Dashiell Hammetts The Maltese Falcon - Essay Example

Dashiell Hammett’s The Maltese Falcon is a detective story which explores the dishonest world of greed and murder. The lack of moral determination ofthe characters led them to deplorable acts which are filled with lies and deception just for their own personal gain. They have no regard for the feelings of other people and are even willing to forsake the lives of people around them in order to get what they want. The world which Hammett created in the novel is one where nobody can trust anybody and that murder is commonplace all for the greed of money. There were no real relations formed between characters and dishonesty is the common trait shared by the individuals. The low moral mindset of the main characters show the dark side of human beings who live for their insatiability and self-conceit. The reader is encouraged to be an active participant in the reading of literary texts as moral agents. This is practicable in understanding the motives of the characters as well as giving depth to the act of comprehending the message in stories as well as application in how they affect one’s own outlook. Patricia Ward, in her article Ethics and Recent Literary Theory: The Reader as Moral Agent, writes that “The power of the reading process is such that once it has been entered into in good faith our whole being is engaged, and we are called upon to make decisions and to act even as we interact on an imaginative level” (29). Ward makes a good statement in that the reader is not a mere passive actor in the process but should actually be proactive in acquiring something by reading. This is a common occurrence wherein one formulates his or her own opinion with regard to characters and their action in how the author writes them. A person may like Samuel Spade or they may not. What is important is that the reader is able to formulate a sensible appreciation according to the facts as presented. The ethical reader would then be able to distinguish between good behavior and bad. This would make him able to deplore the wrongs committed such as murder and recognize what are character flaws and what are mere lapses in judgment. Morality as part of a person’s development into an ethical being is an important part of literature. Children are subjected to read and appreciate stories which are meant to strengthen their moral fiber. This is the same for everyone growing up. When we were younger, we were made to read stories and to identify the moral lesson of each. These lessons range from such common virtues as honesty to courage to selflessness. The reality that is reflected in literature makes people recognize the things that could happen in their own lives and lets them reflect in how they may react on these situations. At the same time, the characters allow the readers to identify with their attitudes and disposition as well as how they react when in a particular circumstance. This should not stop there because the reader must be able to develop a higher sense of moral standard to say that a piece of literature is truly effective. The Maltese Falcon challenges the reader to define his own moral aptitude in the midst of characters that are anything but moral. The lack of decency among the characters highlights the distinction of what people are willing to do and what they commit in order to achieve their goal without any ethical standard to guide them. Samuel Spade, the main character and the detective in the story, is described from the first pages as the “Blond Satan.” The contrast of his light colored hair which is associated with goodness from his strong features already shows that Hammett is suggesting that the hero of this story is not actually a hero. He is an antihero whose character is not defined by honesty, courage or selflessness. On the contrary, he is as greedy, deceitful and selfish as just about anyone else in the story. The story is teeming with lies and deception. The novel starts with a Miss Wonderly coming into Samuel Spade and Miles Archer’s office asking for help and telling a story that she has a sister missing and that she has to be found before their parents come home. He, she points to Floyd Thursby who she says is an affair with her fictional sister and that they must follow him in order to know where her sister is. Spade later on reveals that he knew she was lying but that the money she left is more than enough reason for them to take the job. “When he returned to his desk Archer nodded at the hundred-dollar bills there, growled complacently, ‘Theyre right enough,’picked one up, folded it, and tucked it into a vest-pocket. ‘And they had brothers in her bag’” (Hammett 5). The reaction of Archer to the cash reveals that they are motivated by greed in their line of work. They are going after for more by agreeing to work for Miss Wonderly. Only that Archer did not know that was the last time he will be able to do his detective work, much less grab hold of her cash. As it turns out, Miss Wonderly is actually Brigid O’Shaughnessy, or at least the name she is more commonly known and the story of the sister and the infidelity of the Englishman Thursby with a certain Corinne Wonderly are all lies. The plot started to thicken when Spade’s partner, Archer, got murdered while shadowing Thursby on account of Brigid’s request. But this got even more complicated