Upon emerging from The Mousetrap, I could not help but wonder: why, in its final moments, did Agatha Christie’s world-renowned, keep-you-on-the-edge-of-your-seat murder mystery juxtapose death with dessert? After laying a smorgasbord of provocative ingredients on the table, Christie concocts…a pie? Yes, culminating The Mousetrap with a slice of comedy à la mode is sure to heartily entertain throngs of theatergoers, but doing so also begs the question: does such a finale truly do the play justice? My post-reading and post-viewing dissatisfaction with The Mousetrap’s ending proves doubly noteworthy when one takes into consideration the genre of Christie’s work. After all, why should it matter that a murder mystery concludes on a comedic note? …show more content…
That’s the ending? The Mousetrap owes us—and has earned—more than a simple, laughter-inducing, tension-relieving conclusion. In his post-production talkback at Princeton’s McCarter Theater, director Adam Immerwahr told the class that laughter is precisely what the audience needs after such a nail-biting affair. However, is this truly the best option? Yes, considerable tension has been building throughout the course of the show—but why not leave some with audience members? Were the production to directly succeed its murderer reveal with a final tableau of Trotter and Miss Casewell standing side by side—all at once together yet apart—it would initiate consciousness, shining light on a truly muddled scenario. Complex issues would rise to the surface: ones of torture, injustice, revenge, and trauma—of scars that can never be healed. By quickly brushing Trotter and Miss Casewell offstage and aside, however, the play is not doing its intricacies justice. The world is not a place where issues are solved at a moment’s notice—has The Mousetrap not spent its duration proving this point by showing the past’s persistence in the present? And yet, the Simon French version of the play culminates with the swift disappearance of problems, an exuberant gift exchange, and a line about a burning pie. Similarly, in the West End version of its script, The Mousetrap concludes with Christopher Wren popping onstage and …show more content…
Indeed, this guarantee of continuity and permanence is one of the real consolations of the form,” (14). I, however, could not dissent more with the above-mentioned sentiments. Admittedly, the play’s characters do come off as static at times. Nevertheless, as the plot progresses and the past catches up with the present, the characters’ complexities seep into the text. The cast may be stuck—snowed in at Monkswell Manor—but they are far from static. Christopher Wren, we soon learn, is not simply a stereotypically flamboyant gay man who thinks fourposters are “terrific!” Instead, he is a tortured soul—mistreated and suffering. Similarly, Molly is not a one-dimensional, effervescent blonde innkeeper. On the contrary, she is a strong woman—one who can take charge, means business, and is struggling to conquer a past that plagues her to this day. Miss Casewell, too, is someone who has fought to escape her past but who finds it catching up with her, bit by bit. As corroborated by the Utah Shakespearean Festival’s “Mousetrap Study Guide”: Much of the charm of the piece comes from Christie’s skill at developing character. Everyone in The Mousetrap has a secret, some of which are innocent, but Christie gives us the possibility of each person being the villain, without ever caricaturing any of
At the beginning of the short drama, “Trifles,” Mrs. Peters, the sheriff’s wife, is painted as timid and submissive wife. She willingly submits herself to the responsibilities she has as a wife. As the play unfolds, Mrs. Peter’s submissiveness begins to diminish. Mrs. Peters and Mrs. Hale work together to uncover the murder of Minnie Wright’s husband. When the women find the evidence, they refuse to share it with the men. Mrs. Peter’s character transforms into a more confident individual over the course of the play.
I disliked at first that it was written from thread person, though I learned to love it. Part One- The Lady Killer. The lady killer is not mealy a metaphor, ‘The Lady Killer’ is the story.
In this deeper look into 'Trifles,' Karen goes through the plot and discusses what you should pay more attention too. She describes the symbolism in some of the objects as well as explain the scenes and their little details. Karen finds the difference between male and female perceptions of judgment to be central to the play. She explains that you need to follow the storyline of the women to help solve the case and discusses the differences between a man and a womans world in this time period. Karen shares that she believes the women are going about the case better than the men and she
The reader/Audience member can see that the purpose of the irony has shifted from comical to more grave and intriguing, trying to draw the reader in and with light foreshadowing want to know how this great tragedy will end.
The author shows the readers that today so-called cozy mysteries has no big difference from Golden Age style mystery writing. The story occurs mainly in a small setting, such as part of a closed group, in a manor or a small village. Christie’s works still influence the readers: They still love to read Agatha Christie’s novels today.
Miller presents the character of Mary Warren in an important way to show the message of status and power. Mary Warren’s character is seen to be vulnerable and timid. The key events that makes her role important are her roles in the girls’ group, the scene with the poppet and her confession in court. Through the events in the play Miller portrays Mary Warren with tension and suspense. This makes the audience question her status and power.
