As is the case with many of the original novel, “Three Women” and literally translates roughly

This mystery follows the escapades of Sam Spade as he hunts for the missing Maltese Falcon, and the killer of his partner. Spade is described as a “Blond Satan” (1). This is not a rather flattering way of describing your protagonist, and Hammett knew this. He knew that when solving crimes, one must place himself into the mind of the criminals to truly understand their reasoning. To do this for a living will take its toll, as Hammett knows all too well from his life as a private detective in L.A. His private eye is gruff, cynical, and drinks far too much alcohol. Spade is known for being far too honest at times saying, “people lose teeth talking like that” (94) when trying to gain information. These are the coping mechanisms that Hammett gives Spade to show his readers the human aspects of him. Spade might not be the most enjoyable company but if you give him a case to solve he will give his all to solving it. This sounds like another brilliant detective from the past. Sir Doyle would understand why Sam Spade is an effective detective just by looking at his habits. Sherlock Holmes and Sam Spade are akin to one another in the fact that they are both fallible humans with a knack for solving mysteries. Hammett is brilliant in the way he uses the influence of perhaps the first hardboiled detective to add a human side to the private eye. This type of writing is far above the caliber expected of a pulp fiction author, and to this day literary scholars site “The Maltese Falcon was vastly ahead of any other work in its weight class.” (Smith, 178) Dashiell Hammett proved the worth of an entire subgenre, and helped the hardboiled detective become a part of American literature. To this day, when people think of the private eye they jump straight to the cliché of a tough man of few words drinking bourbon and hunting down the bad guys in a dark city street. This is

Women have different personalities and motivations, and they form relationships with men for many different reasons. Some of these reasons include love, money, and even lust and manipulation. The Maltese Falcon by Dashiell Hammett is a novel about Sam Spade, who is a huge figure of the hard-boiled detective genre. Sam Spade goes on a quest to find a valuable falcon, solve murders and jump over the obstacle that surround him on a daily basis. The novel is also about the three women who surround Spade during his quest. The names of these women are Iva Archer, Effie Perine, and Brigid O’Shaughnessy, and they all have different roles in Sam Spade’s life. In The Maltese Falcon by Dashiell Hammett, Brigid O’Shaughnessy plays the role of femme fatale, Iva Archer plays the role of Spade’s unfortunate future, and Effie Perine plays the role of Spade’s right-hand woman.

This likely spurred a bit of fear and resentment in men as these women played a much bigger role in society than ever before. Film noir reflected this by elevating the female character from a passive supporting figure to the femme fatale. Suddenly, women were cast as seductive, autonomous, and deceptive predators who use men for their own means (Barsam and Monahan 95). The Maltese Falcon was no different. In the film, Brigid O’Shaughnessy (who previously went by the fake name Ruth Wonderly) plays the femme fatale. We watch as she rejects the traditional roles of wife and mother as she uses Floyd Thursby and continually tries to use Sam Spade with the intention of discarding them when they finish serving her purpose. She uses her sexuality as her main weapon as she lies and manipulates her way through life. O’Shaughnessy’s strong, sexual, and dominant character is only one way in which women’s role in society is portrayed in this movie. Spade’s treatment of O’Shaughnessy illustrates what American society valued and trusted during the time period. In current times, his treatment of women would lead to outrage but he is more or less the poster boy for American society at that time. Generally speaking, our society was distrustful of the empowerment and enfranchisement of women and

Middleton and Dekker collaborate to write The Roaring Girl, which concentrates on a real-life London woman named Moll Cutpurse. Moll was reputed to be a prostitute, bawd, and thief, but the playwrights present her as a lady of great spirit and virtue whose reputation is misrepresented by a small, convention-bound civilization. In the play, as in reality, Moll dresses in men’s attire, smokes a pipe and bears a sword representing a colorful and in the underworld life of Moll Cutpurse. She stood London on its head with her cross-dressing and gender-bending behavior, and illegal pursuits. Her defiance of women in this play is exceptional. Also, she is perhaps one of the only players to be scrupulously true to herself; some of the other characters display very hypocritical aspects. Such unorthodox and unconventional role, Middleton and Dekker implies, leads to her spotted standing. She is a roaring girl; An audacious and bold woman-about-town. But beneath this absence of femininity, is a courageous, high-principled woman. Moll interposes in the central plots and is associated in skirmishes with many of the characters, consistently showcasing her ability to stand up for the downtrodden and wronged. Therefore, Moll creates a 'third space ' that identifies her as importantly freed in her navigation of space and social relations.

To begin, the author depicts masculinity negatively through the conduct of the main characters. In Hammett’s story “The Maltese Falcon”, the main character, Sam Spade is a person who does not

In the book, Effie comes across as needy, sappy, and insecure. Hammett writes her character to seem like she needs Spade's approval. He creates her differently but, she still seems to pine for Spade's approval and attention. Near the end when she drops of the falcon for Spade, Hammett describes her as waiting until "it was apparent that he was not going to invite her in" (Hammett 201). Effie also flirts with Spade just as much as Brigid or Iva does, but it is not retuned in the same way as it is with the other women. When Effie flirts with Spade, she comes across as desperate for Spade's attention. If the other women characters were not in the book, the vibe she gives off would not be as

The 1920’s was a time when the United States economy had a 42% increase (Amadeo). The United States had this increase in the economy due to industrial factories being built, and new inventions being made, which raised wages. Women during this time period gained many rights, but were still not as equal as men. African Americans were discriminated against and segregated during this time. Fashion in the 1920’s was brand new. Women had new styles of clothing and new hairstyles, and men started wearing athletic gear. In the 1920’s, and in the novel, The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald wealth, women and racism, and fashion were big social beliefs that impacted lives in the United States.

