Yes Patrick, I expected you would climb down from your belfry again.
What I think you miss is that love is no more logical than the supernatural rules of morality. Love is based on emotion, trigged by hormones, not reason. All the things you say about Spade's understanding of Brigid can be true and still not negate the feelings that he has for her. These are feelings that he states in the book and movie. It is the ability of women to tempt men despite the men's better judgements that is at the base of femme fatality. Literature is littered with the corpses of people who, unlike Spade, either hoped to reform their lovers or went along for the ride.
As for Spade being impervious to any idea that the Falcon has artistic or historical value, that's what I said, and what Hammett is saying, but clearly this is a significant part of what motivates Gutman. You call this motivation madness, and that's fine by me, but it's a common madness, a madness that is at the root of whatever economic value the statue may or may not have in the book, and the dreams that so many of us have in life.
And yes, Spade is motivated to save his business, the pursuit of a job well done, but I think Hammett recognized that something is lost in denying love, art and dreams. Early on he devotes a paragraph to Spade's physical description, entirely in satanic terms. At the end it's suggested that Spade goes back to a relationship with Archer's wife, a woman he clearly does not even like, let alone love. She's probably a good lay though, another job well done.
Yes Patrick, we've read the same book, seen the same movie. But you have to see all of each and not leave out the bits that don't fit your heroic interpretation of Spade. It's a better, more complex narrative than you credit it.
Best,
Kerry
----- Original Message -----
From: Patrick King
To: rara-avis-l@yahoogroups.com
Sent: Saturday, September 05, 2009 11:44 AM
Subject: Re: RARA-AVIS: Re: Random Notes On Redemption
In The Maltese Falcon, Spade actively rejects love. He will not allow his feelings for Brigid to divert him from saving his business or being fitted for Archer's murder. Neither is he moved by the artistry/antiquity of the Falcon itself or the declaration that it is the stuff "dreams are made of". These are all romantic notions of spiritual transcendence, but if Spade does the right thing it is for entirely practical reasons. Chandler's idea of detectives as 20th Century white knights, however, lone men of virtue on the mean streets of the modern world saving fair damsels from gangsters and pornographers, may be hardboiled, but is not noir.
******************************
I know we've had this discussion before but I've got to comment here. I can't believe we're reading the same book... or watching the same movie for that matter. Spade does not "actively reject love." He never "loved" Bridgid. He knows from the moment she walked into their office and lied to them that she was a sociopath, no more capable of love than of flying. He knew she would use sex to manipulate him and he played her game so HE could manipulate HER, which he does admirably. He knows she killed Miles from the time he declined to look at Miles body. Miles wasn't dumb enough to get caught in an ally with anyone but a beautiful woman. And Spade tells her this. Anyone can see by what happened to both Thursby & Jacobi how love affairs with O'Shaughnessy are resolved. Even Gutman tells Spade that she's dangerous. Sam Spade is a ruthless and competent private investigator. He is manipulative and has extensive experience with mentally ill people on both sides
of the law. The affair of the Maltese Falcon is a job to him. If he were actually in love with O'Shaughnessy, the whole story would devolve into OUT OF THE PAST. And that would be noir.
Again, I don't think "the artistry/antiquity" of the falcon come into this on Spade's part. The reality of the falcon is more to the point. The falcon is a psychotic delusion on the part of Gutman who's heard this story somewhere, probably in a book of occult lore. Gutman has surrounded himself with mentally ill people who will kill others for someone with $10,000. The reason Spade says, "The stuff that dreams are made of," at the end is because he realizes that there is no Maltese Falcon. Gutman is chasing a chimera.
Patrick King
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
This archive was generated by hypermail 2b29 : 05 Sep 2009 EDT