Maltese Falcon :: essays research papers

The Maltese Falcon by Dashiell Hammett takes place in the mid-thirties and has a variety of mysterious charactersincluding surface-to-air missile ringtail, Brigid OShaughhnessy, Joel Cairo, Mr. Gutman, and Wilmer. When OShaughnessy comes to Spade and asks him to shadow Thursby, the bosh takes off ona rampage of events with seemingly no relevance until they be revealed in the end. The conflict that drives the story is the foreign location of the Maltese falcon, a well-heeled falcon of immense value. All the actions and even emotinos fo the characters are driven by the desire to obtain the falcon ormoney from obtaining the falcon. While some characters are more moreal than others, all of them have at least one brand which makes them untrustworthy greed, stupidity, or all three. The characters eliminate each other trhoguhout the story, either arrested or killed, until only Sapde is left unscathed. The book has three phases definite seeing, unknown mis brain and comprehension. In the first phase of the book, all the characters completely misunderstand each other. As the book progresses, the characters begin to believe that they have an understanding of each other, which complicates everyones emotions. Finally, the characters comprehend the previous emotions of the other characters and truly understand the events and the emotions of everyone.Later, Spade decides to have a brush ith OShbaughnessy and Cairo together. Befor ethe meet, Spade notices a youngman shadow him. HE temporarily forgets about it and goes to the meeting in his apartment. At the meeting Cairo and OShaughnesy briefly speak of a falcon, but the doorbell interrupts them. Sam goes to the door greets two police detectives that are investigating the deaths of Thursby and Archer. The officers demand accounting entry when they hear a scream and a shout from within,. When they reach the fashion of the scream, they find Cairo with a bloody face, holding a poor boy at OShaughnessy. In an att empt to allay suspiciion, Spade says that it is a mensural joke. The police leave Spade alone, but they take Cairo to the move for questioning.Eventually, the mysterious young man, Wilmer confronts Spade and takes him to an apartment. HE brings Spade into a elbow room where Mr. Gutman is sitting. They botht ry to get information without giving information. Sam decides to arrange a meeting with Cairo, OShaughnessy, Gutman, and Wilmer. Before the meeting, the captain of the boat, La Paloma, arrives at Spades office, injured but carrying what appears to be the Maltese falcon.