Lilith and The Maltese Falcon: Perspectives on the Femme Fatale by Ramon Arjona

Mary Astor is hot.

There's something about Miss Wonderly, the character she plays in The Maltese Falcon that gets to me, more than most other women on screen. I've often wondered why I should find a woman in a film that's over fifty years old so attractive, especially when most other women in film leave me cold. The film isn't terribly sexual by modern standards. Miss Wonderly never takes her clothes off; she and Sam Spade never have sex. But there's still something about her that gets to me-almost like a fetish--and I need to know why.

Maybe it's because Miss Wonderly is ruthless. Maybe it's because she's confident. Maybe it's because she's so obviously in control of her sexuality, and her destiny. In other words, maybe it's because she is the perfect expression of the femme fatale, the archetype of the beautiful, deadly, nearly demonic woman that emerged in the cinema of the 1940s.

In searching to understand my fascination with Miss Wonderly, and with femme fatales in general, I started with The Maltese Falcon. Then I took a surprising detour through Jewish myth and mysticism. Finally, I ended up looking at Basic Instinct, and wondering why Catherine Trammel doesn't get to me the way Miss Wonderly does. On the way, I read Women In Film Noir, an important critical work that came out of the 1970s, and which I think is an important read for anybody who's interested in film criticism, feminism, or noir.

As Janey Place points out on in her essay "Women in Film Noir"--published in the book of the same name, mentioned above-the deadly woman archetype is an old one. Nearly all cultures have many myths about dangerous, powerful women who function outside the bounds of society. Frequently these women are ugly, like the mythical Balinese witch Rangda who teaches children black magic and causes babies to be stillborn. Often, however, these women are attractive and their seductive power makes them an even greater threat to the hetero male power holders. The mythical European succubus, who gives men wet dreams-which, you'll remember, was a very bad thing in the middle ages-and the Greek sirens are examples of this combination of sexuality and destructive power. There are many more examples like these, from all around the world.

In a way, the femme fatale archetype can be seen as a modern version of this mythic figure. The femme fatale also exists outside the bounds of normal society-she is typically neither wife nor mother-and she carries the same implied threat of violence. Like the succubus, her sexuality gives her power and makes her a threat to hetero men. Knowing this, I started looking for an early example of the femme fatale--a progenitrix if you will-a figure that could be said to be the original femme fatale.

Janey Place, in her essay, casts the Biblical Eve as a femme fatale. While this is a fair comparison, I don't agree with it completely.

The comparison is fair because in Christian myth, it is Eve who is blamed for the Fall from the Garden. Eve succumbs to the temptation offered by the phallic serpent, and through her Adam succumbs to temptation. In a sense, it is Eve's sexuality in her relationship to the serpent and to Adam that causes the Fall.

This interpretation of the Genesis story led to centuries of oppression. In the Middle Ages, women were commonly held to be hypersexual, carnal being who were ruled by their lusts. Men, by contrast, were creatures of reason who were able to transcend carnality, and withstand the lustful advances of their wives. This contributed to the overall perception that women were naturally "less" than, and subordinate to, men.

Of course, this interpretation of Genesis glosses over Adam's responsibility for the Fall. But it remained popular for quite some time.

Eve, in this view, is responsible for bringing sin and death into the world, through her sexual nature. Therefore, she does have some things in common with the femme fatale archetype. Specifically, she possesses sexual power over the hetero male hero of the story (Adam), and through this sexual power the hero is brought to his downfall. It's a little bit like watching Miss Wonderly charm Sam Spade.

But there are some important qualities that Miss Wonderly has and that Eve lacks. The most important of these, I think, is individuality.

The Bible is full of "fallen women" characters. But these "fallen women" always gain their importance in relation to men. The story of Samson and Delilah, for instance, is really the story of Samson. Delilah just happens to play a significant role in it. Without Samson, Delilah fades in importance. Arguably, she might even fade from existence. Likewise, nobody would remember Salome if it weren't for John the Baptist.

