Chapter Commentary of The Third Man - Study Guide by Graham Greene

Martins also refuses. He has nothing to gain by it and, possibly, someone he loves to lose by it. 'Love' is perhaps too strong a word. In any case, in Martins' own words, 'twenty years is a long time. Don't ask me to tie the knot' [118]. Brodsky's arrival on the scene is timely, to say the least. Anna, it becomes clear, is to be handed over to the Russians. Martins now has a great deal to gain by helping Calloway.

Anna is somewhat surprised o find herself with official papers and a train ticket out of Vienna to Klagenfurt. Paine takes her to the station where she is yet more surprised to see Martins waiting. She is naturally inquisitive whilst he is defiantly off-hand. Eventually, Martins' nerve breaks and he comes clean:

'They want me to help take him.'[120]

Her reply to this - 'Poor Harry' - exemplifies her love for Harry. Martins desn't understand how she can love a murderer who had turned her in to the police in return for his own safety. She explains:

'I don't want him any more. I don't want to see him, hear him. But he's in me - that's a fact. I wouldn't do a thing to harm him... I loved him. You loved him, and what good have we done him? Oh love! Look at yourself in the window - they have names for faces like that... '

Her love comes before justice.

Martins is repentant. He returns to Calloway and tells him that he will not help after all. He has finally agreed to scrap his novel, The Third Man. He has taken Popescu's advice. He is sticking to fiction. Calloway grudgingly admits, 'Oh well, I always wanted you to catch that plane anyway, didn't I?' He drives Martins to the airport. They stop on the way and Calloway takes him into a building which turns out to be the biggest children's hospital in Vienna. Martins follows him through the wards, his face filled with horror as he sees for himself the reality of Lime's racket - children deformed, demented. As they leave for the airport, Calloway intensifies the shock by talking of Martins' books - the comfortable fantasy land where death is just a word on a page. Martins submits, 'I'll be your dumb decoy duck' [125]. It is language from the Wild West but Martins' reality is no longer confused with fiction.

Martins and Calloway set the trap. Martins arranges to meet Harry in a café, late at night. The stage directions explain that, as he sits waiting, 'He is divided in mind between the sight he saw in the hospital of HARRY'S victims, and the consciousness of the rôle that he is playing, of decoy to his friend.' [132]. To add further pressure to his tortured conscience, Anna turns up. She is bitter in her criticism, 'Honest, sober, Holly Martins. Holly, what a silly name, You must feel proud to be a police informer.'

At this juncture, Harry appears. Martins does not shout, nor does he shoot. He is confused, torn between love and loyalty and moral duty. Anna shouts a warning. Harry does not hesitate. He aims his gun at Martins but Anna happens to be in the way. He makes his escape. Calloway, Paine, Martins and other police officers give chase. Harry takes to the sewers. The others are not far behind, following the sound of footsteps in the reverberant tunnels. Harry shoots blindly. He misses Martins but the ricochet hits Paine and kills him. Martins is ahead of the rest, caught between them and Harry. They cannot fire for fear of hitting Martins. He dithers, unsure of what to do. This is the culmination of his moral tussle, his conscience in confusion. Eventually, Harry is hit. Martins, ahead of the rest gets to him first. A shot is heard and Martins emerges into their search lights, his head hanging.

The last we see of Harry Lime is his coffin, lowered into the earth. Around his grave are Anna, Martins and Calloway. It is the same scene as Harry's 'first burial' but Kurtz and Winkler are absent. Anna ignores Martins. He says it himself, 'A man's not dead because you put him underground.'