Mother Night

"You broke my heart when you married my daughter.

--Yes, I know.

I wanted a German soldier for a son-in-law. Because I hated you so much, I studied you. I listened to everything you said. Never missed a broadcast. Did you know that until this very moment, nothing would have delighted me more than to prove you were a spy, to see you shot? Now I couldn't care less if you are a spy.

- Do you know why?

- No.

Because now I know that even if you were a spy, you could never have served the enemy as well as you served us. All the ideals that make me proud of being a Nazi... they came not from Hitler, not from Goebbels but from you. You alone kept me from concluding that Germany had gone insane."

--Conversation between Howard Campbell and Herr Noth.

In the scene preceding this conversation, Campbell admits in a monologue that he is an American spy. He says he hasn't told his wife about who he is because 'politics has no place in their nation of two' and to prevent her from living in constant fear.

Campbell is caught up in espionage and has done such a remarkable job to this point that higher-ranking officials including his father-in-law, the Police Chief, trust him.Campbell explains that the "moral is to be careful what you pretend to be because in the end you are who you pretend to be"; suggesting that he may become a member of the Nazis since he has lived as one for so long. He had been told by the American officials he reported to that if caught, they would deny knowing of his existence as a American or

a spy. Do you agree that pretending to be something you're not can eventually result in actually believing you are that?