The 48 Laws Of Power

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LAW 46

oldfriendandlover.Hetriedto

help

Halliwelllaunchacareerasan

artist,

even

arranging

fora

gallery

toshowhis

work,

buttheshowwasa

flop,

and

this

onlyheightened

Halliwell’ssenseof

inferiority.

In

May

of

1967,

the

pair

went

onabrief

holidaytogether

in

Tangier,

Morocco.

During

the

trip,

Ortonwroteinhis

diary,

“Wesat

milking

of

how

happy

we

felt.Andhowit

couldn’t,

surely,

last.We’dhaveto

pay

forit.Orwe’dbestruckdownfrom

afar

by

disasterbecausewe

were,

perhaps,

too

happy.

Tobe

young,good-

looking,healthy,

famous,

comparatively

richand

happy

is

surelygoing

against

nature.”

Halliwell

outwardly

seemed

as

happy

asOrton.

Inwardly,though,

he

was

seething.

Andtwomonths

later,

in

the

earlymorning

of

August

10,

1967,

justdays

after

helping

Orton

put

the

finishing

touchestothewicked

fa»ceWhattheButlerSaw

(undoubtedly

his

masterpiece),

KennethHalliwell

bludgeonedjoe

Ortontodeathwith

repeated

blowsofahammertothe

head.

He

then

took

twenty—0nesleepingpills

anddied

himself,

leaving

be-

hindanotethat

read,

“If

you

readOrton’s

diary

allwill

be

explained.”

Interpretation

KennethHalliwellhadtriedtocasthisdeteriorationasmental

illness,

but

what

joe

Orton’s

diariesrevealedtohimwasthetruth:Itwas

envy,pure

and

simple,

that

lay

attheheartofhissickness.The

diaries,

whichHalli-

wellreadonthe

sly,

recountedthe

couple’sdays

as

equals

andtheir

strug-

gle

for

recognition.

After Orton found

success,

the diaries

began

to

describe

Halliwell’s

brooding,

hisrudecommentsat

parties,

his

growing

senseof

inferiority.

All

of

this

Orton

narratedwithadistancethatbordered

on

contempt.

ThediariesmadeclearHalliwe1l’sbitterness overOrton’s success.

Eventually

the

onlything

thatwouldhavesatisfiedhimwouldhavebeen

for

Ortontohaveafailureofhis

own,

anunsuccessful

playperhaps,

sothat

they

could

have

commiserated

in

their

failure,

as

they

haddone

years

be

fore.Whenthe

oppositehappened—as

Orton

grewonly

moresuccessful

and

popular—Halliwell

didthe

only

thing

thatwouldmakethem

equals

again:

Hemadethem

equals

indeath.WithOrton’s

murder,

hebecameal-

most

as

famous

ashis

friend——posthumously.

Joe

Orton

only

partly

understoodhisl0ver’sdeterioration.His

attempt

to

help

Halliwelllaunchacareerinart

registered

forwhatitwas:

charity

and

guilt

Orton

basically

hadtwo

possible

solutionstothe

problem.

He

couldhave

downplayed

hisown

success,

displaying

some

faults,

deflecting

I-Ialliwell’s

envy;

or,

onceherealized

thenatureofthe

problem,

hecould

havefledasifHalliwellwerea

viper,

asinfacthewas—a

viper

of

envy.

Once

envy

eats

away

at

someone,

everythingyou

do

only

makesit

grow,

and

daybyday

itfestersinsidehim.

Eventually

hewillattack.

Only

a

minority

cansucceedatthe

game

of

life,

andthat

minority

in-

evitably

arousesthe

envy

of

those

around

them.Once success

happens

yourway,

however,

the

people

tofearthemostarethosein

your

ownctr»

cle,

thefriendsand

acquaintancesyou

haveleftbehind.

Feelings

ofinferi-