Antagonist

Character Role Analysis

Casper Gutman

There is a pretty sizeable cast of bad guys in The Maltese Falcon, from the slimy Joel Cairo to the thuggish Wilmer to the murdered Thursby. But the main antagonist is the fat man, Casper Gutman, whose sole mission in life is to own the falcon. This single-minded obsession leads him to do whatever it takes to reach his goal, even if it means sacrificing Wilmer. Gutman makes Spade's life pretty miserable, but in the end, Spade comes out on top and Gutman gets exactly what he deserved.