Brigid O Shaughnessy From The Maltese Falcon

1498 Words3 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: Role of women in literature

The character I chose to analyze on is Brigid O’Shaughnessy from the Maltese Falcon novel. Brigid is the main female character and her part in the story she is caught up in a murder mystery of a private investigator Miles Archer and the search for a priceless artifact known as the Maltese Falcon. Brigid went to Spade and Archer’s office under the name of Miss. Wonderly. She convinces Archer to track her boyfriend Thursby in the belief that Thursby is cheating on her, but Spade on the other hand does not believe her but he still sort of apply through her demands because he “believe her money”. After Archer’s death Brigid turns to the main protagonist Sam Spade, as there are evil and murderous men in town and they could kill her for a priceless artifact called the Maltese Falcon. However, it turns out that Brigid is a …show more content…

At first Brigid looks helpless and in the need for help when coming to Spade and Archer’s office for the first time and was able to get Archer to follow Thursby without telling him about her real intentions. For the most part Spade was protective of Brigid because she used her beauty and “helpless innocent” nature. Likely Brigid would be the kind of woman could be the typical love interest and damsel in distress that needs help from the leading male character. The narrator wanted the readers to believe that this is a character in a bad situation and she needs help from Spade to protect her from Gutman. All went to plan for Brigid until Spade reveals that Brigid murdered Archer. The narrator might have the character to be judged as manipulative since she had Spade to do what ever she wanted him to do until Spade turned her into the police. It looked like Spade was manipulating her as she was manipulating him if Spade knew all along that she is the

Show More
Related

  • Marele Day's Novel, The Life and Crimes of Harry Lavender

    1159 Words  | 3 Pages

    Her involvement challenges stereotypes and ideas set in the responders' minds in relation to gender issues. She is equal to any male, completing her job successfully and outwitting anyone in her path. She is also the intellectual counterpart of Harry Lavender, the "evil villain" in the story. In light of the tongue-in-cheek atmosphere of the novel, through Claudia, Day captures the typically marginalised li... ... middle of paper ... ...

    Read More

  • Flannery OConnor

    805 Words  | 2 Pages

    In her short story "Everything That Rises Must Converge," Flannery O'Connor allows the story to be told from the perspective of Julian, a recent college graduate who appears to be waiting for a job, while living at home with his mother. His relationship with his mother is rocky at times, to say the least. It is constantly mired with conflicts about the "Old South" and the "New South". Julian must come to terms with himself, either he is an over protective son or just a pain in her ass. Even though Julian seems to dislike his mother's viewpoints, he continues to depends on her for "stability". When the final confrentation between Julian's mother and the large black women results in her having a heart attack, to which Julian is oblivious to, it causes him to be overwhelmed with greif and fear. He only then realizes the extent of his self-deception is fully confirmed.

    Read More

  • Sara Smolinsky in The Bread Givers

    1005 Words  | 3 Pages

    During the early 1920s the Great Depression took place. The Great Depression affected many people's lives. The immigrants caught the worst of it. They had just come from another country and were trying to start their new lives when the depression hit. They had to struggle once more with poverty and desperation in taking care of their families, the main reason they had left their old countries was to escape the same epidemic that was now overtaking ?the land of the free?. Immigrants, such as the Jewish immigrants, had to live in poverty-stricken ghettos without the necessities they needed to live healthy lives. The 1920s was the time of rapid change, it was the time of risque fashion, it was the time of which that if you were rich and had all the latest fashions then you were ?in? but if you did not then you were an outcast.

    Read More

  • How To Read Literature Like A Professor by Thomas C. Foster

    1173 Words  | 3 Pages

    In the skillful novel, "How To Read Literature Like A Professor" by Thomas C. Foster, there is neither a protagonist nor antagonist. As a whole, the novel gives insights on how to pick up signs of symbolism, irony, and many other hidden details that are buried within the words of literature. Foster refers to many classis novels by classic authors to demonstrate the use of logic in writing. The novel is extremely educational, leaving many insightful questions and interpretations to the reader's opinion.

