The Maltese Falcon Essay

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

The character development of Mrs. Peters is driven by her sympathy for Mrs. Wright. At the beginning of “Trifles”, Mrs. Peters’ character is portrayed as anxious and insecure. The evidence the women find reveals that Mrs. Wright was trapped in a neglectful marriage. All of the insightful evidence influences Mrs. Peters to disregard her duties as Mr. Peters’ wife, and conceal the evidence from him. Despite Mrs. Peters original compliant and coy personality, the events throughout the play drive her to boldly protest submitting to the male

By all accounts, this movie reflects and highlights this interplay that exists between film and American Culture. As the world was riddled with battles and darkness, the movies of this time period reflected this sinister reality. Death was a major reality during this time period in America and it was no less a reality in The Maltese Falcon. The audience watches as the main character, Sam Spade, becomes involved in a grand scheme surrounding a priceless statue. Same Spade and his partner Miles Archer, both private investigators, meet a seductive and secretive woman named Ruth Wonderly who claims she is looking for her missing sister who is mixed up with a man named Floyd Thursby. As the movie continues, Spade receives news that Archer was murdered and is later accosted by a man who demands that he locate an irreplaceable statue (the Maltese Falcon). The story unfolds as Spade finds himself entangled in a dark and dangerous web of crime in which his only option is to find the Maltese Falcon, which is one thing they all seem to want. A dark and realistic outlook and mise-en-scene is not the only thing that linked this movie to the respective time period however. Also reflective of the time period is film noir’s dark, sexual, and seductive portrayal of

Philip Marlowe and Sam Spade are two similar characters, who both embody the true spirit of the hardboiled detective genre. However, Marlowe and Spade are also two very different types of characters, especially when it comes to their novel versus cinematic counterparts. Marlowe and Spade’s attitudes on the femme fatales, how they perform during their investigations, and their interactions with others show how different but similar the two detectives are, resulting in both being the classic staples of the genre.

In the story “Lord of the Flies” by William Golding, he shows how the boys lost all innocence and civilization. The boys went from having innocent child minds to taking lives of other people, acting savage, and losing all civilization due to problems on the island. The boys had forgotten where they came from and became savage in order to survive; it was the need of survival that caused the loss of innocence among the boys.

Humans are a very self-centered creatures. Humans often choose what they believe is best for them. When they do this though, humans often chose what is best for them for the time being. With this being said humans chose what is best for them at that very moment. This often gets us into trouble down the road. If humans could chose what is best for them in the long term the world would be a much different place. This idea is very evident in William Golding’s Lord of the Flies. When the large group of children land on a island things are good, at first. But very soon there becomes a power struggle because people are choosing what is best for them short term not what is best long term.

Another striking difference between the novel and the film is the portrayal of the femme fatale antihero Brigid O’Shaughnessy. The book, once again in stride with the time period it was published in, portrays her as a very sexually charged woman, someone who is without a doubt willing to use her sexuality to her advantage in any situation. An example of her comfort with her sexuality is seen when she strips in a bathroom for Spade and “In her mien was pride without defiance or embarrassment” (196). The movie, however, shows her in a more traditional role of a woman, someone who uses her femininity to her advantage, playing the poor helpless girl more often. Instead of having Brigid strip in the movie, she merely pleads with Sam, begging him to believe that she did not take the money.

Dashiell Hammett who worked for a detective agency, wrote the novel The Maltese Falcon in 1929. In this novel the protagonist is a fictional character that Hammett created and named Sam Spade. Sam is a private detective hired by another character in the novel named Brigid O' Shaughnessy. Being a detective comes with many job responsibilities and being a private detective becomes even more complicated. In Hammett's novel there are many conflicts throughout his writing. Most conflicts have to do with Spade in some form considering he is the detective and also the protagonist. Are the conflicts in the story relating to Spade within himself; man versus self, or caused by another character; man versus man?

The name of the book is Chasing the falconers. The main characters are Aiden and Meg Falconer, who are siblings, Miguel Reyes and Hairless Joe. The setting of this book starts off in Sunnydale, mainly at night, the barn and jail. But since they are always on the run the setting changes a lot throughout the story.

One of the overall goals of the film The Maltese Falcon was to let people escape from the reality; the film was release in 1940s’, which people all lived under the depression era. The film satisfied the will that middle age male became a private detective rather than sitting in the office or working in the factory. Became Sam Spade means that you could live within mystery and having beautiful women all around; Effie would be a supporter, Eva was strongly rely on Sam, and O’Shaungessy was a sexy and attractive

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.

“There is a way to be good again” (2). This is the line that rolls through Amir's mind over and over throughout Khaled Hosseini's novel, The Kite Runner. This is the story of a mans struggle to find redemption. The author illustrates with the story of Amir that it is not possible to make wrongs completely right again because its too late to change past. In this novel Hosseini is telling us that redemption is obtainable, and by allowing us to see Amirs thought process throughout the novel, Hosseini shows us that it guilt is the primary motivation for someone who seeks redemption. Hosseini also uses not only the main character, but other secondary characters to show how big of a part that guilt plays in the desire for redemption. In this

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.?

``Finist the Falcon is another story translated from Alexander Afanasiev work by Robert Chandler. It begins with three sisters, the older ones who put too much value in things especially clothing, and the youngest named Mary, who is humble, and loves helping her father around the house. She eventually acquires a magically feather that she uses to call a Tsar to her bed at night, who comes in the form of a falcon, and to dress her up like a princess on Sunday for church, where no one recognizes her in fancy clothing. The older sister become suspicious and jealous of her behavior, and attack the tsar while he is in falcon form. The tsar can no longer return to her house, so she travels to his kingdom. On the way, she meets three Baba Yaga, who gives her magical trinkets, and send her on her way. Using the trinkets, she convinces the princess to let her see the tsar, but the princess used sleeping potions, so Mary could only talk to his sleeping body. The tsar eventual remember the dreams, and marries Mary instead of the princess, due to her fortitude, and the princess’s contentious nature. All the basic fairytale needs are met, full spectrum of good and evil, characters relatable to emotion, thoughts, and people, and morals. Many of the Russian fairytale elements are there also. The common plot of quest, which Mary takes to find her Tsar. Many of the common characters such as the humble daughter, a person who can turn into a bird, and the infamous Baba Yaga. The major moral