Here she is very nervous - nervous about interreacting with Spade , nervous about having to go to a private investigator and nervous about entering into this seedy agreement . The stopping and starting of her speech suggests that she does not know how to go about verbalising her problem , and that she is uncomfortable in this public sphere . Christine E . Crouse-Dick argues that the angel in the house was confined to the private sphere ( Crouse-Dick 2012 , 442 ), thus Brigid ’ s ( Miss Wonderly ’ s ) discomfort at having to resort to asking private detectives , and her discomfort at entering the public sphere is a feature of an angel not a femme fatale . Although we later find out this is a lie , Brigid places her initial dilemma firmly in the domestic sphere . She claims that her sister has run off with a man and that she “ didn ’ t know what she had done until her [ sister ’ s ] letter came . I was frantic ” ( Hammett 1974 , 7 ) and that her “ Mama and Papa are in Europe . It would kill them . I ’ ve got to ger her back before they come home ” ( Hammett 1974 , 7 ). This creates a narrative in which she only hires the detective for the good of her parents and to help find her sister – what could be more virtuous and good than that ? We are presented at the start of the novel , then , with a woman who looks like the femme fatale yet acts like the angel in the house . This creates a mockery - a parody - of these very definitions of femininity and renders them somewhat useless .
We later find out that Miss Wonderly - and the domestic narrative spun by Brigid - is all a lie . It is easy to suggest that the Angel in the House is merely a lie and that the femme fatale is the truth that remains of Brigid ’ s character . Indeed , this is the assumption made in the novel . Sam Spade repeatedly tells Brigid “‘ Will you stop it ! … ‘ This isn ’ t the spot for the schoolgirl act ’” ( Hammett 1974 , 183 ). As Spade continues the investigation , he becomes more and more convinced of Brigid ’ s villainy and her ‘ act ’. Going back to Tasker ’ s definition of the femme fatale , it is easy to understand why Brigid may be dismissed purely as a femme : “ Third , the deceptions , disguises and confusion that surrounds her , producing her as an ambiguous figure for both the audience and the hero ” ( Tasker 1998 , 6 ). However , whilst the characters in the novel are willing to accept that Brigid ’ s good girl persona is an act , they do not consider that her femme may be one too - despite the novel placing emphasis on the action of acting .
The Gaze and Performance
Nils Clausson has discussed the importance of eyes within this novel and stated that “ there are 252 occurrences of the words eye and eyes ” ( Clausson 2017 , 18 ). He goes on to argue that eyes are used to show ‘ acts ’ and that the reason Archer is killed is because , unlike Spade , he cannot “ see / read Miss Wonderly ’ s performance as a performance ” ( Clausson 2017 , 19 ).