Femme Fatale as Performance :
Dashiell Hammett ’ s Femme Fatale and Butler ’ s Performativity
Daisy Cowley ( MA English Literatures , Keele University )
Abstract
By exploring Dashiell Hammett ’ s The Maltese Falcon , I seek to explore the stock figure of the femme fatale in regards to Butler ’ s notion of performativity . Women in Noir are dichotomised , according to Janey Place , into the innocent and the wicked , the virgin and the femme fatale- in other words , they are restricted by conforming to a ‘ type ’. I wish to question if women in noir at some point began to use the femme fatale , to use these dichotomies , to their advantage ? Could they play with the defined roles set out for women by men – the femme fatale and the angel in the house – in order to underpin those very roles ? The novel boldly assumes that the ‘ schoolgirl act ’ is the only act Brigid ( the femme of the novel ) is undertaking – leaving her femme fatale actions to be the truth of her character . However , I argue that Brigid performs her femme fatale act as well as the ‘ schoolgirl ’, meaning her ‘ parody ’ is of the structures in place to contain women and the sheer meaninglessness of those labels . In this sense , the femme fatale is a performative reaction which uses , and exists within , the labels of the patriarchy yet , in the performative action , undermines these dichotomous labels by displaying the very performative nature of corresponding to them .
Key Words : Femme Fatale ; Noir ; Dashiell Hammett ; Judith Butler ; Performativity