In the novel The Maltese Falcon, Dashiell Hammett trails a semi- crooked Private Investigator on his quest for payment. The story begins with Brigid O’Shaugnessy, under the guise of being a “Miss Wonderly”, offerring the principle character, Detective Sam Spade, and his partner Miles Archer two hundred dollars To complete a simple tail job.. When Spade realizes “Miss Wonderly” is a fake, he confronts her saying if he is to work on her job, she needs to come clean about her situation. She doesn’t. Shortly thereafter, Spade receives a visitor in his offices. Joel Cairo offers Spade five thousand dollars for the return of the “falcon.” Once Spade accepts, Cairo weilds his gun and Makes known his intent to search Spade’s offices for the bird. Brigid and Cairo, who became aquainted during th original theft ogf the Falcon in Hong Kong, meet in Spade’s apartment and Cairo is cornered and attacked. Spade then comes in contact with Mr. Gutman, The intended recipient o the Falcon when it was taken from hong kong, in the end offers 50 thousand dollars for the return of the precious object to him. Spade’s interaction with the other characters in the book occurs over many cigarettes, booze, and a lack
. . .
There is an adage that states behind every successful man is a successful woman. The relationship between Spade and Effie Perine is different from the others.
Spade has a relationship with women. The predominant Spade/ female relationship in the books is that of him and Brigid O’Shaugnessy. When he needs information from Brigid, he becomes a tender and caring listener. In the scene where Spade goes to see Archer, His former partner’s body, Hammett writes, “’I’ve seen Webley-Fosberys before,’ he said without interest, and then spoke rapidly, ‘He was shot up here, huh?” The emotional off switch is supported by quick change of subject. On several occasions in the book, Hammett refers to Spades face as “wooden,” meaning he shows no emotion. Effie is portrayed as a strong person who knows when she’s had enough of Spade and his nonsense. In fact, he has many relationships with many women. Spade never really expresses his emotions in a true sense, he just covers them and pulls out plastic reproductions when it suits him
Spade is a womanizer, an alcoholic, and in denial of his own feelings-- the extreme male stereotype.
Approximate Word count =
834
Approximate Pages =
3 (250 words per page double spaced)
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