Eve is exactly like Delilah and Salome. She's not as important to the story as Adam. That's why her temptation is just a prelude to the climactic, and more important, temptation of Adam. This makes her very unlike Miss Wonderly in particular, and femme fatales in general. A femme fatale is not just a reflection of the hero-she's important on her own. She's in control of her situation and her destiny, and she could continue to act and exist without the hero.

Miss Wonderly, for instance, continues to go after what she wants-the Maltese Falcon-even after her first male partner is dead. She moves forward without a man to reflect her; she has her own goals. Her relationship with Spade is a means towards this goal, not a goal in itself. This is a stark contrast with Eve, whose only purpose in the story seems to be to tempt Adam.

It's true that Miss Wonderly tempts Spade with the Falcon much like Eve tempts Adam with the fruit. But Miss Wonderly wants the Falcon for herself. She'd probably be satisfied if she could keep it for herself alone. Eve, on the other hand, has no comparable goal of her own. She doesn't even choose to want the fruit on her own: the snake talks her into it. It's clear that Eve isn't an independent actor in this story. She's just a reflection of the male figures that surround her.

This leads us to the next quality that Miss Wonderly has and that Eve lacks: volition. Eve doesn't act on her own. She needs the snake to tell her what to do. This is nothing like the femme fatales I've seen in film, who know what they want and act ruthlessly to get it. If Miss Wonderly had been in the Garden instead, I think she would have eaten the fruit of the Tree of Life first-the fruit that grants the eater immortality-and then the fruit of the Tree of Knowledge-the one that Eve was tempted with, which grants the eater knowledge of good and bad. I think Miss Wonderly would've been completely deliberate about it, and I think sharing with Adam would only occur to her as an afterthought.

You'll recall that this is precisely what God wants to avoid in Genesis 3, when he sets the angel with the sword up to guard the Tree of Life. The combination of moral knowledge and immortality evidently results in a being too "godlike" for God's comfort. I've always wondered why Eve ate the fruit of the Tree of Knowledge first. But, I digress.

Eve, clearly, is a hapless puppet acting out the fantasies of the men around her, first the snake, then Adam. If she causes destruction, if she brings about the hero's downfall, it's because of the way she's been used and not because of her own goals. In a sense, Eve is a victim-and a femme fatale should never be a victim. A fatale should never be stripped of her own individuality, her own will, her own responsibility. If the fatale is punished, like Miss Wonderly at the end of the Maltese Falcon, it should be because of what she has done on her own, not because of what somebody else has done to her. So, if we're looking for the original fatale, Eve isn't it. She might be an ancestor of the archetype, but she doesn't represent the archetype herself.

There is another character from the Garden stories that does, in my opinion, fulfill the femme fatale role completely. Lilith, who appears in Jewish legend, as Adam's first wife is sexual, is in control of her destiny, and has a mind of her own. Like all good fatales, this combination of sexual power free will makes her a threat to the hetero male hero.

As the legend goes, Lilith and Adam were both created from clay. Some versions of the story insist that Lilith was created from dust and silt, while Adam was created out of a better quality of clay. The important detail, though, is that Lilith is created independently of Adam, unlike Eve who is made out of Adam's rib. Therefore, Lilith is Adam's peer, not his subordinate. Or, at least, that's how Lilith sees it.

According to one version of the story, Lilith and Adam fight because Adam only wants to have sex in the missionary position. Lilith doesn't like the idea of being in the submissive posture all the time. Finally, she gets fed up, speaks the ineffable name of God, and takes off into the air. She flies off, out of the Garden, and leaves Adam behind.

The story goes on to say that God sends three angels after Lilith. Different accounts of the story seem to disagree about whether the angels are supposed to punish Lilith, drag her back to the Garden, or inform her of God's judgment against her.

The angels finally catch up to Lilith on the bank of the Red Sea. Lilith has joined with the large crowd of demons that exist near the Red Sea--according to Jewish myth, demons congregate near water-and is having a great time, having lots of demonic sex. The Red Sea seems sort of like a supernatural version of Hedonism II. According to the story, Lilith is also very fecund, and is popping out lots and lots of demonic children.

