The Hard Boiled Private Eye - 873 Words

The hard-boiled private eye is a mysterious protagonist who is a professional investigator. With a first look at Oedipus Rex in Sophocles’ Oedipus the King and Jake Gittes in Roman Polanski’s Chinatown they seem to be very different from each other. Jake Gittes is a busy detective that lets solving cases consume his life and Odeipus Rex is a brand new King in the city of Thebes whose is cursed with a fate that cannot be changed. After reading Oedipus the King and watching Chinatown, it’s clear that both stories share similar characteristics such as corruption, lies and even incest. Oedipus the King is a tragedy by the ancient Greek playwright Sophocles, that follows the story of King Oedipus of Thebes as he discovers that he has unwittingly killed his own father, Laius, and married his own mother, Jocasta. When Oedipus was a baby his parents were told by a prophet that the baby would grow up to kill his father and marry his own mother. Oedipus’ mother and father sent him away to be hanged by his ankles until death. Oedipus was later found and taken to a queen and king in another kingdom where he would grow up thinking they were his real parents. When Oedipus get older he gets told by a drunken man that he is a bastard child and this sends him on a mission to find out the truth. Oedipus goes to the bind prophet for answers and after threating the prophet’s life he gets the full truth. Oedipus learns that he is destined to kill his father and marry his mother, so he decidesShow MoreRelatedThe Postman Always Rings Twice By Dashiell Hammett And The Ma ltese Falcon As A Hard Boiled Story950 Words   |  4 PagesMajor Works The following list is a great start for those who want to read the classic hard-boiled stories that have defined what is meant by a hard boiled fiction. The Maltese Falcon by Dashiell Hammett. The Postman Always Rings Twice by James M Cain. It caused a scandal with its explosive mix of violence and sex. The torrid story of Frank Chambers, the amoral drifter, Cora, the sullen and brooding wife, and Nick Papadakis, the amiable but inconvenient husband, has become a classic of its kindRead MoreThe Mystery Of Detective Fiction1648 Words   |  7 Pagespublishing companies â€Å"devote entire labels to the genre† (Gaines). Those genres become a common preference among readers, which include â€Å"standard private eye, cozy mysteries, classic detective, police procedurals, hard-boiled, and thrillers† (Mystery). The private eye genre remains of the most popular genre among detective fiction. The private eye usually gathers information on someone whom his client wants information on. The client may need information on his cheating wife, embezzling partnerRead MoreThe History of the Hard-Boiled Detective Essay883 Words   |  4 PagesThere are many sub-genres of detective fiction and hard-boiled fiction is one of them. What exactly is hard-boiled detective fiction? Hard-Boiled detective fiction is fiction that features tough, cynical, urban private eyes who expose corruption and frequently get injured in the course of their investigations (Detective Fiction, Literary). Hard-Boiled fiction is considered one of the more popular sub-genres of detective fiction; there have been numerous films and novels about urban detectivesRead More`` Hard Boiled And `` Golden Age `` By Dashiell Hammett s The Maltese Falcon And The Gutting Of1575 Words   |  7 PagesWhile American and British authors developed the two distinct schools of detective fiction, known as â€Å"hard-boiled and â€Å"golden age,† simultaneously, the British works served to continue traditions established by earlier authors while American works formed their own distinct identity. Though a niche category, detective works reflect the morality and culture of the societies their authors lived in. Written in the time period after World War I, Dashiell Hammett’s The Maltese Falcon and â€Å"The GuttingRead MoreBig Sleep965 Words   |  4 Pageswithin the genre of the chosen film? ‘The Big Sleep (1946) starring Humphrey Bogart and Lauren Bacall is one of Raymond Chandlers best hard-boiled detective mysteries transformed in to a Film Noir, private detective film classic. The Big Sleep is the best example of a classic Warner Brothers mystery. It is very complex, confusing L.A. private eye Phillip Marlowe takes on a blackmail case and follows a trail peopled with murders, pornographers, nightclub rouges and the indulged rich. HumphreyRead MoreMarele Days Novel, The Life and Crimes of Harry Lavender Essay1144 Words   |  5 Pagesset in the readers minds, in relation to gender issues. Day also succeeds to ruthlessly unmask the bare grit and grime of the cold hard truth, that is, organized crime in Sydney. The Life and Crimes of Harry Lavender is a satirical ridicule of the traditional hard-boiled school crime novel. It complies with the basic characteristics of a piece of private-eye detective fiction; however Day has also incorporated a certain extent of irony into the story by choosing the main character/detectiveRead MoreThe Girl with The Silver Eyes1418 Words   |  6 Pages Hard-boiled detective fiction sets the scene for a cold and harsh reality. Dashiell Hammett’s, â€Å"The Girl with The Silver Eyes† is no exception to this rule. In this short story Hammett paints a picture of a brutally realistic urban center filled with characters that not many people would want to call friends. The realistic qualities of Hammett’s story are drawn from his own life’s experience working as a Pinkerton detective. The detective in â€Å"The Girl With The Silver Eyes† works for the ContinentalRead MoreBlue Dress, By Walter Mosley1905 Words   |  8 PagesNearly five decades later, Walter Mosley introduced his detective mystery, Devil in a Blue Dress, which would become a classic amongst hard-boiled literature and would also make it to the big screen. When we look at Mosley’s essay, â€Å"Poisonville,† which describes hard-boiled as â€Å"a state of being†¦when a man or a woman, or an entire nation of women and men, is pressed to physical, emotional, economic, and/or intellectual limits†¦Ã¢â‚¬ (Paragraph 1), it can be argued that he carried these ideas over to hisRead MoreThe Big Sleep By Raymond Chandler1635 Words   |  7 PagesIn Raymond Chandler’s novel The Big Sleep, a private detective is trying to unravel a blackmailing case for a dying millionaire, General Sternwood. Philip Marlowe, the detective, finds that the case not only involves blackmail, but also homicide. Set and written in 1930’s America, the economic devastation of the Great Depression has a significant influence on the book’s plot, and showcases character’s struggle to retain honor and virtue in a world that revolves around profit-seeking delinquency andRead MoreCorruption in Raymond Chandler’s The Big Sleep825 Words   |  3 PagesIn Raymond Chandler’s novel The Big Slee p, a private detective is trying to unravel a blackmailing case for a dying millionaire, General Sternwood. Philip Marlowe, the detective, finds that the case not only involves blackmail, but also homicide. Set and written in 1930’s America, the economic devastation of the Great Depression has a significant influence on the book’s plot, and showcases character’s struggle to retain honor and virtue in a world that revolves around profit-seeking delinquency and