William Marlowe As A Detective

Sigmund Freud said, “A woman should soften but not weaken a man.” This quote exemplifies the character Casilda from Isabel Allende’s short story “The Judge’s Wife”. Although not seen by all as a main character, Casilda is the strongest and most evolutionary character of the short story. “The Judge’s Wife” is an exceptional tale that follows the progression of characters as they fight against their predetermined destinies and how they are viewed in others’ eyes. Casilda is a catalyst for the evolution of almost every character in the story. Not only does her character grow in “The Judge’s Wife”, but she is also a medium for the growth of the two other main characters in the story, Judge

Furthermore, Sherlock Holmes is seen to deliver justice, further alleviating society’s fear of the unknown, providing comfort with response and reassurance. After his acceptance of Mr Hilton Cubitt’s case, Sherlock proceeds to gather evidence and decode the language of the dancing men, a skill that allows him to later lure and deliver the perpetrator of the crime. Following this, the inspector is able to arrest Abe Slaney and deliver justice to the crime, possible through Sherlock’s deductions. Justice is further achieved as accusations against the innocent Elsie subside, accredited to Sherlock as he states, “it was only my presence here and the knowledge which I happened to possess which has saved her from the accusation” (Doyle 46). The

No woman could earn Marlowe's friendship. Chandler makes his misogynistic message clear in Marlowe's statement that "You can have a hangover from things other than alcohol. I had one from women. Women made me sick" (159). Carmen's childish displays and Vivian's sexual appeal and cunning were more than Marlowe could handle. He disliked Carmen because she was the typical silly, cute female. He hated Vivian because, although she was his intellectual equal, she was not noble. She also used her sexual appeal to manipulate him. Together, Carmen and Vivian represent two typical stereotypes of women; the cute (but crazy) airhead and the manipulative but smart temptress.

She shows a female character doing what previously only men had done; directly committing herself to the criminal underworld, walking dangerous streets at night, boldly trespassing into perilous areas and defending herself- all the things that only men would do in conventional versions of the genre. On the very first page, Day introduces this concept of ironic mockery by creating confusion as to the gender of the character. A tough voice that fills the requirements of hard-boiled school men is established, and only after turning the page does the reader realize that the terribly hung-over narrator is a female private-eye and the blonde in the bed is a good-looking male.

Does deviating from one’s gender norms inevitably doom one down a spiral of moral corruption? Tim O'Brien, author of “Sweetheart of the Song Tra Bong” and Ernest Hemingway, author of “The Short Happy Life of Francis Macomber”, certainly seem to hold this view, as evident by the fates of the major female characters in their respective works. The deviance of the major female characters in both works appears to corrupt not only themselves, but also pollute their partners, causing them to suffer injury or harm as a result. The degree of injury ranges from negligible, like Fossie’s demotion and broken heart, to fatal, like the bullet that rips through Macomber’s skull. It begs the question, are these stories meant to serve as cautionary tales for their female readers, or possibly for their husbands, so they may recognize gender deviance and stop it in its tracks before their wives transform into Margot Macomber or Mary Anne Bell? This essay will analyze what such characters say about pervading views of women, both in society and in literature.

“A Jury of Her Peers” is a short story written by Susan Glaspell in 1917 illustrates early feminist literature. The two female characters, Mrs. Peters and Mrs. Hale, is able to solve the mystery of who the murderer of John Wright while their male counterparts could not. This short story had been adapted from Glaspell’s one-act play Trifles written the previous year. The play consists of the same characters and plotline as the story. In both works, Glaspell depicts how the men, Sheriff Peters and Mr. Hale, disregard the most important area in the house, the kitchen, when it comes to their investigation. In the end, the women are the ones who find clues that lead to the conclusion of Minnie Wright, John Wright’s wife, is the one who murdered him. Both of Glaspell’s female characters illustrate the ability to step into a male dominated profession by taking on the role of detective. According to Critical Theory Today: A User-Friendly Guide, written by Lois Tyson, a reader-response critique “focuses on readers’ response to literary texts” and it’s a diverse area (169). Through a reader-response criticism from a feminist lens, we are able to analyze how “A Jury of Her Peers” and Trifles depict how a patriarchal society oppresses women in the early twentieth century, gender stereotypes confined both men and women and the emergence of the New Woman is illustrated.

From beginning to end, Susan Glaspell’s 1917 short story “A Jury of Her Peers,” has several repetitive patterns and symbols that help the reader gain a profound understanding of how hard life is for women at the turn-of-the-century, as well as the bonds women share. In the story two women go with their husbands and county attorney to a remote house where Mr. Wright has been killed in his bed with a rope and he suspect is Minnie, his wife. Early in the story, Mrs. Hale sympathizes with Minnie and objects to the way the male investigators are “snoopin’ round and criticizin’ ” her kitchen. In contrast, Mrs. Peters, the Sheriffs wife, shows respect for the law, saying that the men are doing “no more than their duty”. However, by the end of the story Mrs. Peters unites with Mrs. Hale in a conspiracy of silence and concealing evidence. What causes this dramatic transformation?

