Greed In Dashiell Hammett's The Maltese Falcon

1. What has your experience been, thus far, reading your books? Dashiell Hammett in The Maltese Falcon explored greed as an inevitable aspect of human nature. Both the protagonists and the antagonists in the novel were motivated by greed. The main protagonist, Detective Spade, unexpectedly succumbed to the temptation of greed when accepting a virtual bribe from Brigid O’Shaunessy to remain silent despite his suspicion of Brigid’s involvement in unethical behavior. I found it interesting that the author showed this human weakness as a characteristic of his “good guy.” It was not unexpected and, therefore, less interesting that the antagonists were extraordinarily greedy. By making the protagonist less than perfect, it made for a more intriguing story.

Before reading this book, I underestimated the universality of greed in human nature. In being unable to identify a

What are the major conflicts in each novel? The major conflicts in The Maltese Falcon included the search for the falcon figurine and the murder of Spade’s business partner, Miles Archer. The Maltese falcon was a solid gold statuette of a bird, studded with gems and encased in a layer of black enamel. The greed-driven characters in The Maltese Falcon did not allow anyone or anything to stand between them and the relic. It was major because the entire plot of the story revolved around the search for this treasure. It was a conflict because so many people died in its pursuit. The second most important conflict was the death of Miles Archer. This event was major because Spade and Archer were good friends as well as longtime business partners. Spade’s close relationship with Archer motivated Spade to get to the bottom of the link between his partner’s death and this case. Besides, Spade had to prove his innocence to the police in the death of his partner. Facing this inner conflict was an obstacle Spade had to overcome. The story needs both of these conflicts to maintain the reader’s