    Read More

  • Analysis Of The Bonesetter's Daughter

    1003 Words  | 3 Pages

    Over the summer, after taking a break from reading a novel just for entertainment, I sat down to read How to Read Literature like a Professor and it was the exact novel to refresh and supplement my dusty analysis skills. After reading and applying Foster’s novel, How to Read Literature like a Professor, towards The Bonesetter’s Daughter I found a previously elusive and individualized insight towards literature. Although, The Bonesetter’s Daughter is full of cryptic messages and a theme that is universal, I was able to implement an individual perspective on comprehending the novel’s universal literary devices, and coming upon the unique inference that Precious Auntie is the main protagonist of the novel.

    Read More

  • A good man is hard to find paper

    1365 Words  | 3 Pages

    O’Connor’s uses contrasting elements of literature to make the story “A Good Man Is Hard To Find” mysterious yet predictable, and undeveloped yet totally defined. Her use of third person unknowing keeps the reader wondering but her use of foreshadowing gives the reader insight to what may occur next. The use of these two elements together keeps the reader predicting, therefore leading to an involvement with the reader and the story. The narrator lets the reader know that a criminal is on the loose, “Here this fellow calls himself The Misfit is aloose from the Federal Pen and headed toward Florida and you read here what it says he did to these people” (302). The next sentence reads, “ I wouldn’t take my children in any direction with a criminal like that aloose in it. I couldn’t answer to my conscience if I did” (303) which foreshadows what is to come later in the story. O’Connor also leaves many of the characters in the story very undefined except for the main two, The old woman, or the grandmother and the Misfit. O’Connor spent more time depicting the grandmothers outfit in the beginning of the story than she did with all of the undefined characters in the whole story combined, which gave insight to the way the grandmother was, the way she viewed herself and the way her family viewed her; an old, prude, egotistical woman. She did care for her family, but her intentions at heart were only for herself. The...

    Read More

  • The Lovely Bones, by Alice Sebold

    1102 Words  | 3 Pages

    The character I choose from the novel Lovely Bones is Mr. Harvey. His role in this novel was that he is a serial Killer. What is a serial killer? A serial killer is someone that killed more than three people over a period more than a month. Mr. Harvey killed Susie the main character in this novel. He rapped her, and cut her body up, and packaged it, and drove 8 miles and dumped it in a sinkhole.. Mr. Harvey doesn't really have a family. His dad abandons his mom after the argument that they next to the car in the streets over truth and consequences in Mexico. His mom was desperate that she taught him how to steal and shoplift. We know that his father was an abusive person. He also taught him about buildings. We know that Mr. Harvey’s life and Susie’s are the not exactly the same. In fact we know its the total opposite. Mr. Harvey never know what love is, since his father was abusive and his mother was a thief. Susie always had a loving family. Her dad and mom loved her and was overly protective.

    Read More

  • An Analysis Of Breece J Pancake's 'Time And Again'

    1182 Words  | 3 Pages

    In the short story “Time and Again” by the author, Breece D’J Pancake recounts the story of a veteran farmer who is a snow plow driver for a living. The nameless narrator is a widower and his son disappeared. Reading the short story for the first time it is apparent that the author makes it a challenge for their reader to understand the story. The story at first is confusing and leaves the reader questioning the character. After a second or third read, it is noticeable that the author sets clues and makes it more obvious that this is a story of a murderer. The author often uses clues and the use of syntax to expose who the narrator is as a character and how that influences his actions.

