TEST ESSAY...due to format errors i shall hand in a hard copy

Mythopoeia is a term that was first used and defined by J.R.R. Tolkien in the 1930s. It’s a type of narrative genre that is used by screenwriters as a way to incorporate mythological themes and archetypes into a fictional story. Its basically a way of inventing a new form of mythology that inst based on ancient story or tradition that’s been passed on through the generations, but instead these story’s can be written over a short period of time by a single author and can bring today’s readers closer to mythology. Like many fantasy stories and tales the wizard of oz has many characters that can be matched up with a mythopoeia archetype.

A story that has a protagonist and no journey is like watching a really bad NHL player, sure its nice that he accomplished his goal but how the did he get there. For Dorothy her journey was one that took a young girl from a small town in Kansas and turned her into a hero. In the beginning of her journey she met three companions that would fallow her to the end, they were the Tin Man, the Scarecrow and the Lion. They all wanted to find the wizard as well not only to help Dorothy go back home but as they thought they needed a brain, a heart and courage but as they learn in the end they had it within themselves the whole time, as said in a speech from the wizard.

Why, anybody can have a brain. That's a
very mediocre commodity. Every
pusillanimous creature that crawls on the
earth -- or slinks through slimy seas has
a brain! (Baum,119)

back where I come from there are men
who do nothing all day but good deeds.
They are called phil...er -- er -- phil --
er, yes...good-deed-doers. And their
hearts are no bigger than yours.(Baum, 121)

Back where I come from, we have men who are
called heroes. Once a year, they take
their fortitude out of mothballs and
parade it down the main street of the
city. And they have no more courage than
you have. But! They have one thing that
you haven't got! A medal! Therefore[…]
I award you the Triple Cross.[ellipses mine] (Baum,120)

So at the end of our hero’s journey each character learned was that the things they really wanted they already had or in Dorothy’s case they had the power to achieve themselves.

A hero is defined as a character who in the face of danger and adversity or when is in some from of a position of weakness, displays courage and the will for self-sacrifice for the greater good of others. In this fantasy tale the character who best shows these charectoristics of a mythopoea archetype hero would be Dorothy. Not only does she save the land of Oz from the wicked witch but she does this in a place she has never been and does not understand at all, wich would be a great point of weakness being in her shoes. After making her way to see the wizard and being sent on an other side mission to steal the wicked witchs broom stick she does so not only with the purpose of going home but also to help the Tin Man, Scarecrow and the Lion with there quests for a heart, a brain and courage. She even shows her willingness for self-sacrifice when she stands up to the wizzard in defence of the three others.

DOROTHY
Yes, sir. So we'd like you to keep your
promise to us, if you please, sir.
OZ'S VOICE
Not so fast! Not....
...so fast! I'll have to give the matter
a little thought. Go away and come back
tomorrow!
DOROTHY
Tomorrow? Oh, but I want to go home now.
[…]
OZ'S VOICE
Do not arouse the wrath
of the Great and Powerful Oz! I said -
come back tomorrow!
DOROTHY
If you were really great and powerful,
you'd keep your promises! [ellipses mine] (Baum, 114)

The devil figure is a pretty self-explanatory archetype. It is essentially the story or fables antagonist, and in the world of oz the Wicked Witch is a perfect representation of the devil figure. Not only does she appear to be everything Dorothy isn’t she goes out of her way to prove it, by capturing Dorothy in her attempt to steal her slippers. Also not only does she have the evil vibe by looking at her you get the same vibe when you notice her surroundings and where she lives, the almost cliché dark creepy castle in the middle of nowhere that you see in most fables but also when you see how Most of the Land of Oz was filled with vibrant colors and really seemed to be the sort of perfect haven for people to live in peace. But once you stepped over the border and found yourself in the territory of the Wicked Witch everything that you first thought of the Land of Oz changed. It no longer had the same feel. Trees were dead and everything looked like it could come out at you at anytime. It was obvious that the writer really wanted her to stand out as the antagonist. Even the witch’s own minions could not stand the way she was, even praising Dorothy by song when she was defeated at last.

WINKIES
Hail! Hail to Dorothy -- The Wicked
Witch is dead!

