Existentialism: Dashiell Hammett’s The Maltese Falcon Essay

Dashiell Hammett, father of the American hard-boiled genre, is widely known for producing a suffocating world of realism in his whole kit and boodle (Hard-boiled fiction). According to Paul Abrahams On re-reading The Maltese hunt down, the realistic atmosphere of Hammetts third novel is reactionary to the post-war ferment in which the work was born (97). This provides the ideal foundation for subtle philosophical concepts of pull roundentialism such(prenominal) as, points for rectitude, self identification, and the significance of cosmos to build passim the novel.Richard Layman, in his critical review of Hammetts novel (also titled The Maltese Falcon), proposes that the philosophies of Hammetts generation can be found inwardly the text edition of his novel (71). Hammett conveys an existential theme in his work The Maltese Falcon by dint of his use of themes of interrogative sentence and self absorbed characters as intimately as his Flitcraft parable. existential philoso phy, in a simple form, is a philosophy concerning universe of discourse and its significance.Layman asserts that existentialism had its roots in the mid-nineteenth century and flourished in the United States from the thirty-something until the 1960s (71). According to the web-article universe War I from the New World Encyclopedia, subsequent to the Great War, the optimism for world peace of the 1900s was entirely gone. Therefore, without the blinders of social optimism, American society could question ideas such as, the occurrence of mass destruction in a just world and the significance of existence in such a world.Hammetts firsthand experience with the existential crisiscaused by what the diachronic context from the website The Maltese Falcon presents as global wars, the Great Depression, and separate struggles of the 1930sleads Hammett to employ different techniques end-to-end his work, providing subtle allusions to existentialism. One regularity through which Hammett conv eys existentialistic thought is through his themes of inquiry in The Maltese Falcon. The patch is centered on the continuous quest for an idolized iconthe Maltese falcon, a precious bejeweled bird.Hammett incorporates an ecclesiastical theme through this credit line of an icon. The quest for their icon in the end leads to the demise of the characters involved in its search. It steals the identity and climatically the behavior of the mob-boss Gutman. Brigid, the femme fatale, also loses in this pursuit, for she is left to the mercy of the law in the final pages. Whether death or imprisonment plagues the characters involved, the quest for an icon consumes their lives. Hammett illuminates the bad cores of such quests through the aforementioned loss of identity, vivification, and freedom.This message is countered by the existentialistic denunciation of all icons. Existentialism provides a simple solution for such abortive quests lives are not wasted in the search of an icon. In pursuit of a precious icon, all characters lose themselvesa root of the existentialist crisis loss of self, questioning of existence (Existentialism). Another theme of inquiry in Hammetts novel deals with the constant search for the rightfulness. ringtail, the protagonist, is tormented by the ambiguity of truth throughout the novel. common racoon is forced to discern lies from the truth within the first pages of the novel, where he meets Brigid, or rather Miss Wonderly as she is dubbed upon primary introduction. Brigid, notorious for her deceitful ways, confesses to Spade, once an invested relationship is established among the two I am a liar. I have ever so been a liar (353). Layman observes that the challenge for Spade in the confine is to make up the rules as he goes along to decide for himself, without right(prenominal) guidance, what he believes and what he believes in (71). These decisions shape Spades actions and cooperate to define his character.Spade, concerning him self with the quest for relevance and legitimacy, as David Pickus writes in his expose on existentialism, is not the only character involved in the search for truth (17). Brigid, Gutman, Cairo, and Wilmer are forced to come to terms with the quest for truth and authenticity when it is discovered their falcon is a mere fabrication of the honest Maltese falcon. After shaving the black enamel from the base of the falcon Gutman exclaims its a fake. Gutman reacts with his breath hissing between his teeth and his face becoming turgid with springy blood (430).This is representative of the anger Gutman possesses upon the realization of this on-going search for authenticity. Another mode in which Hammett unveils existentialistic undertones is through his self-absorbed characters. Layman writes about Spade He is defining who he is. That is the simplest statement of the philosophy of existentialism (71). Spade relies unaccompanied on himself and often stretches the hands of the law. He u ndermines the police in nightspot to prevent interference within his investigations, denouncing their authority.For example, when Dundy, a police officer tells Spade, Youve gotten remote with this and youve gotten away with that, but you cant keep it up forever. Spade nonchalantly replies Stop me when you can (341). The article from the Philosophy website, titled Existentialism states that an existentialist believes that a person should be forced to choose and be responsible without the help of laws, ethnic rules, or traditions. Spade epitomizes this idea with his actions throughout the novel. Brigid is another character who does not function within the realm of laws and rules however, she is a less responsible character than Spade.Brigids efforts are invested into self-preservation. She continuously fights to preventative one step ahead of everyone through creating a web of lies, which ultimately becomes a defining element of her character. Her deceitfulness and obsession with obtaining her desires without concern for consequence or reputation demonstrates her loss of self in pursuit of something no-count she becomes nothing more than a wanton woman with no true identity. In addition to his characterization, Hammett also utilizes the Flitcraft parable as a office of conveying existentialistic thought.Martin Harris writes The Flitcraft parable has been examined closely by those who see the story providing an valuable key to Hammetts feelings about the meaning (or lack thereof) of human existence (241). The Flitcraft parable tells the story of a man who completely changed his demeanor in consequence of one random event. Flitcraft, a satisfied family man, encountered a contiguous death experience via a construction beam plummeting into his path. This event do him contemplate the randomness of lifethere are no certainties. Spade tells Brigid Flitcraft felt like somebody had taken the lid off life and let him look at the works (335).Flitcraft understood the uncertainty of life after this experience. With this epiphany Flitcraft began a new life he took the randomness of life and incorporated it into his existence. Aware of mortality and the significance of ones identity, Flitcraft assailable himself to an alternate life. While Flitcraft ultimately ended up settling binding into his prior lifestyle, the afterglow of his near death experience permitted him to revel in existentialism, for harmonise to the web-article Existentialism the search of self-being is a fundamental element of the existential philosophy.Whether it is through various themes, characters, or a well placed anecdote, the undertones of existentialism exist within the pages of Hammetts novel. Hammett effectively incorporated themes from his era into his literature. In a time where the spirit of optimism in society was destroyed, Hammett acknowledged realism within the text of his art (Existentialism). While existentialism no durable has an intoxicating hold on mo dern society, it lives in the pages of influential authors. The Maltese Falcons subtle cues to such great philosophical ideas process in the significance that Hammetts works hold to this day.