Susan Glaspell’s play, Trifles, shows the importance of staging, gestures, and props to create the proper atmosphere of a play. Without the development of the proper atmosphere through directions from the author, the whole point of the play may be missed. Words definitely do not tell the whole story in Trifles - the dialog only complements the unspoken.
Agatha Christie, author of the murder mystery And Then There Were None, used foreshadowing and both external and internal conflict to portray the theme of her novel that justice can be served for the crimes that go unpunished. Christie used these elements because she enjoyed mystery and she liked to keep her readers engaged while reading. Agatha Christie is still considered one of the best, if not, the best murder mystery writer today because she wrote the first murder mystery novel and she wrote many more after that that was well loved by people.
Susan Glaspell’s one-act play, Trifles, weaves a tale of an intriguing murder investigation to determine who did it. Mrs. Wright is suspected of strangling her husband to death. During the investigation the sheriff and squad of detectives are clueless and unable to find any evidence or motive to directly tie Mrs. Wright to the murder. They are baffled as to how he was strangled by a rope while they were supposedly asleep side by side. Glaspell artfully explores gender differences between men and women and the roles they each fulfill in society by focusing on their physicality, their methods of communication and vital to the plot of the play, their powers of observation. In simple terms, the play suggests that men tend to be assertive,
This paper will present a compare and contrast of the short story, "Witness for the Prosecution" to the screenplay of the same name written by Agatha Christie. The focus of the similarities and differences will be, a review of the characters and the story.
Written by Mystery’s number one best selling author, this book is promised to keep you on the edge of your seat. Ten people are brave enough to venture out to an island, invited by a unknown host that is nowhere to be found. The guests have nothing in common except a wicked past. Their fate is sealed by a murder that kills each of the guests off one by one, and only the dead are above suspicion. In the novel And Then There Were None written by Agatha Christie, the mystery elements that were used were: main conflict, setting, characterization, and the author’s techniques of giving clues.
A True Tale Gives Life to Fictional, Bone Chilling Entertainment: The Unmasked Similarities and Differences Between “Trifles” and “The Hossack Case” both written by Susan Glaspell
At first glance, Kate Chopin’s “The Story of an Hour,” Susan Glaspell’s Trifles, and Henrik Isben’s A Doll House seem to have nothing in common. However, the short story and plays have many similarities. Particularly, five women from these tales— Louise Mallard, Minnie Wright, Mrs. Peters, Mrs. Hale, and Nora Helmer—make drastic decisions that appear to be motiveless. Without context, any reader could be confused by Louise’s death, Nora’s departure, and Mrs. Peters and Mrs. Hale’s unanimous effort to cover up the murder that Minnie Wright committed, which also seems to lack serious motive. However, all of these women’s settings, situations, and lives have connections that make their motives similar. Emotion motivates all five women—not just
Have you ever wondered what people say about you behind your back or what they think of you what you're not there? This book strongly shows what other people think of Minnie Wright and their true opinions come through. Trifles is a play written by Susan Glaspell. It is a murder mystery about who killed John Wright. Towards the end of the story, we come to the conclusion that the murderer was Minnie Wright, John wrights wife. Minnie Wright took her own husband's life because he had killed the one thing that she had loved most, her bird. She thought as if she needed revenge on him for doing what he did, this being said she killed him in the same way that he had killed her beloved bird; a rope around the neck. Susan Glaspell decides to tell this story mainly through the eyes and minds of Mrs. Peters and Mrs. Hale. While the main plot of the story is about Minnie Wright and her actions, she never appears in the story because well, she doesn't have to. Susan Glaspell chiefly relies upon the characters in the story to give the readers and audience a sense of what type of person Minnie Wright is. Readers can sense her presence through the way she and her house are described. The characters say things like, “here is a nice mess (referring to her house)” (118.) or “she looked queer” (116.) These small statements can help us form an image of what Minnie Wright is like when she is not even present. Minnie Wright’s absence also allows the women to sympathize with her and therefore makes the women feel obligated to keep her secret.
“Outsold only by the Bible and Shakespeare, Agatha Christie is the best-selling novelist of all time. She is best known for her 66 detective novels and 14 short story collections, as well as the world’s longest-running play – The Mousetrap” (“Homepage”). The New Historicism Lens is a way for readers to speculate deeper understandings of texts by relating the text to the historical era in which it was set or written. Another aspect of this lens involves looking specifically at how the author’s life impacts their writing. Published in 1939, And Then There Were None by Agatha Christie, continues to be one of Christie's most successful books, and with the use of this lens, readers can observe historical happenings at the time it was written and how events in Christie’s life influenced her writing of this text.