DOROTHY
You mean, you're...you're all happy about
it?

LEADER
Very happy - now she won't be able to hit
us with a broom.... (Baum,111)

In Mythopoeic archetypes the platonic idea is the inspiration for the protagonist. So for Dorothy her Platonic idea would be her family or more specifically her desire to return home to her family. She does not realize it at first because she doesn’t know fully how much she misses her family until the end of the story. For the Tin Man, Scarecrow and Lion they all individually had there own Plutonic Idea for going on this quest. The Tin Man wanted to have a heart, the Scarecrow wanted a brain and the Lion wanted courage. But if you were to look at the three of them as a whole then there plutonic Idea changes because their inspiration is now Dorothy. Because you have to look at it as what would happen had they of not met Dorothy. No matter what Dorothy wanted to go home, she may of needed help but that’s what she wanted, that was her inspiration. So would the three of them have been able to accomplish their goals with out Dorothy? No. They needed her to be their inspiration.

The Wizard of Oz is a timeless classic, it’s a story that will go down in history as being a perfect example of a mythopoeia and like many fantasy stories and tales the Wizard Of Oz has many characters that can be matched up with a mythopoeia archetype. Whether or not it is how it follows its archetypical hero who puts other peoples interest before hers or how it shows her journey to defeat its antagonist/devil figure also known as the Wicked Witch, no matter what way you look at this story it is a perfect example of mythopoeia.

Mats Essay

In the novel Maltese Falcon, the author Dashiel Hammet uses the characters greed and self-mindedness as a means to further progress the story. Unlike most stories involving the sort of good vs. evil type plot where it can be expected to find greed in the antagonist characters, this story finds the protagonist Sam Spade dealing with his own problems as well as many other sub characters to. As greed eventually takes over the main characters in the novel, it triggers events that progress the story differently based on the characters new intentions or ambitions (the Maltese Falcon).


As a private eye in the 1940’s you would think that Sam Spade would follow the rules and be a role model as at the time it was seen as one of those glory jobs that are always depicted in filmsand such. But he is far from that from the time readers get through the first few pages. Think about a 1940s representation of Dr. House. As he knows the cops thinks that he killed hispartner but wont go out of his way to prove his innocence as he knows they have nothing, sort ofa “I know I’m smarter then you attitude”. As the story progresses he readers see his actions slowly change the way he goes about his business.


The first couple pages of the novel kicks off the story with Sam Spade accepting an offer totake on a case by a women who readers later find out is named Brigid O’Shaughnessy. Before Spade and his partner Archer even heard the rest of her story he accepted the case based on the fact that she was good looking as described in the first few pages.

Sam winked at his partner.
Archer came forward to stand at a corner of the
desk. While the girl looked at her bag he looked at her bag he looked at her.
His little brown eyes ran their bold appraising gaze from her lowered face down
to her feet and up to her face again. Then Spade looked at his partner and made
a silent whistling mouth of appreciation.
Spade lifted from his chair and
said “We shouldn’t have any trouble with it.” (Hammet, 7)

Because of his hastiness to accept the case it leads to the death of his partner and the possiblecharge of homicide for his partners death. Later Spade meets a man named Joe Cairo, who also seeks the assistance of a private eye to find the where abouts of the Maltese Falcon. When he finds out that both Brigids and Joes case conflict with each others but he takes it on anyways as he sees the opportunity to take the falcon himself.


After confronted by Joe Cairo Spade later finds himself with Brigid to confront her about his new case and it doesn’t sit so well with her as she was supposed to be his focus at the time and did not expect Sam Spade to pick up another case.

“Surely your not considering it,” she said.
“Why not? Five thousand dollars
is a lot of money”
“But mister spade you promised to help me.” Her hands were
on his arm. “I trusted you. You cant –“ She broke off, took her hands from his
sleeve and worked them together.
Spade smiled gently into her troubled eyes.
“Don’t lets try to figure out how much you’ve trusted me,” he said. “I promised
to help you-sure- but you didn’t say anything about any black birds”
“You
wont – you cant- treat me like that.” Her eyes were cobalt
blue prayers. “Five thousand dollars is,” he said for the third time, “a lot of
money” (Hammet, 57)

One of the sub characters in this novel is Casper Gutman. Although Dashiel Hammet doesn’treveal to much about him, what the readers do get is enough to tell readers that he’s all about looking out for number one. Numerous times in the book he puts the people around him in danger only to get his hands on the falcon, something that he is so obsessed with that he spent the last seventeen years of his life circling the glob in search of the Maltese Falcon.


