Character Analysis: The Maltese Falcon
Brandon Torchia
ENGLIT 0625
Dr. Salzer
5 October 2015
Gender Stereotypes in the “The Maltese Falcon”
The main female and male characters in “The Maltese Falcon” each have their own set of goals they want to achieve and the only way they can be achieved is with the help of private detective Sam Spade. The men in the novels utilize stereotypical masculine techniques such as intimidation, violence and bribery while women use not as aggressive techniques. The women achieve their goals by using stereotypical female techniques by using their innocence as well as their sexuality to seduce Spade into helping them. The men and the women in the novel put to use traditional gender specific means of leverage to get what they want.
Samuel Spade is quintessential …show more content…
A character who does this is Joel Cairo, who Hammett describes as“[…] a small-boned dark man of medium height.”(Hammett 22). The description allows the reader to imagine Cairo as not very tall, weak and fragile. Compared to Spade, the aforementioned description does not make him sound very dominant and masculine at all. To make Cairo seem less dominant his description is also very specific of his clothing, which Marling goes on to say, “Cairo is fashion-conscious and ‘glossy’” (Marling 3). Since Cairo lacks strength and a dominating size, he must employ other tactics to get what he wants. He uses money and bribery, which is shown when he wants to search Spade’s office for the falcon. In order to get Spade’s attention he says he will give Spade, “the sum of five thousand dollars for its recovery" (Hammett 23). Although Cairo is depicted as a feminine character, he can’t achieve his goals through his sexuality or other stereotypical feminine behavior and there must rely on bribery.
Although Cairo doesn’t have a dominant size and physical strength, he still tries to assert his dominance by using threats and violence. When he offers Spade the five thousand dollars for the bird, Spade takes some time to think about it and Cairo immediately draws his gun on Spade and searches the office. This shows that instead of trying to convince Spade to let him search his office, he resorts to violence to be dominant in the situation without thinking
ENGLIT 0625
Dr. Salzer
5 October 2015
Gender Stereotypes in the “The Maltese Falcon”
The main female and male characters in “The Maltese Falcon” each have their own set of goals they want to achieve and the only way they can be achieved is with the help of private detective Sam Spade. The men in the novels utilize stereotypical masculine techniques such as intimidation, violence and bribery while women use not as aggressive techniques. The women achieve their goals by using stereotypical female techniques by using their innocence as well as their sexuality to seduce Spade into helping them. The men and the women in the novel put to use traditional gender specific means of leverage to get what they want.
Samuel Spade is quintessential …show more content…
A character who does this is Joel Cairo, who Hammett describes as“[…] a small-boned dark man of medium height.”(Hammett 22). The description allows the reader to imagine Cairo as not very tall, weak and fragile. Compared to Spade, the aforementioned description does not make him sound very dominant and masculine at all. To make Cairo seem less dominant his description is also very specific of his clothing, which Marling goes on to say, “Cairo is fashion-conscious and ‘glossy’” (Marling 3). Since Cairo lacks strength and a dominating size, he must employ other tactics to get what he wants. He uses money and bribery, which is shown when he wants to search Spade’s office for the falcon. In order to get Spade’s attention he says he will give Spade, “the sum of five thousand dollars for its recovery" (Hammett 23). Although Cairo is depicted as a feminine character, he can’t achieve his goals through his sexuality or other stereotypical feminine behavior and there must rely on bribery.
Although Cairo doesn’t have a dominant size and physical strength, he still tries to assert his dominance by using threats and violence. When he offers Spade the five thousand dollars for the bird, Spade takes some time to think about it and Cairo immediately draws his gun on Spade and searches the office. This shows that instead of trying to convince Spade to let him search his office, he resorts to violence to be dominant in the situation without thinking