Significance of police

Given their constant persecution of the two men, the constables can be taken as an extension of the part of modern society that desires to silence people like MacIan and Turnbull. In spite of their frequent escapes, the authorities never give up pursuing the fugitives as they see their manic obsession with dueling one another as a threat to society. The fact that MacIan and Turnbull are able to escape from the constables almost every time represents the futility of attempts to silence the voices of such fervent radicals.