The first thing that readers end up noticing about the man is that his daughter means nothing to him compared to the wealth that is to be gained with the apprehension of the falcon. And only seems to be aware of her presence when he can use her to distract Spade long enough to get the falcon. He even put her in physical danger and in trouble with the law as she pretended to be drugged and kidnapped in the Hotel. Later Spade finds out that she wasn’t drugged at all as shortly after he arrived Rhea escaped from the hotel. Its also not a coincidence that Rhea is seventeen years old as well as it was a point made by Hammet to show how Gutman essentially missed out entirely on raising his daughter.


Another small character in this novel is Wilmer Cook, also known as Gutmans “secretary” Wilmer sees Gutman as a father figure, or a role model but as the readers find out Gutman doesn’t exactly see Wilmer as a son. This is said later on in the novel as Gutman was telling Wilmer that he was to be a fallback guy and take on the charges that were laid on Gutman for his actions involving several murders that were done to acquire the falcon.

"I couldn't be any fonder of you if you were my own son; but — well, by Gad! —
if you lose a son it's possible to get another — and there's only one
Maltese
falcon."(Hammet, 194)

Two more characters that play hug roles in this novel are Joel Cairo and Brigid O'Shaughnessys, both of them are caught up in capturing the falcon. First of all Brigid made up a story about her sister going missing because she wanted her accomplice in stealing the falcon(Mr.Thursby) followed around because she didn’t trust him. She tells Spade how much she needs him for protection knowing how much he is in love with her. But every time she sees the chance to steal the falcon with out anyone knowing she disappears from Spades side. In the end the reader finds out that she had actually killed Archer to take the spotlight off of her.


Joe Cairo becomes obsessed with the falcon as well as the novel progresses he was even said to be “deadly” by his employer Mr. Gutman. He proved this bypointing Sam Spade at gunpoint in the beginning of the novel until Spade agreed to take his case. At the end of the novel he even agrees to travel with Mr.Gutman to search for the falcon as he still had the dreams of the untold wealth that followed the falcon.


In this novel, Hammet uses greed as a fuel for most of the main characters ambition as all of them became obsessed with the wealth that was promised to them with the capture of the Maltese Falcon. Weather or not it was the story’s antagonist Mr.Gutman or the protagonist Sam Spade each character at somepoint put aside there morals and thought for the people around them for personal gain.


Refrences - Hammett, Dashiell. Maltese Falcon. First Vintage Crime/Black Lizard Edition. New York: Vintage Books, 1930.

Maltese Falcon Essay Outline

T – In the novel Maltese Falcon, the author Dashiel Hammet uses the charecters greed and self-mindedness as a means to further progress the story.


R – Sam spades greed

E - Financially hes willing to sell his services to the person who offers him the most money even taking on both Joel Cairo and Brigid O'Shaughnessy as clients, even though their interests conflict with eachother

E - (insert quote, “five thousand dollars…”) explain how greed is taking over spade


R – Gutmans greed

E - He only seems aware of the existence of his daughter when hes able to use her to distract Spade from getting the falcon before and he is even willing to put Rhea in legal and even physical danger without thinking about it

E - As Gutman explains to Wilmer, after offering to make him the "fall-guy" for the police: "I couldn't be any fonder of you if you were my own son; but — well, by Gad! — if you lose a son it's possible to get another — and there's only one Maltese falcon."


R - Joel Cairo, Brigid O'Shaughnessys greed

E they all seem to be focused on the wealth that is to come with the retrieval of the Maltese falcon but only if it doesn’t cause punishment or harm to themselves (explain then insert quote from text support)

E – (insert quote from convo between cairo, brigid and spade) chapter 7

C - restate thesis, sum up key points with the main charecters

New Thesis....

Thesis



In the novel Maltese Falcon, the author Dashiel Hammet uses the villains greed and self-mindedness as a means to further progress the story.