# Mr. Verloc — The Secret Agent character guide > Mr. Verloc in The Secret Agent by Joseph Conrad. **Role:** major **Also known as:** Verloc, the silent Mr. Verloc, the wise and good Mr. Verloc, the late Mr. Verloc **First appearance:** 0002-the-secret-agent ## Snapshot A shopkeeper so unobtrusive he seems to have no interior life at all, which is precisely what makes him useful to the embassy that pays him. ## Who they are Verloc sells dubious photographs and sundries from a Soho storefront while quietly serving as a paid informer, a man whose entire method is to be overlooked. His marriage, his household, and his anarchist acquaintances all function as camouflage, and he treats them with the same dull, proprietary patience he gives his stock. When his handler demands a spectacular outrage, Verloc's comfortable inertia collides with the violence he has spent years merely talking about, and the novel's middle turns on how badly a man of his temperament handles a real bomb. ## Relationships ### [Comrade Ossipon](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_secret_agent_se/characters/comrade_ossipon) _professional_ Ossipon interacts frequently with Verloc as a fellow anarchist and co-conspirator, though with underlying suspicion and manipulation. ### [Stevie](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_secret_agent_se/characters/stevie) _family_ Verloc is Stevie's brother-in-law and guardian, exploiting Stevie's innocence for his own anarchist schemes. ### [Chief Inspector Heat](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_secret_agent_se/characters/chief_inspector_heat) _rivalry_ Heat pursues Verloc as a suspect in the bombing plot, embodying the conflict between law enforcement and anarchism. ### [Mrs. Verloc](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_secret_agent_se/characters/mrs_verloc) _family_ Verloc and his wife Winnie have a strained, transactional marriage built on convenience and secrecy, ending in betrayal. ### [Mr. Vladimir](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_secret_agent_se/characters/mr_vladimir) _professional_ Vladimir, as Verloc's handler at the embassy, pressures and manipulates Verloc into carrying out the bombing. ### [Mother](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_secret_agent_se/characters/mother) _family_ Verloc's mother-in-law lives with the family and is quietly manipulative, sacrificing her own comfort for Stevie's sake. ### [Adolf](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_secret_agent_se/characters/adolf) _professional_ Adolf is Verloc's assistant or employee at the shop, involved in the anarchist network. ### [Michaelis](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_secret_agent_se/characters/michaelis) _professional_ Michaelis is a fellow anarchist and frequent visitor to Verloc's home, sharing revolutionary ideas but little trust. ### [Karl Yundt](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_secret_agent_se/characters/karl_yundt) _professional_ Yundt is an aging, bitter anarchist who associates with Verloc in the revolutionary circle. ### [Chief Inspector Heat](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_secret_agent_se/characters/chief_inspector_heat) _rivalry_ Heat pursues Verloc as a suspect in the bombing plot, embodying the conflict between law enforcement and anarchism. ### [Comrade Ossipon](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_secret_agent_se/characters/comrade_ossipon) _professional_ Ossipon interacts frequently with Verloc as a fellow anarchist and co-conspirator, though with underlying suspicion and manipulation. ### [Stevie](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_secret_agent_se/characters/stevie) _family_ Verloc is Stevie's brother-in-law and guardian, exploiting Stevie's innocence for his own anarchist schemes. ## In the story ### [Author's Note](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_secret_agent_se/chapters/author-s-note) Mentioned indirectly as part of the tale's subject; Conrad refers to telling Winnie Verloc's story. ### [The Secret Agent](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_secret_agent_se/chapters/the-secret-agent) Introduced as the proprietor of a shabby Soho shop and a secret agent; described as indolent, corpulent, and domestically inclined. ### [I](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_secret_agent_se/chapters/i) A seller of shady wares, a protector of society, and a domesticated man who married Winnie and took in her mother and brother. ### [II](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_secret_agent_se/chapters/ii) Remains silent and thoughtful during dinner, then leaves for the Embassy where he is berated by Mr. Vladimir. ### [Chapter III](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_secret_agent_se/chapters/iii) Lies awake, anxious about his meeting with Vladimir, the small takings, and the burden of providing for Stevie and his mother-in-law; dreads sleeplessness and darkness. ### [Chapter IV](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_secret_agent_se/chapters/iv) Revealed by the Professor as the person who obtained the bomb for the Greenwich Park explosion; discussed as a former comrade and shopkeeper. ### [Chapter VI](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_secret_agent_se/chapters/vi) Mentioned as a spy in the pay of a foreign government; lives over his shop with his wife and mother-in-law. ### [Chapter VII](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_secret_agent_se/chapters/vii) His shop is under observation; he is described as a secret agent and former spy for Baron Stott-Wartenheim. ### [Chapter VIII](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_secret_agent_se/chapters/viii) Mr. Verloc is silent and morose at home, wearing his hat indoors and barely speaking, consumed by thoughtfulness. ### [Chapter IX](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_secret_agent_se/chapters/ix) Returns home trembling and rattling his teeth after the bomb outrage, speaks of emigrating, and shows unusual agitation and enigmatical emotion. ### [Chapter X](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_secret_agent_se/chapters/x) Mentioned as the man who has been arrested and who implicates Mr. Vladimir. ### [Chapter XI](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_secret_agent_se/chapters/xi) Mr. Verloc, accepting his fate with fatalism, tries to reassure Winnie about their future while revealing his anger toward Mr. Vladimir and his own sense of loyalty and sacrifice. ### [XII](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_secret_agent_se/chapters/xii) Lying dead on the sofa with a knife in his chest, his body and hat become ominous objects that shock Ossipon. ### [XIII](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_secret_agent_se/chapters/xiii) Mentioned as having been murdered by the police, his secret-service money now inherited by Ossipon. ## Links - HTML: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_secret_agent_se/characters/mr_verloc - Book: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_secret_agent_se - All characters: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_secret_agent_se/characters