Taking up Space: The Corpulent Casper Gutman

Of course, someone had to be the first to seek out the Falcon, the one who knows the most about it and employ others to get it and who chases them down when they betray him. This role is filled by Casper Gutman. If not for him, Joel, Wilmer, Brigid, and Thursby never would have come to San Francisco, much less crossed one another's and Spade’s paths or entered one another's offices and apartments. Spade may end it, but Gutman started it. Gutman, initially and briefly, is known only as “G”, with Brigid writing the letter in the air before Spade and Cairo, indicating the mysterious individual behind the shadowed curtain. He dictates where people go, and when someone deals with one of his men or the bird he seeks, they have to deal with him.

However, he doesn't stay in the shadows for long. He doesn't even remain all that mysterious. Most villains evade giving details and information to the heroes. This is what Brigid and Cairo did after all: neither is entirely honest with Spade about what they want and why. Gutman, however, goes out of his way to detail the history of the bird and his efforts to get it. Where others hide their cards, Gutman willingly shows his, or at least some of them. Even when Spade tries to negotiate with him, Gutman is confident he'll make his escape fine, likely because he's done it before.

And then there's his girth and his speech. While it can be easy to forget what the other characters look like and they all tend to keep their lips shut more than open, Gutman, literally and figuratively, stands out. He's fat, with references to his multiple chins, and even his name: Gutman. His size is his most distinct physical characteristic. Similarly, his speech is distinct from his fellow characters. Everyone talks differently, but they tend to do so in hushed tones. Gutman has not only highly distinct speech patterns, but the mere quantity of words exceeds that of those around him. This man loves to talk, and it's a different proclivity than Brigid whose long speeches are pleas designed to get others to help her and make others believe they're in charge.

However, his size and his speech have no bearing on the novel's outcome. Gutman isn't caught by the police because he was too fat to run away, no doors he's unable to pass through, nor is he caught because he takes too long with a speech or reveals something he shouldn't. He's too careful for that. On the other hand, Spade taunts Joel and Wilmer to rile them up and catch them off guard, and Brigid carefully uses her beauty to charm Archer and, presumably, Thursby and Captain Jacobi. But the big talk and big body don’t get such narrative privilege: Nothing suggests Gutman must be the heaviest, most garrulous character in the novel.

So why is he? On the one hand, it's his greed. The space must be his, just like the Falcon, but it's deeper than that. It's not just a need for space, but the ability to reach out and extend himself. He reached out to a Russian General, the Orient, Hong Kong, and San Francisco, crossing the world in search of the falcon, and, it's insinuated, he has the criminal connections to do so, and money never seems to be an issue for him. Nor does escaping the official police. When haggling with Spade over what to do, Gutman insists all will be well, while Spade insists otherwise. Gutman figures all will be well probably because all has been well for him up to this point.

Gutman's physical traits and habits neatly line up with his motivations and actions as a character. Comfortably corpulent, greedy, far reaching, and, as he believes, safe. He is able to be the man pulling the strings and shows his cards because he's sure he can act with impunity and evade detection and capture.

Foiling Spade: Joel Cairo

Disclaimer: I feel I need to point out that I’m discussing a novel that’s almost 90 years old, written in a less respectful time. When I discuss homosexuality, masculinity, and femininity in this post, it is in that time’s context.

Which character in The Maltese Falcon: was brought into the mystery by Brigid O'Shaughnessey, is betrayed by Brigid, forms an uneasy alliance with Gutman, and carries a gun?

At first, it might seem like Sam Spade, but Spade, early in the novel, says he doesn't like carrying a gun (18), and never does in the novel. These characteristics instead describe Joel Cairo. These simple similarities, and this one difference, suggest there are more points of comparison and contrast, more similarities and differences that set these characters in opposition to each other. In other words, the foil to one another. Not in the sense they impede or spoil one another's plans or goals but that the traits of a foil character highlight the traits of another, whether they are similar or different, usually different. If we can look at one aspect of Spade, like how he got involved in the mystery, we can find similarities in Cairo's narrative, and by contrasting these similar situations and how the characters act and are represented in them, we learn more about one character, and the other as well.

Take, for example, their first meeting, when Cairo pulls his gun on Spade in his, Spade’s, office. Spade goes along with it until he's able to attack Cairo, thrusting his elbow at him, knocking him out. Cairo may be the one with the gun, but here and elsewhere, Spade shows he's good enough with his arms and fists he can get by. Even after Spade returns Cairo's loaded gun to him, and Cairo turns it back on him, Spade lets Cairo search the room, confident he won't shoot him, nor find the bird. Spade isn't afraid to get his hands dirty, whereas Cairo is much more of a dandy, right down to the spats on his shoes and the effeminate items in his apartment. Similarly, later in the novel when Wilmer Cook needs to be restrained, Cairo (and Gutman) try to hold him down, Spade uses him like a punching bag, knocking him out and carrying him to the couch. This makes Spade a mix of masculine violence and chivalry against Cook’s more aggressive violence and homosexuality. Once Cook is on the couch, unconscious and after he wakes, Cairo is there beside him, preening over him.

Who does Sam Spade comfort? At one point or another, all the women (all four of them) are comforted by Spade, even if he does, in his late 1920's chauvinism, treat all women more or less the same. He promptly gives them pet names like “angel” and is willing to flirt and kiss them. It doesn't matter whether it's his client, secretary, lover, or someone he just met: for Spade, women are women, and women are for flirting (among other things) and protecting, similar to how Cairo treats Cook. What about how Cairo treats women? We don't know. He only ever interacts with Brigid. When he appears at Spade's office, Effie Perine is on her way out, so they interact only briefly, giving us hardly enough to read into. As for his relationship with Brigid, it's strictly business, which could, in and of itself, be why she abandoned him for Thursby: she couldn't manipulate him like she could Thursby.

While Spade and Cairo are ready foils for one another, this comparison reminds us of one of the main ways we learn about characters and the social spheres they represent: how they interact with other characters. Spade, even if he isn't an official policeman (and is hounded by the police and officials throughout the novel), ultimately does what is right and brings the villains to justice, aligning himself with the officials, in purpose if not in method. Similarly, Cairo, at novel's end, agrees to go with Gutman, literally aligning himself with the villainous criminals. Cairo may not have been the most law abiding of individuals from the beginning, but he only solidifies this standing by going with Gutman. Herein marks perhaps the primary difference and similarity between them: neither is the most honest, both are willing to break laws and rules to benefit themselves, but while they may stand near one another, they both face in opposite directions: one to justice, the other to crime.