The story of Dashiell Hammet’s “The Maltese Falcon” has all the elements of a classic thriller; suspense, mystery, love, murder, greed, and betrayal. All of these arise when a treasure worth millions comes within reach of a handful of stereotypical individuals who will stop at nothing to have it. Unlike stories with natural disasters or other uncontrolled outside forces influencing the story, “The Maltese Falcon” uses different stereotypical characters to develop and structure the plot in a number of ways. First an identical goal helps create the plot around the characters, as each of their different stereotypes influences their actions developing the plot as well as controlling it by placing the characters within their own boundaries and limitations. …show more content…
Given that the plot of the story revolves around all of the characters working towards an identical goal, the story develops around the different characters actions driven by their extremely different personalities and stereotypes. The identical goal anchors the characters to the storyline as it continues to draw the characters back towards each other creating conflict and strife, without this goal, each character would surely drift away into separate storylines. As the goal brings the characters into contact with each other, their interactions amplify their differences. Conflict arises as a result of these interactions and even within the individuals themselves, as every character in “The Maltese Falcon” tries to outmaneuver the others and take the …show more content…
The use of stereotypical characters by the author allows the reader to make predictions about possible outcomes, be surprised, and be confronted with mystery and suspense. If each character were exactly the same, there would be very little conflict, action, or any form of surprise and mystery as the reader would already know what the character is likely to do. With stereotypical characters the readers can understand and possibly relate with the characters in one way or another. Often readers will form attachments to certain characters over others, taking sides with some, feeling empathy for those who have been wronged, and so on. All of this will make us more attached to the characters, deepening the reader’s involvement and creating a better story. If the characters were too unique, they may not be relatable and the reader may have difficulty connecting with them, taking away from the excitement of the plot and making for a boring story. Using stereotypical characters will always make for an attractive story because of the different stereotype interactions. In the Maltese Falcon the characters are often fighting each other, but the story would still be just as interesting if they had to work together to accomplish something, which is use as the framework of many other stories. We actually see this a bit from time to time in The Maltese Falcon, but
There are characters in every story to help build a meaning to what is being told. Just because the story is build upon a major character, that doesn’t mean that minor characters aren’t as important. Three reasons that minor characters are important is that they help develop the plot in the story, they can influence how the major character might act, and having minor characters intrigues the audience.
Explain how the conflict arises and go on to discuss in detail how the writer uses it to explore an important theme.
Firstly let us consider conflict. In each act of the play, we see the overpowering desire to belong leading to a climax of conflict amongst the characters, which has the consequence of exclusion. Conflict is a successful literary technique, as it engages the audience and focuses our attention on the issue of conflict and exclusion, brought about by the characters’ desires to be accepted by their community.
Often, when a story is told, it follows the events of the protagonist. It is told in a way that justifies the reasons and emotions behind the protagonist actions and reactions. While listening to the story being cited, one tends to forget about the other side of the story, about the antagonist motivations, about all the reasons that justify the antagonist actions.
In the novel the Maltese Falcon, the main theme in the play is the masculinity attributes of the piece. In this particular work, there are key characters that from their basis, one comprehends how this author views what masculinity should look like. Masculinity comes to symbolize both strong heroic operate mannerism while expounding on the costs incurred through achievement of this theme in the Maltese Falcon (Huston et al., 45).
...e and daring, the usual qualities of a headmaster. Maximillian Brock, Daphne’s piano teacher, seems to be the stereotypical “nosy neighbour”, who inquires each time about Flavia’s family life. Finally, even King George VI is a stereotypical character: a typical king, George sits in the background of the story and does not do much. He is very polite and cordial – as expected of him. From all of these characters, you can see that Bradley used many stereotypical characters in the story.
A character is a person in a story that plays a particular role. Stories require characters so that it forms conflicts, tensions and resolutions. Characters also carry certain traits to make the story interesting and unique. Each character might have different attributes. Others could have similar and different qualities. Those who read many novels might notice that characters from various books are similar to each other to an extent, but are not completely the same. The old English poem, Beowulf, and Shakespeare's Macbeth contain characters with similar characteristics. Beowulf and Macbeth share similar traits, but do not have the same objective. Comparing and contrasting determine the similarities and differences of things. Comparing and contrasting is an excellent tool to determine what is right and wrong. When choosing the best car to drive, comparing and contrasting helps in the choice of the best vehicle. Macbeth and Beowulf demonstrate that a warrior's motivations matter for both soldiers and the people.
Authors present their characters either directly or indirectly. In all good fiction all characters are dramatized. There are flat characters, they can be summarized pretty quickly. There are special types of flat characters one of which is called a stock character; characters we recognize right away (a sheriff or detective) On the other hand are round characters, which have qualities of real people and are many-sided. The static character is the same person from beginning to end, and finally there is the developing character which undergoes some kind of change, this character usually undergoes an epiphany. “Ultimately it is the quality of the characterization by which a literary story stands or falls”. [page 173]
Authors develop characters’ personalities in order to add depth to their story and allow readers to feel more connected to the characters. Beyond this, characterization also allows authors to develop the themes of their stories in a more clear manner. A prime example of this would be in the poem Judith, where the author contrasts Judith and Holofernes’ personalities in order to develop the major themes of heroism and having faith in God.
First, the author uses conflict to show what the characters have to overcome throughout the course of the story, such as Mrs. Baker forcing Holling to do chores at school and
As you can see, there are a lot of major internal conflicts. However, there are many more not so important conflicts that weren’t listed! Ranging from racism to loneliness, the characters in this novel have gone through a lot, physically and mentally. As the novel progresses all the characters seem to go from a negative, depressed mental state to a positive and loving one. Jefferson dies with courage because Grant was able to crack Jefferson and help him, which also ended up helping himself. Miss Emma and Tante Lou are now at peace thanks to Grant’s affect on Jefferson. The only reason the novel ended with everybody in a positive state of mind is due the decisions and actions made because of the internal conflict. In conclusion, internal conflicts are very important to the story causing conflicts and plot twists to interest the reader and pull the novel together.
One of the most useful in advancing this story is the typical, powerful character. Whether it be supernatural or cunning this character always comes out on top in the situation and holds the most control over others and their actions. The “Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?” , “Leda and the Swan”, and “Harrison Bergeron” all utilize an archetypical powerful character to create tension from how each character uses their power.
The author uses one main character, at most, two; only the protagonist and the antagonist exist as major characters. “Rip Van Winkle”, Washington Irving uses one main character to play both the role of the protagonist and the antagonist. In paragraph three lines, six and seven, the reader meets the protagonist. “…a simple good-natured fellow of the name of Rip Van Winkle” In paragraphs five and nine, lines one and two, and one and four, respectively, the reader encounters the antagonist. “The great error in Rip’s composition was an insuperable aversion for all kinds of labor.” “…Rip would rather starve on a penny than work for a pound.” Even though, in both cases where the reader encounters Rip Van Winkle, Rip only counts as one main character. Characterization occurs when the author draws an overall picture of the characters. Characterization happens in two ways in literature, by description and personality. The author uses the words a story to describe a character or imply the appearance of the characters through the text of the story. Introducing the personality of the character to the reader in words give or describe the personality of the characters or the words used imply certain things about the character. The protagonist in “Rip Van Winkle” the reader first meets in paragraph three, lines seven and eight, “… a simple good-natured fellow of the name of Rip Van Winkle.
Determine all of the story's conflicts. Determine the major conflict and state this in terms of protagonist versus antagonist.