Lust And Temptation In Raymond Chandler's The Big Sleep

Raymond Chandler, an American Literature writer in the early twentieth-century, introduces a new type of genre that will later set the standards and inspire future literature writers. In his first book, “The Big Sleep”, Chandler features the main character, Phillip Marlowe, as a detective trying to solve a blackmail case for the Sternwood family. Marlowe goes through all kinds of hardships throughout the book in order to be the knight in shining armor. One of these hardships is lust and temptation. For example, when Marlowe comes home after trying to investigate Vivian on Eddie Mars and their relationship, he is surprised to find a naughty, seductive, and sexy Carmen lying naked on his bed. At first, Marlowe doesn’t mind her presence at all,

This can be seen from several lines such as “I said carefully: “I’ll give you three minutes to get dressed and out of here. If you’re not out by then, I’ll throw you out-----by force”. The narrator depicts that Marlowe is very desperate in trying to get Carmen to leave and even threatens her if she doesn’t. The reason why is the longer Carmen stays on Marlowe’s bed, the higher the likelihood that he might succumb to her. Another example in the passage says, “She was dressed in a little over two minutes. I timed it.” This example supports the fact that Marlowe is indeed tempted because he has to count every individual second as if he is relying on that counting to keep his mentality strong. In this notion, we can see that women, using sexual arousement, can have a very strong influence over men, such as Marlowe, in the “The Big

After Carmen leaves the house, Marlowe looks at the bed on where she lied and begins to rip the bed to shreds: “I went back to the bed and looked down at it. The imprint of her head was still in the pillow, of her small corrupt body still on the sheets. I put my empty glass down and tore the bed to pieces.” Marlowe’s feeling of frustration can further develop the argument of women influence by showing how much Marlowe wanted to sleep with Carmen. Even though Marlowe had kept his desire of adultery in while Carmen was in the house, when Carmen had left, Marlowe starts tearing up his bed which can symbolize frustration, anger, or even regret for not taking up Carmen’s offer. This can all be directed back to the influence of women and what kind of power they have in swaying others. In this case, we have Carmen using her body to take advantage of Marlowe and his lust, which later on gets converted to