It becomes clear that before leaving, Marcus has taken revenge on Mac by informing city hall that he has no license or academic degree. McTeague loses his practice and the couple is forced to move into successively poorer quarters, as Trina becomes more and more miserly. Their life together deteriorates, with McTeague escalating in his abuse until he steals all of Trina's domestic savings (amounting to $400 or roughly $13,000 in 2022 values) and abandons her. Meanwhile, Trina falls completely under the spell of money and withdraws the principal of her prior winnings in gold from her uncle's firm so she can admire and handle the coins in her room, at one point spreading them over her bed and rolling around in them. When McTeague returns, destitute once more, Trina refuses to give him money even for food. McTeague beats her to death. He takes the entire hoard of gold and heads out to a mining community that he had left years before. Sensing pursuit, he makes his way south towards Mexico. Meanwhile, Marcus hears of the murder and joins the hunt for McTeague, finally catching him in Death Valley. In the middle of the desert, Marcus and McTeague fight over McTeague's remaining water and, when that runs out, over Trina's $5,000. McTeague kills Marcus, but as he dies, Marcus handcuffs himself to McTeague. The final, dramatic image of the novel is one of McTeague stranded, alone, and helpless. He is left with only the company of Marcus's corpse, to whom he is handcuffed, in the desolate, arid waste of Death Valley. Adaptations McTeague (also known as Life's Whirlpool) starring Holbrook Blinn and Fania Marinoff was released in 1916. It is considered a lost film. Greed, Erich von Stroheim's film version of McTeague, was made in 1924. In its original form, it lasted approximately eight hours but was cut drastically by the studio, MGM, and most of the excised footage has been lost. Karen Kearns produced a radio drama version of McTeague in 1989, under a fellowship for the Corporation for Public Broadcasting. The program features Stacy Keach, Carol Kane, Hector Elizondo, JoBeth Williams, Michael York, Katherine Helmond, Ed Asner, Joe Spano, and many other well-known actors. McTeague was the basis of an opera of the same name by composer William Bolcom and librettist Arnold Weinstein, which premiered on October 31, 1992. Greedy is a 1994 American comedy film directed