    Read More

  • Comparing Characterization in Alias Grace, Their Eyes Were Watching God, and Fools Crow

    1288 Words  | 3 Pages

    Alias Grace by Margaret Atwood is a novel where the main character Grace is a sort of mystery character.   In the end she is at peace, but there are still many questions about her left unanswered.  Because Atwood's style of writing is informative, yet unclear at the same time, the audience is left to put the pieces of the puzzle that is Grace together themselves.   This leaves the reader guessing about her character.  Two other works that contrast the characterization of Grace Atwood uses in Alias Grace are Janie in Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston, and Fools Crow in Fools Crow by James Welch.  The characterization the authors use in these three novels determines how well the reader will get to know the main characters in terms of emotion.

    Read More

  • Character Analysis Of Lieutenant In George Woods's 'Catch A Killer'

    535 Words  | 2 Pages

    These three characters’ behaviors, personalities, and their thoughts affect the story “Catch a Killer”. Also Tawney’s behaviors, that shoots Gladston’s theory down and finds Corso and Andrew, show his honesty. The beginning of the story tells how rebellious Andrew is. Bullying and cruelty is the reason that Corso becomes a killer. These three main characters are revolved around each other in the

    Read More

  • Female Archetypes in Mystery: Femme Fatales and Victims

    685 Words  | 2 Pages

    Firstly, after watching the tv show “Murdoch Mysteries, Murdoch in Ladies Wear”, the first character to stand out to me was Eva Pierce. Eva is the femme fatale in this show because she has every characteristic possible for this archetype. Eva is considered to be a very attractive and seductive woman, she also brings a very big disaster in the show by having someone else do her dirty work of killing Monk. It was also mentioned that she had a bad past that she did not like talking about. Pierce is also morally grey, she doesn't think what she did was at all bad. At first she seemed very innocent, you wouldn't expect this from her at all. Eva was a very manipulative character she acted as if nothing happening was affecting her, she covers all her tracks she uses make tears to

    Read More

  • A Pair of Tickets by Amy Tan

    1117 Words  | 3 Pages

    influence all her life and struggles to accept her true identity. Through the story you can

    Read More

  • Sandra Cisneros's “Never Marry a Mexican”

    969 Words  | 2 Pages

    ...e relationship with men, as nothing but tools she can sharpen and destroy, lives through lust and an uncanny ability to blend into any social class makes her unique. Her character is proven as an unreliable narrator as she exaggerates parts of the story and tries to explain that she is in fact not guilty of being a mistress, but a person caught in a crossfire between two others.

    Read More

  • Red Harvest Sparknotes

    779 Words  | 2 Pages

    The characters in the novel, including the operative himself are willing to lie, cheat, and kill in cold blood for their own personal gain. Although infidelity, greed, and self-preservation are expected from characters involved with the murders and inner crime ring; the story becomes more complicated when characters like the operative, and chief of police begin to get their hands dirty. Bringing the age-old crime ad punishment theme to a higher tier where the reader is unable to make an impulsive decision on who is a “bad guy”, and who is a “good

    Read More

  • Perception And Social Standing In Agatha Christie's The Murder Of Roger Ackroyd

    849 Words  | 2 Pages

    Although very miniscule, attempts are made to pin the murder of poor Roger Ackroyd on the servants of Fernly Park. This can especially be dissected through the analysis of Ursula Bourne and the abrupt dismissal of her position at Fernly Park, directly following the murder; “‘You may have not noticed it at the time, my good friend, but there is one person on this list whose alibi had no kind of confirmation. Ursula Bourne’”. (125) Ursula has no real alibi, but we are easily persuaded into thinking that she may be the guilty one. Social hierarchy is a leading factor in the amateur detective work done by the other characters. Ursula through her defence when confronted about her dismissal in her position, “‘I know nothing about the money. If you think I took it, and that is why Mr. Ackroyd dismissed me, you are wrong,’” (122) we can see that she has something to hid. Christie uses Ursula’s yet to be discovered secret of her marriage to Ralph to compound the reader’s belief that Ursula is hiding the fact that she may have something to do with Mr. Aykroyd’s death. It is easier to blame someone of lower social class then to admit that someone with higher social standings could be the

    Read More

More about Brigid O Shaughnessy From The Maltese Falcon

Open Document