when Thursby also died right after Archer. But all these murders were of no moment to Spade. He did not take any of them seriously but he was concerned that his own partner in business got murdered, not because he was upset over his partner’s death, but because it was bad for his business. When Spade saw Brigid next, the latter was so worried because of Archer’s death and asked him if she is to blame for the events that occurred. Brigid asked him if Archer was married worrying that she caused a person to be widowed and he replied, “Yes, with ten thousand insurance, no children, and a wife who didnt like him” (Hammett 17). The indifference of Spade showed that he had no regard for the life of other people. He considers the death of Archer as a hazard of the job and even though this was true, he still should have given much weight to the life of a person, whether he likes him or not. Carl Malmgren, in the article The Crime of the Sign: Dashiell Hammetts Detective Fiction writes, “Thoughout Hammett’s fiction runs the fear that nothing can be taken at face value, nothing is what it appears to be – a fear that culminates in a suspicion not only of individual people but also of the social order itself” (375). Almost all the stories told by the characters were fabrications. At one point or another, every character has lied. Lieutenant Dundy and Tom Polhaus have many times went to Spade’s house without any real lead in the hopes that Dundy will somehow pin him on a crime. Spade has also lied many times like instructing how the falcon statute should be hidden before the police arrive. Cairo has never been honest on what the object is and its real market value or his connection to Brigid and Mr. Gutman. Iva Archer had been a deceitful wife, sneaking with Spade and continuing with their extramarital affair. Effie Perine easily lies whenever Spade asks her too. Sid Wise, the crooker lawyer, makes up falsehoods so that Spade can get off scot-free. The biggest liar of them all is Brigid. Her desire to obtain the falcon and to keep it for herself led her to make up a web of lies and also pushed her to kill someone. She had always used her beauty as a woman and she expected to get what she wants because men are so captivated by her that she gets away with everything. When Spade confronts her about the black bird and asks her what it is that Cairo is do determined to get it she did not directly give him an answer. She declares, “I have always been a liar” (Hammett 48). Throughout the novel there was really never a true confession on her on the things that happened and what she knows. She always made it harder for Spade and wanted him to discover things for himself. But the detective had always seen her true nature. The innocent and schoolgirl character that she is portraying is only for show. Towards the end, when Spade had already figured out everything and one of them has to take the fall, Brigid was begging for him let her go. Someone has to go to prison for all the crimes that occurred and it was upon Spade to decide if he was going to allow Brigid to escape or not. He says to her, “You who knocked off Miles, a man you had nothing against, in cold blood, just like swatting a fly, for the sake of double-crossing Thursby? You who double-crossed Gutman, Cairo, Thursby--one, two, three?” (Hammett 115). Spade makes the good decision of holding Brigid and making her answer for the crimes that she committed. The death of Archer is because of her and it is only right that she should be convicted for it. Though it was not clearly stated whether it was her who pulled the trigger on Archer or it was Thursby, it was because of her plans that he was dead. She wanted Thursby and Archer to get into a fight and where one of them dies it would be a great help to her plans because she never wanted to share the loot of the Maltese falcon to Thursby. Women posed a major moral issue in the novel. Spade was the personification of cheating and sleeping around. He had an affair with every single female in the story. His relationship with Iva is basically adultery. More than this, even though Sam and Miles are not close, there is still no forgiveness in the fact that he is sleeping around with his wife. Iva even wanted to get a divorce so that she could be with Spade. This was even a source of motive for him to kill Archer. But the truth is he did not want anything to do with her but she keeps pulling him in because of the physical pleasures that she could offer. They have a very complicated and abnormal relationship. When Spade was dismissing her because he was trying to avoid heat on Archer’s death, Iva went to him and when she saw that he is with Brigid, she called the police to say they should go and snoop around his house for evidence. Her jealousy made her do things that could lead Spade into trouble and she does not care. To fend off the police, Archer, Cairo and Brigid all had to lie and resort to physical violence. They covered up for each other and pretended that Brigid is Spade’s new associate. Brigid is the other woman who just entered Spade’s life. The attraction between them is obvious from the beginning. Their journey together, though built on lies, brought them closer and the two are also in a dysfunctional relationship. Brigid likes to play games with Spade and had never been honest on her true feelings and what she thinks of him