The Maltese Falcon

“Samuel Spade’s jaw was long and bony, his chin a jutting v under the more flexible v of his mouth. His nostrils curved back to make another, smaller, v. His yellow-grey eyes were horizontal. The v motif was picked up again by thickish brows rising outward from twin creases above a hooked nose, and his pale brown hair grew down—from high flat temples—in a point on his forehead. He looked rather pleasantly like a blond satan.”

The opening passage of the novel introduces the idea that, in The Maltese Falcon, physical features often imply things about a person's character, values, and personality; and by describing Spade as looking “pleasantly like a blond satan,” Hammett foregrounds that he is an antihero—someone who will not demonstrate the qualities of a traditional hero.

“‘What do you think of her?’ ‘Sweet! And you telling me not to dynamite her.’ Archer guffawed suddenly without merriment. ‘Maybe you saw her first, Sam, but I spoke first.’ He put his hands in his trousers-pockets and teetered on his heels. ‘You’ll play hell with her, you will.’ Spade grinned wolfishly, showing the edges of teeth far back in his jaw. ‘You’ve got brains, yes you have.’ He began to make a cigarette.”

Right from the beginning, Spade recognizes that O’Shaughnessy is deceitful and dangerous and that she preys on men. His ability to see through her act sets him apart from the men she is able to control and take advantage of. This passage also establishes Archer as a womanizer, which later becomes an important detail for understanding the complicated relationship between Spade, Archer, and Iva.

“Spade’s thick fingers made a cigarette with deliberate care, sifting a measured quantity of tan flakes down into curved paper, spreading the flakes so that they lay equal at the ends with a slight depression in the middle, thumbs rolling the paper’s inner edge down and up under the outer edge as forefingers pressed it over, thumbs and fingers sliding to the paper cylinder’s ends to hold it even while tongue licked the flap, left forefinger and thumb pinching their end while right forefinger and thumb smoothed the damp seam, right forefinger and thumb twisting their end and lifting the other to Spade’s mouth.”

This meticulous description of Spade rolling a cigarette mirrors his approach to detective work—it is careful, practiced, and deliberate. He rolls cigarettes frequently throughout the novel—especially in moments where he needs to appear calm or when he needs a moment to think.