Okay, I've thought a bit, and I really feel that my point should have been summised more effectively, seeing as I truly believe I have just uncovered Red John's identity.
My two MAJOR points are this:
1. Heller's only ever-given clue to Red John's identity was this- "Red John likes THE COLD".
One of the most famous-ever cold reading analogies was that of American psychologist Bertram R Forer, who came up with the psychiatrically famed "Forer Effect" in 1948. The theory observes that individuals will correlate strongly to personality tests supposedly tailored for them selves, but are actually vague and broad enough to apply to a wide range of people. This concisely matches Heller's only ever given clue- Forer was a leading figure in the science behind cold-reading which emerged in the mid 20th century.... And his name, above all else, was Bertram.
2. The William Blake line that Bertram quotes to Lisbon in Season 3, is from Blake's poem/lullaby "Cradle Song", written in 1789. What the poem conceives is that of a mother, singing to her infant son as he sleeps and fearing for his future, and what the world will make of it. The mother ponders specifically how her sleeping child's purity and innocence will be soon lost, and Blake even displays some considerable aesthetic reference to his poems "The Lamb" and "The Tyger", which also examined similar notions.
However, my more concrete argument for Bertram's being Red John is what "Cradle Song" references more heavily... Smiling.
CRADLE SONG
Sweet dreams form a shade,
O'er my lovely infants head.
Sweet dreams of pleasant streams,
By happy silent moony beams
Sweet sleep with soft down.
Weave thy brows an infant crown.
Sweet sleep Angel mild,
Hover o'er my happy child.
Sweet smiles in the night,
Hover over my delight.
Sweet smiles Mothers smiles,
All the livelong night beguiles.
Sweet moans, dovelike sighs,
Chase not slumber from thy eyes,
Sweet moans, sweeter smiles,
All the dovelike moans beguiles.
Sleep sleep happy child,
All creation slept and smil'd.
Sleep sleep, happy sleep.
While o'er thee thy mother weep
Sweet babe in thy face,
Holy image I can trace.
Sweet babe once like thee.
Thy maker lay and wept for me
Wept for me for thee for all,
When he was an infant small.
Thou his image ever see.
Heavenly face that smiles on thee,
Smiles on thee on me on all,
Who became an infant small,
Infant smiles are His own smiles,
Heaven & earth to peace beguiles.
William Blake
"«And when thy little heart doth wake, the dreadful night shall break». (...) Ah, it's just a - an old poem I like."- Gale Bertram
So, there you have it. That's why I firmly believe that CBI director Gale Bertram is in fact Red John.
By the way, my username of "Steve_Seattle" was accidental, and I only used it again in my second post so that I could be identified. My name is not Steve, and I am not from Seattle at all.
