Mark,
Re your question below:
> I also appreciated the way you broke it all
down,
> especially the
> two-fold effect. I'm curious, though
(seriously,
> not a crap remark),
> would the same reasoning make Mike Hammer
moral?
> (Except, maybe, in his
> sexual practices -- even though the women are
always
> more than willing,
> at least in I the Jury he was cheating on
his
> fiancee -- can't believe
> anyone doesn't already know the following,
but
> SPOILER -- even if she
> did turn out to be the murderer OVER.)
Clearly
> Hammer's intent is
> moral, but what about his taking on the role
of
> judge, jury and
> executioner for himself?
Hammer would probably say he is answering a higher morality.
Certainly in Spillane's best book (and one of my personal
all-time favorite PI books), ONE LONELY NIGHT, Hammer starts
to believe that he is one a mission from God.
According to the "two-fold effect" approach, however,
Hammer's actions can't be justified because they are
intrinsically wrong.
And the implicit part of the two-fold effect, the lack of any
other available means to achieve a necessary, moral end, also
renders his actions unjustifiable. By the time Hammer
dispatches the monster at the end of each of his "quests," he
generally has enough action to take to court. With the
exception of THE GIRL HUNTERS, Hammer eschews societal
justice, and deals out punishment himself. He's not
satisfying the ends of justice; he's satsifying his own (and
the readers') desire for immediate revenge. Marlowe takes a
questionable action because he's GOT to take SOME action, so
he takes the least morally objectionable approach available
to him. Hammer's usually decided what he's going to do, right
or wrong, before he even starts his investigation; he's never
faced with a moral dilemma because he's already decided to
take a fundamentally immoral course of action (though one he
believes he can justify or at least rationalize).
Finally, Hammer is usually working without a client, so he
has neither the sworn duty of a police officer to consider
when he goes out after criminals, nor the interests of a
client he's ethically bound to look out for. He has only his
own personal interest in seeing the villain pay.
So Hammer's actions (as viscerally and dramatically
satisfying as they are) don't stand up to any close moral
scrutiny.
That's not a criticism of Spillane, by the way, just an
application of a commonly-taught moral principal.
JIM DOHERTY
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