On the other hand, Sam Spade’s tough exterior shows no sign of unequal treatment based on gender. He treats women with the same petty attitude as he treats men: “The hell it is, Miss O’ Shaughnessy, that a couple of murders… coming together like this get everybody stirred up, make police think they can go the limit, make everybody hard to handle and expensive” (Hammett 33). This quotation shows his lack of respect for Brigid who recently lied to him. He is mean and relentless in his pursuit for the truth even when interrogating women. It is not until he falls in love with Brigid that his tough exterior is broken down: “Spade combed [Brigid’s] hair back from her face with his fingers and said: ‘I’m sorry, angel. I thought you’d sleep through it” (Hammett 92). Symbolically, this quotation signifies the breakdown of Spade’s exterior to show his sincere personality. In the end, Spade’s high morals is revealed when he turns Brigid in for killing Mr. Archer at the beginning of the book: “At one point in the scene, Spade tells her that if she gets a break,

These three brides represent the femme fatale, the fatal woman. The over sexualised women whose charms ensnare her lovers in bonds of irresistible desire, often leading them into compromising, dangerous, and deadly situations. These women serve as monstrous reminders of what happens if the boundaries of proper behaviour and traditional gender roles are crossed. These women, although beautiful, possess the wrong type of beauty, one of which brands them as evil, openly sexual and seductive women. Who, in addition lack the chaste passivity and fragility of the ideal Victorian lady, thus making them deserving of some form of punishment in order for them to be returned to their pure, innocent, albeit dead, human form.

In “Trifles”, a division between the two sexes is quickly established as the men enter the house and huddle by the stove while the women remain still by the door. As the men start their detective work the women wander around the house to gather some of Mrs. Wright’s belongings. While searching for her belongings, the women discover an empty birdcage and find a dead bird in a “pretty box” (Glaspell, 956) inside of Mrs. Wright's sewing basket. Mrs. Hale jumps at the sight of the bird’s neck and Mrs. Peters points out how “somebody-wrung-its-neck” (Glaspell, 957) similar to the way Mr. Wright was found earlier. Mrs. Wright's murder of her husband can be seen as an act of feminine revolt against the male-dominated society. Another example of women defying against patriarchy is of Mrs. Hale and Mrs. Peters hiding the evidence that can prove Mrs. Wright to be guilty of her husband’s murder. Before their departure from the Wright’s house, as the men are returning, the sheriff suggests that the county attorney take a look through the items Mrs. Peters had collected for Mrs. Wright. However, he decides that anything collected by the women cannot have much significance and overlooks it. His assumption that the women would have came forward if they saw any possible evidence costs him. The sheriff’s belief is that women derive their identity solely from their relationships with men; the dominant gender.

Readers who have never picked up on the Dashiell Hammett detective novel The Maltese Falcon 1930 or seen the classic 1941 film adaptation, which follows the novel almost verbatim, can feel a strong sense of familiarity, faced for the first time in history. In this book, Hammett invented the hard-boiled private eye genre, introducing many of the elements that readers have come to expect from detective stories: mysterious, attractive woman whose love can be a trap , search for exotic icon that people are willing to kill the detective, who plays both sides of the law, to find the truth , but it is ultimately driven by a strong moral code , and shootings and beatings enough for readers to share the feeling of danger Detective . For decades , countless writers have copied the themes and motifs Hammett may rarely come anywhere near him almost perfect blend of cynicism and excitement.

Mrs. Cheveley appears to be a friendly, elegant, and innocent woman. She is a main character who creates the main conflicts in the play and is hungry for power and sabotage. Mrs Cheveley appears to take interest in Sir Robert Chiltern due to his success at the foreign office. Mrs. Cheveley is best known for her sarcasm, wit, scheming, and she becomes the play’s femme fatale. At first, her intentions to befriend Sir Robert Chiltern are friendly and innocent, but soon her intentions are devious after she blackmails him and claims that “scandals used to lend charm...to a man--now they crush him” (Wilde 480). Mrs. Cheveley’s scheme to ruin Sir Robert Chiltern’s reputation becomes the premise for Mrs. Cheveley’s conflicts and behavior in the

In traditional hard-boiled American detective fiction there are many themes that seem to transcend all novels. One of those themes is the concept of power and the role in which it plays in the interaction and development of characters. More specifically, the role of women within the novels can be scrutinized to better understand the power they hold over the other characters, their own lives and the direction of the story. Dashiell Hammett’s The Maltese Falcon exemplifies the varying ways in which female characters attempt to obtain and utilize power in hopes of influencing, manipulating and succeeding.

A character that Sam Spade had a hard time trusting was a woman named Brigid O?Shaughnessy, who was also know as Miss Wonderly. Effie said to Sam, ?She?s a knockout.? Not only did Effie and Sam Spade see that she was pretty, but so did his partner, Miles. Miles said to Sam, ?She?s sweet...Maybe you saw her first, but I spoke first.? Brigid takes on the sexy woman figure whose voice is gentle, helpless, and manipulative all at the same time. She is very self-centered and tends to deceive others in order to get what she wants. Brigid said to Sam, ?Can?t you shield me so that I won?t have to answer their questions...I am afraid and alone.?

To begin, the naïvety and distorted views of reality that Briony Tallis possess reveals her inability to understand the meaning of justice. Briony, who is only thirteen at the time, “views the adult world from a child’s perspective, seeing adult acts through the lense of melodrama” (“Atonement” 7). As result, in reading Robbie’s letter she immediately “[casts] herself as her sister’s protector” (McEwan 115), and thus imagines that Robbie is attacking Cecilia in the library. This can be seen in her perception that Cecilia’s forearm “was raised