jesus' ultimate victory was physical as well as spiritual, Number 6's victories had to be spiritual rather than physical. Hence the cyclic nature of the series; he wasn't dead, so it all just keeps on repeating.

As you can see, religious images in the series interest me greatly. Again, I apologize for the length of these two posts.

I have enjoyed reading your mails, but I seem to have a problem with the reply button. Whenever I submit an answer, I simply get logged out unvoluntarily. Well, here goes ones again.