Character Analysis
She Sells Seashells
Honey Ryder's main purpose is to be eye candy. The plot of the film would be exactly the same were she not in it, but she does enrich the narrative, both visually and mentally.
Let's get the visual part out of the way. Honey Ryder is a bombshell. Did you think rockets were the only explosives in Bond's world?
There isn't much else to say about beauty, so on to the mental part. Honey is a shockingly complex and developed character, despite being in the movie for about twenty minutes total (if that) and being named Honey. When we first meet her, she pulls a knife on Bond.
BOND: I promise I won't steal your shells.
HONEY: I promise you you won't, either.
You do not come between her and her seashells.
If it seems ridiculous that a hot blond is scavenging for seashells on a radioactive island…well, it is when we put it that way. But she has her reasons. The seashells are worth fifty bucks a pop ($400 in 2016 money), so Honey is making bank for just a few hours' work. She needs it, because she's all alone in this cruel world.
HONEY: I haven't got any family. There was only my father and me.
Honey's struggle to survive makes her a more relatable character than Bond, who gets to coast wherever he wants on MI6's budget. Honey is doing her best to make it in the world on her wits alone. And she's seen quite a bit of the world: she's educated herself by reading the encyclopedia from A-to-Z (the 1960s equivalent of learning everything from YouTube) and she's traveled the globe, prompting her to give this wacko speech to Bond about nature.
HONEY: What do you know about animals? Did you ever see a mongoose dance? Or a scorpion with sunstroke sting itself to death? Or a praying mantis eat her husband after making love?
She's like a female Bear Grylls. And speaking of a praying mantis eating its mate, Honey also tells a shocking story of a black widow's revenge.
HONEY: There was this man who owned the place where we were living. He let me stay on for a while without paying. Then one night he came up to my room... Well, you know. I scratched his face, and then... But he was stronger than I was.
BOND: What happened after that?
HONEY: I put a black widow spider underneath his mosquito net. A female, and they're the worst. It took him a whole week to die. [pause] Did I do wrong?
This is dark stuff. Honey was raped by a man she trusted, and she killed him in revenge. Yet, years later, she seems to be wondering if she did the right thing. Now she's almost anti-violence. She becomes visibly upset when Quarrel is killed, and she questions Bond after he kills a man. Also, even though Dr. No killed her father, she isn't seeking revenge.
Honey reluctantly uses violence to defend herself. We have no doubts she'd have used her knife on Bond if she felt she had to in their initial meeting. In fact, even when outnumbered, she tries to take on Dr. No's guards. Yet she also all but gives up once admitted into No's lair, following Bond meekly and letting him do all the work.
So we're not sure if Honey is complex or inconsistent, but either way she's one of the more interesting characters in the movie. Beauty is skin deep, but character development lasts forever.
Honey's Timeline