as a man. The mystery has in return charmed Spade and he was willing to do anything, even put his own life in danger, for her safety. When she called for help saying she was in danger, he came running to her rescue and found out that none of her appeals were true. In the last part, when everything was revealed and they were about to be caught by the police, Brigid kept pleading on Spade to let her go and that she loves him and she knows that he loves him too. Base on this love for one another, Spade was asked to show mercy and let her escape in order to avoid prison. Spade kept saying he won’t fall for her just like the men before him such as Thursby. He said that he’ll wait for her even for twenty years but “If they hang you Ill always remember you” (Hammett 115). It is almost frightening how calm he is in terms of handling the situation, showing disregard for another person’s life. Then there is Effie, and though there is no convincing evidence that they have a relationship, her demeanor towards other women in Spade’s life especially her reaction to Iva shows their unspoken love for one another. Effie is the only person that Spade trusts and though her judgment may fail at times, like when she told him to go and save Brigid from danger, their relationship is the closest to normal that a reader can get from the entire novel. She had a turbulent relationship with Iva, they mutually hated each other and they never bothered to hide it. Whenever Iva goes to visit Spade in his office, Effie’s mood quickly changes and when she went to her house to deliver the news of Archer’s death, she still found time to look around the place and to report back to Spade that she had not been sleeping as she claimed to be. Effie was the voice of reason but she was not close to being Spade’s moral compass. The jewels hidden in the black ornament is the root cause of the goose chase that led to the death of a number of people. The bird, said to have been created originally as a gift to the King of Spain by the Knights of Rhodes as thank you for giving them Malta, was worth millions of dollars. The problem is that none of the people who can get hold of the ornament actually wants to share in its fruits (Hammett 66). They were all promising a sum of money to someone who can help them get it but there is no assurance that they will actually keep their word. When Spade realized how important the statute is, he used this knowledge to extort more money from the people who are now in his radar. Cairo offered to pay $5,000 if he can give him the bird. It was funny when he got the call from Mr. Gutman and when he went to see him, he bluffed the latter and told him that Cairo was offering $10,000 which was double the amount that they have really agreed upon. But this was not important to Gutman, the amount of money that he was asking for is not really an issue. He even admitted that the appraised value he was estimating may even go higher when they already have the Maltese falcon. The greed for money and for illicit affairs of the characters led to their downfall. The prospect of the black ornament and the fortune it will bring to the one who finds it became the center of everyone’s life. Miles Archer was killed because Brigid devised a plan so that she will be able to get rid of Floyd Thursby. Thursby was also killed because he had access to the ornament that Gutman wanted. In the ending scenes, Spade and Gutman even conspired to give the police a fall-guy so that they will be able to satisfy the question of the criminal committing the murders. Then Spade thought of pointing at the boy Wilmer who was actually responsible for Thursby and Captain Jacobi’s death. Everything became pointless as soon as they found out that the Russian Kemidov who owns the falcon was able to make a copy and that all along they have been chasing a fake one. Spade sold them out to the police in the end of the novel. The fake falcon had led to the end of the chase that he had been a part of and the murders that had been committed on its behalf. Brigid asks him, “Would you have done this to me if the falcon had been real and you had been paid your money?” and he answers, “What difference does that make now? Dont be too sure Im as crooked as Im supposed to be” (Hammett 117). He lives by a reputation and this is not founded on any moral quality. People like Samuel Spade live for their own terms without regard on the life of others and this attracts him to other people who also lack the moral perspective that ethical men should live by. This is why immoral affairs no longer bother him and the same reason why crimes in the name of greed do not rattle him. The low moral standards of the characters make it easy for them to turn on each other. There is no loyalty since there can be no faith on relationships originating from deceit. Love is not even a force strong enough to persuade him to let Brigid go. Because in reality, even this love that she claims is more of an illusion than reality. Works Cited Hammett, Dashiell. The Maltese Falcon. Vintage Books edition, 1972. Web 4 May 2014. Malmgren, Carl. “The Crime of the Sign: Dashiell Hammetts Detective Fiction.” Twentieth Century Literature 45.3 (1999): 371-384. Web 4 May 2014. Ward, Patricia. “Ethics and Recent Literary Theory: The Reader as Moral Agent.” Religion & Literature 22.2/3 (1990): 21-31. Web 4 May 2014. Read More