How we cite our quotes: (Chapter.Paragraph)
Quote #7
"Well, what the hell? Am I supposed to run around after my clients begging them to let me help them?" (16.21)
Spade isn't always happy having to stick to his principles and his clients don't always make it easy for him to help them, either. But the whole point of having principles in the first place is to follow them even when people try to force you to change. And lucky for Spade, he has a stubborn streak that keeps him from caring what people think of him.
Quote #8
"You're sore because she did something on her own hook, without telling you. Why shouldn't she? You're not so damned honest, and you haven't been so much on the level with her, that she should trust you completely." (16.26)
Effie calls Spade out for feeling sore at Brigid for not telling him everything. Effie reminds Spade that he hasn't been 100% on the level with her either. The fact that Spade is honest 24/7 suggests that within his code of principles, he still leaves himself room to bend the rules.
Quote #9
He sat up straight, put the envelope aside—on the sofa—and addressed Gutman: "We'll come back to the money later. There's another thing that's got to be taken care of first. We've got to have a fall-guy. […] The police have got to have a victim—someone they can stick for those three murders." (18.24)
Spade insists that Gutman has to give him a "fall guy" to give to the police, but is this an ethical suggestion? If Spade is supposed to be a man of principles, is he violating his moral code by trying to find someone to pin both murderers on? Granted, Wilmer did kill Thursby, so he's guilty of one of the murders. But we find out later that Brigid is the one who killed Archer. So is Spade's demand to have a scapegoat, someone to take blame, reveal that he's really only concerned about making sure he doesn't get into trouble?