---
juri.nummelin@pp.inet.fi wrote:
> I think Patrick is talking about the
latter
> definition, while many here are
> talking about the earlier. (I'm still quite not
sure
> whether the definition
> fits The Maltese Falcon.)
***************************************************** The
information I've got about psychopaths and sociopaths comes
for the most part from research in the studies on the subject
by the US FBI. PROFILES IN MURDER by Russell Vorpagel details
the legal difference between psychopath and sociopath. Roy
Hazelwood's THE EVIL THAT MEN DO, teaches how to profile a
crime scene and dispels popular myths and generalities about
serial killers. Robert Ressler's WHOEVER FIGHTS MONSTERS
explains the early attempts to interview and learn the
personality issues that drive this type of thinking. And John
Douglas entire body of work beginning with MIND HUNTER detail
numerous interactions with murderers and other narcissistic
criminals and what sets them apart from less imaginative
criminals.
As the title implies, the Falcon, itself is the deciding
factor determining the mental problems of the people seeking
it. A "professional" criminal stealing such an object would
melt it down for the jewels and metal and sell it to a fence.
For all of these people, Gutman, Cairo, Cook &
O'Shaughnessy, the object has taken on a mythology of its own
as if it had magical properties. They are willing to kill
just to possess it. As Jack pointed out, there's no logic to
O'Shaughnessy's murder of Archer. Murder has become her first
option for solving problems.
None of these people seem to have any plan on what to do with
the Falcon when they get it; where to sell it for the million
Gutman believes it is worth. Mere possession is their motive
for murder. This is a psychotic world view.
Compare it to the theft of the Socrates cup in Ed McBain's
LAST BEST HOPE. These crooks were sociopaths but they had an
objective. They were hired to steal the cup by a wealthy
patron. They killed each other because they feared each other
with very good reason. But they wanted the cup for the money,
not for any metaphysical belief system like Gutman has
expounded and sold to all the others. The Falcon quartet are
very interesting examples of four different types of
pathology.
Patrick King
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