Greed In Dashiell Hammett's The Maltese Falcon

1. What has your experience been, thus far, reading your books?

Dashiell Hammett in The Maltese Falcon explored greed as an inevitable aspect of human nature. Both the protagonists and the antagonists in the novel were motivated by greed. The main protagonist, Detective Spade, unexpectedly succumbed to the temptation of greed when accepting a virtual bribe from Brigid O’Shaunessy to remain silent despite his suspicion of Brigid’s involvement in unethical behavior. I found it interesting that the author showed this human weakness as a characteristic of his “good guy.” It was not unexpected and, therefore, less interesting that the antagonists were extraordinarily greedy. By making the protagonist less than perfect, it made for a more intriguing story.

Before reading this book, I underestimated the universality of greed in human nature. In being unable to identify a

single character not affected by greed in this novel, it allowed me to reevaluate whether this frailty exists in everyone. I had neither appreciated either the pervasiveness of greed in human nature, nor the lengths so many would go to satisfy their obsessive materialism. Perhaps the number of people with a strong moral compass (and those who are fearful of getting caught) exceeds the number of people who give in to their greedy nature. This balance between the moral and the amoral may help keep our society in check.

2.

What are the major conflicts in each novel?

The major conflicts in The Maltese Falcon included the search for the falcon figurine and the murder of Spade’s business partner, Miles Archer. The Maltese falcon was a solid gold statuette of a bird, studded with gems and encased in a layer of black enamel. The greed-driven characters in The Maltese Falcon did not allow anyone or anything to stand between them and the relic. It was major because the entire plot of the story revolved around the search for this treasure. It was a conflict because so many people died in its pursuit.

The second most important conflict was the death of Miles Archer. This event was major because Spade and Archer were good friends as well as longtime business partners. Spade’s close relationship with Archer motivated Spade to get to the bottom of the link between his partner’s death and this case. Besides, Spade had to prove his innocence to the police in the death of his partner. Facing this inner conflict was an obstacle Spade had to overcome. The story needs both of these conflicts to maintain the reader’s

interest.

3. What literary elements, patterns, or motifs are presented in the story?

Dashiell Hammett in The Maltese Falcon used literary elements such as point of view and tone to tell his story. The author used the third person point of view to give the reader emotional distance from the characters. When a plot is told in the third person and not by a character in the story, the author does not convey the direct thoughts of that character. Hammett, for example, used descriptions of the characters’ body language to educate the reader about how the characters felt in a scene. When Spade said, “He offered me five thousand dollars for the blackbird,” Brigid reacted by casting “a swift alarmed glance at Spade.” This gesture informed the reader that Brigid was nervous upon hearing this information.
The use of tone in The Maltese Falcon also served as a means to convey the feelings of the characters. The foreboding noises and language in the story was used to emphasize the tension (or lack thereof) in a scene. For example, in the first paragraph of the second chapter Spade received a phone call from the police informing him that his business partner, Miles Archer was dead. The author wrote, “a phone rang in the darkness,” thus creating drama. Calls which awaken one at night often evoke a sense of panic. The sound of the phone was an ominous sign, setting a grim tone in the scene.