At any rate, according to one version of the story the angels ask Lilith to come back to the Garden. She refuses, saying she can't go back to the Garden after everything she's seen and experienced on the bank of the Red Sea.

At this point, the details of the story start to conflict. It seems consistent throughout the versions of the story that Lilith is punished by God. She either continues to be the incredibly fecund mother of demons, or she becomes sterile. In any case, she is supposed to hate human children, and kill them when she gets the chance. There is a specific window of time for girl children, and a different window for boy children, during which they are vulnerable to Lilith. Amulets that feature the names of the three angels God sent after Lilith when she fled from the Garden are supposed to ward her away from the children's cribs.

And all of this, because she didn't want to have sex in the missionary position, and then discovered she had a thing for group sex.

In other words, Lilith has made a choice that doesn't involve Adam. Her independence is a threat, and so she's ostracized from the society of "good" women. She can't be a virtuous wife, or a good mother. Instead, she must be the demonic killer of babies. She must be sterile, unable to function in a family the way a "normal" woman should. The hetero power structures in place, meant to support Adam and all men in general, will allow for nothing else.

Meanwhile, back in the Garden, God makes Eve out of Adam's rib. Because she's fashioned from Adam, she's meek and submissive like a good wife ought to be, and probably can't even imagine sex in anything other than the missionary position. Cast in this light, Eve is much more like the "good" girls who appear in film noir, in contrast with the femme fatale. She is, for instance, a lot like Sam Spade's competent, but very obedient secretary who is always ready to do whatever her boss tells her to do.

I should mention that, while some feminist critics and scholars have tried to claim that Lilith was once a Hebrew goddess who was written out of the Bible by editors invested in the hetero male power structure, this probably isn't true. The first appearance of the Lilith myth as we know it today is in The Alphabet of Ben Sira, a mystical Jewish work that was written until well after the Bible. She also creeps up here and there in the Jewish oral mythological tradition. She is probably related to an ancient Sumerian demon figure, and was probably never worshiped as a goddess in ancient times at all.

But that's not the point.

The point is, Lilith is an example of a woman who makes decisions, and faces the consequences, on her own. She's not a puppet; she's not a reflection of the hero. Instead, she is the hero's peer. She's in control of her sexuality, and her sexuality threatens the hero so much that he can't live with her without undermining himself.

She is, I believe, the ancient example of the femme fatale archetype I'd been looking for. She, more than any other female mythic figure, reminds me of Miss Wonderly, who appears about two millennia later in John Huston's The Maltese Falcon.

There are two women in The Maltese Falcon besides Miss Wonderly. There's Mrs. Archer, the wife of Sam Spade's partner, and there's Spade's secretary. Miss Wonderly as is unlike either of them as Eve is unlike Lilith.

Mrs. Archer is far from being a "good" woman, because she and Spade are screwing behind her husband's back. She is firmly on the whore side of the familiar Virgin-Whore continuum. But she isn't a femme fatale. She doesn't even approximate one, because she has no power of her own. When her husband gets shot, she goes to Spade almost immediately, as if she can't exist without a man to validate her. She spends most of the film relating to, and clinging to, Spade. Like Eve, she exists as a reflection of the hero. She's not a complete person by herself.

On the other hand, Spade's secretary is attractive, but nearly sexless. She's on the opposite side of the Virgin-Whore continuum; she seems completely chaste. She's also obedient, doing Spade's dirty work for him whenever he asks. When Mrs. Archer's husband is killed, Spade sends his secretary to comfort her-not out of compassion, but because he doesn't want Mrs. Archer near him. She even lies to the police when Spade tells her to. Because she is chaste and obedient, Spade's secretary, like Eve, is a "good" girl. And, like Eve, she exists only in relation to the hero. She's not an individual in her own right. Miss Wonderly isn't on the Virgin-Whore continuum. She's beyond it. She's a sexual being, but unlike Mrs. Archer, Spade doesn't own her. Miss Wonderly is in control of her sexuality, and she uses it to get control over Spade.

