The Maltese Falcon

Nearly every character in The Maltese Falcon is motivated by greed and self-interest. This is most evident in O’Shaughnessy, Cairo, and Gutman, who are all willing to lie, steal, and murder if it means getting their hands on the falcon. When Spade enters the action, the trio already has an established history of double-crossing and backstabbing one another to ensure all the profits for themselves. O’Shaughnessy has already turned on Gutman—who originally hired her to acquire the falcon—and Cairo—who she enlisted to help steal the falcon—when she kills Miles Archer as part of a plan to frame her last remaining ally, Thursby, to get him out of the picture as well. Cairo, who is in America on behalf of Kemidov—the man he helped O’Shaughnessy steal the falcon from in the first place—quickly changes allegiances again when he thinks it means he’ll get a piece of the profits. And lastly, Gutman, whose name and physical description employ fat phobia to suggest villainy and gluttony, is readily willing to sacrifice Wilmer, whom he claims to love like a son, for the falcon. For all three of them, their greed and self-interest perpetuates feelings of distrust and trumps any sense of loyalty to other people. Ironically, their desire to have the falcon for themselves not only gets in the way of seeing a profit from the falcon but leads to their demise as well.

As the antihero, Spade also displays greed and self-interest. From early in the novel, he appears to be solely motivated by money. He accepts Wonderly’s (later revealed as O’Shaughnessy) case without question—despite later admitting that he knew she was lying to him about the details—because of how much money she pays him. Later, Spade takes nearly all of her money as payment for helping. While it can be argued this is because he sees through her damsel-in-distress act, it nonetheless suggests a man who is looking to squeeze as much profit as possible out of every opportunity. Initially, Spade appears as disloyal as everyone else. He plays all three sides, accepting money (or the promise of money) from O’Shaughnessy, Cairo, and Gutman to ensure that he will benefit from the falcon no matter who finds it, and when they discuss needing a fall guy, he is willing to throw anyone under the bus so long as it is not him. However, Spade’s monologue explaining to O’Shaughnessy why he must turn her in to the police reveals that there is a difference between Spade and the rest. Where the former three have no loyalty to anyone, Spade remains loyal to himself and his former partner. He stays true to his code of ethics and, despite not even liking Miles Archer, ensures that justice is served to everyone involved.