Kerry wrote about Sam Spade's morals:
"Bad for business" seems more an amoral statement to me. The
killer of a business associate draws a lot of attention, and
if people see that a detective cannot detect the killer of
his partner, well, he cannot be very good. Not worth hiring.
Yes, it's about public expectations, but it's about what a
man should do to stay in business, not to be a moral
person.
************** I agree, Kerry. Sam Spade appears to have some
morals in THE MALTESE FALCON, but at the end he reveals that
he has none. In my opinion, it only takes a rereading of the
last ten pages to figure that out. In his conversation with
Brigid, he tallies the reasons why he should turn her in, and
his reasons go beyond the fact that she's guilty of murder.
When she asks him what he would do if the falcon had been
real, he shrugs and says that everything would have to be
reweighed in that case.
Sam Spade is an opportunistic pragmatist, not a noble and
selfless knight like Chandler's Marlowe. Sam loves Brigid but
can't keep her because he doesn't trust her.
miker
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