The ending of the film deals with this threatening sexuality by creating a paean to masculinity. Spade rejects Miss Wonderly because she's responsible for killing his partner, and when your partner dies, as Spade says, "you're supposed to do something." In other words, the masculine "code of honor", as it were, is stronger than Miss Wonderly's sexuality, stronger than the feelings that Spade has developed for Miss Wonderly and that Miss Wonderly is supposed to have developed for Spade. So, Spade turns Miss Wonderly over to the police. She is carted of for her punishment, possibly execution, and the hetero male power structure is preserved.

I find the ending very sour, for several reasons. First, the fact that Archer was Spade's partner didn't stop Spade from screwing Archer's wife. It is only when Spade is threatened by a feminine power greater than he is that he retreats into comfortable platitudes about partnership and honor. Second, the ending trivializes the partnership between Mrs. Archer and her husband, and between Spade and Miss Wonderly. To me, the subtext clearly says that bonds between men are more important, more sacred, than the bonds between men and women. It seems like a restatement of a proverb I heard once, which cautioned, "A woman is like clothes, but a brother is like skin." In other words, women are interchangeable and disposable but men are important.

Most femme fatales meet a similar end. They have to be destroyed or undermined in some way to preserve the male-centric power structure in place at the time.

Still, even as Miss Wonderly is taken away, I don't think she is stripped of all of her power. I don't feel that she is a victim. She, at least, is facing the consequences of her own actions. She brought her fate upon herself, and in a way I think that vindicates her.

Having come to better terms with my attraction to Miss Wonderly, I turned to the neo-noir classic, Basic Instinct. I greatly enjoyed the film when I first saw it, and I wanted to consciously compare Sharon Stone's character, Catherine Trammel, with Mary Astor's character, Miss Wonderly.

I found myself feeling less interested in Catherine than I remembered being when the film first came out ten years ago. More than this, I was surprised to find that she's just not as much of a turn on as Miss Wonderly.

At first, this didn't make sense to me. Catherine is much more explicit than Miss Wonderly. Catherine's bisexual, Catherine's into BDSM-Catherine engages in a range of transgressive sexual behavior that's not available to Miss Wonderly. Why, then, do I feel like Catherine is somehow tamer?

I think it's because I don't buy Catherine's character. There's a big disconnect between BDSM as it's actually practiced, and the way it's shown on film. There's an even bigger disconnect between the way bisexual women are in real life, and the way they're shown in porn. Catherine and her lover Roxy, for instance, don't seem real to me. They seem like a hetero male fantasy; they seem like something from a soft-core porn film.

Don't get me wrong; I have a great appreciation for pornography. But, I also think that the best porn has some aspect of truth in it, and avoids the stereotypical presentation of BDSM, bisexuality, and other alternative sex practice, which is common to most mainstream porn. Rewatching Basic Instinct, I felt that Catherine Trammel was sinking into a stereotype of a bisexual, kinky woman. I felt that she was becoming boxed into a fantasy.

Miss Wonderly and femme fatales like her, on the other hand, are more than just the fantasy itself-they are fuel for fantasy. Arguably, for instance, the femme fatale is a significant contributing force behind the development of the smoking fetish. It was the 1940s, after all, and most of the characters in film noir smoke, including the femme fatales. We viewers become trained to associate these powerfully sexual beings with the cigarettes in their hands and the languid smoke curling around their faces. Likewise, the glamorous, stocking-covered legs of the femme fatale are precisely the stuff that many foot fetishes are made of. Even our modern concept of the female Dominant probably owes something to the femme fatale archetype.

Trying to understand my attraction to Mary Astor's performance in The Maltese Falcon, I found something primal. I discovered that the character she plays is a manifestation of an archetype with roots that go back thousands of years, and whose influence we still feel in our movies and our fantasies. She's an incarnation of the femme fatale: sexual, terrible, and above all: powerful.

Bibliography Women In Film Noir, ed. E. Ann Kaplan, British Film Institue, 1998.


about the author: Originally from Hawaii, Ramon now lives in Washington state with his wife and two cats. His work has appeared in the Hawaii Review, the Chaminade Literary Review, and the Absinthe Literary Review. Ramon can be reached at ramonarjona@hotmail.com