Samuel Spade Character Analysis
Protagonist of the story, Samuel Spade, is a very mysterious man who trusts only himself. The problems he may encounter tend to get done without the help of higher authorities (police) in his life, Spade, works only for Spade. Characterized by devilish qualities throughout the book, Samuel is associated with the term “blonde Satan” (3), implying that he is comparable to the devil. He wants to outsmart everyone and win this “game” that is going on between him and Gutman. His potential love interest, Brigid O’Shaughnessy, is in the mix causing controversy in the way he works. He likes to manipulate and trick people into telling him information in order to proceed with his schemes. Spade’s character is designed to confuse the reader with his
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difficult to understand personality. Switching back and forth between good and evil, it is hard to distinguish whether he’s a hero or a predator, however his constantly being compared to Satan makes it seem that he’s even more alike the devil than he is to any form of hero.
Very early in the book, Spade is trying to make sense of the world around him, working through and analyzing things in the manner a detective would. Often he doesn’t appear to have formulated a plan for situations that could potentially happen; nevertheless a plan is always concluded, whether it’s on the spot or before hand, when something bad happens. This adds to the confusion around his character, creating an unclear understanding concerning where his head is. There is a lack of emotion in his character. When Spade feels challenged his facial expressions seem to give away nothing. His eyes and face “go dead” giving him an eerie vibe. Considering this the predator perception doesn’t seem to far off.
After the climax, while the book is concluding, Spade makes it clear that to him, his well-being is more important than anything else.
His need to win drives him more than love or any other emotion. That drive could be mistaken as detachment from emotions because of how strong it is. It became obvious when he gave up Brigid, Gutman, Cairo and Wilmer to the police in order to save himself, after he had told Gutman he wouldn’t that he has a great self interest. A characteristic that some force of evil may be portrayed as. Spade gives the impression that he thinks he knows everything and owns the world. “ ‘I know what I’m talking about,’ he said in a low, consciously patient, tone. ‘This is my city and my game.’” (177) The word game is also brought up again. His drive to win is overall a major part of his personality. The consequence of his actions was that he won whatever game he was playing. He was able to outsmart everyone, but at the cost of his being alone. He may have won, but he won Iva, a character symbol of loneliness. Spade may not be greedy but he is very selfish. He feels that he is a professional and that causes him to do things that people normally wouldn’t do. There is irony in the way that Spade thinks about himself. He gets angry with Brigid and others for lying to him or trying to trick him, when he’s doing it himself. He is either oblivious to this fact or he feels that only he should be allowed to do such a thing. At the end of the book Brigid
expresses her frustration with him for tricking her. “‘Only pretending you cared – to trap me like this? You didn’t care at all? You didn’t – don’t – l – love me?’”(212)
difficult to understand personality. Switching back and forth between good and evil, it is hard to distinguish whether he’s a hero or a predator, however his constantly being compared to Satan makes it seem that he’s even more alike the devil than he is to any form of hero.
Very early in the book, Spade is trying to make sense of the world around him, working through and analyzing things in the manner a detective would. Often he doesn’t appear to have formulated a plan for situations that could potentially happen; nevertheless a plan is always concluded, whether it’s on the spot or before hand, when something bad happens. This adds to the confusion around his character, creating an unclear understanding concerning where his head is. There is a lack of emotion in his character. When Spade feels challenged his facial expressions seem to give away nothing. His eyes and face “go dead” giving him an eerie vibe. Considering this the predator perception doesn’t seem to far off.
After the climax, while the book is concluding, Spade makes it clear that to him, his well-being is more important than anything else.
His need to win drives him more than love or any other emotion. That drive could be mistaken as detachment from emotions because of how strong it is. It became obvious when he gave up Brigid, Gutman, Cairo and Wilmer to the police in order to save himself, after he had told Gutman he wouldn’t that he has a great self interest. A characteristic that some force of evil may be portrayed as. Spade gives the impression that he thinks he knows everything and owns the world. “ ‘I know what I’m talking about,’ he said in a low, consciously patient, tone. ‘This is my city and my game.’” (177) The word game is also brought up again. His drive to win is overall a major part of his personality. The consequence of his actions was that he won whatever game he was playing. He was able to outsmart everyone, but at the cost of his being alone. He may have won, but he won Iva, a character symbol of loneliness. Spade may not be greedy but he is very selfish. He feels that he is a professional and that causes him to do things that people normally wouldn’t do. There is irony in the way that Spade thinks about himself. He gets angry with Brigid and others for lying to him or trying to trick him, when he’s doing it himself. He is either oblivious to this fact or he feels that only he should be allowed to do such a thing. At the end of the book Brigid
expresses her frustration with him for tricking her. “‘Only pretending you cared – to trap me like this? You didn’t care at all? You didn’t – don’t – l – love me?’”(212)