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.
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