Hard-boiled detective fiction sets the scene for a cold and harsh reality. Dashiell Hammett’s, “The Girl with The Silver Eyes” is no exception to this rule. In this short story Hammett paints a picture of a brutally realistic urban center filled with characters that not many people would want to call friends. The realistic qualities of Hammett’s story are drawn from his own life’s experience working as a Pinkerton detective. The detective in “The Girl With The Silver Eyes” works for the Continental Detective Agency and is, therefore, known simply as the Continental Op. In the beginning of the story the Op professes, “a detective, if he is wise, takes pains to make and keep as many friends as possible among transfer company, express

For example, in Paper 1, I discussed how the police were used to illustrate the detective. It seems that The Long Goodbye presents a story about “love and loss,” but in fact, what Chandler tries to depict is the friendships between Detective Marlowe and the mysterious Terry Lennox. In other words, the story is not about love, but about masculinity. For example, Plain points out that even Roger Wade shows his masculinity by “drinking himself into an easily killable stupor” after he feels disappointed and is “refusing to complete a debased cultural product” (p. 81). The main theme of masculinity thus forms the female characters in the novel. The female characters could also be regarded as significant elements for building the traits of the detective and/or the novel, and to differentiate the masculinity that Chandler wishes to illustrate in the

Philip Marlowe, a private detective. Tall, dark, and rugged, with a poker face and a quick wit, he is attractive to women but wary of them and of all entanglements. Though cynical and hard-boiled, and a heavy drinker capable of violence, Marlowe is idealistic, even puritanical. Contemptuous of money, he is an honest loner in a corrupt

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.

Lutie Johnson is a young black woman living in Harlem, who strives to break the cycle of poverty and violence for her Bub. As a single female living in the 1940s, societal ideals assume that Lutie will never be as successful as her male counterpart. Lutie went to work for the Chandler family so that she could provide her own family with necessary funds; subsequently, she worked hard to send all of her earnings home to her family. Meanwhile, her husband Jim slept with another woman, he justified his behavior by arguing that Lutie should have seen it coming. Mrs. Pizzini reiterates this forewarning by stating, “Not good for the women to work when she’s young. Not good for the man”(Petry 53). Gender stereotypes create a cycle that accepts the deceptive behavior of men in the light of men being superior to women. Correspondingly, when men are between jobs, sometime the women step in to take care of household funding. With their wife out of the house many men seek the comfort of a mistress, rationalizing divorce. Frequently,

It becomes clear that the female protagonist, Alice, appears to be provocative and impatient, despondent at the prospect that she has been kept waiting at the expense of the British legal system, although she is more than happy to share a joke with the nearest detective in order to incite some form of reaction from her lover, Frank, a fellow detective. Stating that she expects “the entire machinery of Scotland Yard to be held up to please” her only aggravates an already awkward situation, emphasising her unwillingness to conform to the rules and regulations, expecting the law to accommodate her every necessitity.

Sir Arthur Conan Doyle utilizes literary elements such as dialogue, tone, vocabulary, a different format of narration and perspective, along with chronology to construct the adventures of the eminent fictional detective Sherlock Holmes and his partner, Dr. John Watson. The creative use of dialogue assists in telling the story fluently and vividly, while a suspenseful and occasionally humorous tone maintains interest from case to case. Long winded descriptions and complex vocabulary are infused into Doyle’s writing to fit his knowledgeable characters as well as fuse them into the setting of traditional Britain. Lastly, these features are accompanied by both Holmes and Watson’s different perspectives alongside each other. the tales of

Although it was typically unusual, due to social acceptability, women like Mrs. Joe who beat and dominated their husbands were subjected to public humiliation as an informal form of popular justice (Clark 188). Although spousal abuse was acceptable as a means of obtaining control, murder was completely unacceptable. Going back to the idea that female crimes were a betrayal of nature, there was an extra twist to murder when the murderer was a woman (Hughes 86). Female murder criminals were stereotyped as Mr. Jaggers' housekeeper: oversexed, insane, hormonally unbalanced or suffering from some biological defect (Hughes 68). As Pip is told to look at Jaggers housekeeper--"you'll see a wild beast tamed"--one notices the suggestion of a biological defect, or hormonal unbalance (195; ch. 24). Pip is also instructed to "keep your eye on it," as if this woman belongs to neither sex nor is she portrayed as human (195; ch. 24).