The Detective Story: Classic vs. Hard Boiled
The classic detective story is a tale that features a mystery and/or the commission of a crime, emphasizing the search for a solution. It is distiguished from other forms of fiction by the fact that it is a puzzle in which the reader is not a participant at all, but a witness looking over the detective's shoulder. Although a crime usually has been committed, the reader's attention is directed to mysterious circumstances surrounding the crime rather than to the event itself. The tale's climax is the solution of the puzzle, and the main part of the narrative involves the logical process by which the investigator follows a series of clues to this solution. Very often the detective solves the mystery by means of deductive reasoning from facts known both to the character and the reader.
Sherlock Holmes is portrayed as the classic detective: arrogant, omniscient, and self absorbed who comes through not only with simplicity but also as an extremely sensitive character. While locating the historical object and naturally taking a share of the profits, Spade has to play a dangerous game in able to stay alive and out of jail. Throughout the story, Spade is always wise to the situation, very cynical and always on top. An example of this genre is Dashiell Hammett's The Maltese Falcon and its central character Sam Spade. This new type of detective story became more appealing to the audiences, and soon classic detectives where forgotten and replaced by detectives such as Sam Spade, whom represented unstability and roughness. The plot of the hard-boiled story mixes murders with organized crime and abuse of authority by officials, where the person responsible for the crime can be found in any level of society and no one is truly on the side of good. ------------------------------------------------------------------------**Bibliography**. The short detective story became very popular and many were the authors who dedicated themselves to this genre, but the public became unsatisfied of the unrealistic characterizations in the stories and the repetitive tricks used by the detectives. This decrease of attention and interest from the readers led to the development of the hard-boiled style. The hard-boiled detective has to balance the day to day needs of survival against the desire to support the law and assist justice. Spade is hired to find a black falcon that is a relic, costs a lot of money and everybody wants. He is also blessed with a personal secretary who will do anything and everything without ever questioning why. He solves mysteries that interfere with the order of the society in which they live by making assumptions out of observable physical facts. His surrounding world is mostly hostile and aggressive, living on the mean streets of urban cities like Los Angeles and New York where fighting, drinking, swearing, poverty and death were all part of his life. Guzman 2The characteristics of the hard-boiled detective are different to those of the classic one.
Common topics in this essay:
Sherlock Holmes,
,
Angeles York,
Spade Throughout,
Sam Spade,
Maltese Falcon,
detective story,
hard-boiled detective,
classic detective,
sam spade,
|
Acceptance Essays
