The mousetrap summary
The Mousetrap is a two-act play written in the mystery genre. The play employs a remote,
isolated location in which a group of suspicious people have gathered. It becomes readily
apparent that some are not who they seem to be and that most have something they are
hiding.
Act
A major division in a drama. In Greek plays the sections of the drama were signified by the
appearance of the chorus and were usually divided into five acts. This is the formula for most
serious drama from the Greeks to Elizabethan playwrights like William Shakespeare. The five
acts denote the structure of dramatic action. They are exposition, complication, climax, falling
action, and catastrophe. The five-act structure was followed until the nineteenth century, when
Ibsen combined some of the acts. The Mousetrap is a two-act play. The exposition,
complication, and climax are combined in the first act with the story of the child's murder and
the murder in London and in the final minutes of act one when Mrs. Boyle is murdered. The
falling action and catastrophe are combined in the second act with the realization that a
murderer is in the house and that Trotter is Georgie.
Catharsis
Catharsis is the release of emotions, usually fear and pity. The term was first used by Aristotle
in his Poetics to refer to the desired effect of tragedy on the audience. Many critics cite The
Mousetrap as cathartic because Christie subverts the mystery...
The Mousetrap begins with the murder of a mysterious woman in London. The action takes
place in a guest house thirty miles from London where a house full of suspects have gathered
and where a second murder is about to be committed.
Appearances and Reality
At the heart of any mystery lies the question of what is real and what is not. This is particularly
true of The Mousetrap, which relies on disguise to confuse the audience. The detective in the
mystery genre is suppose to be the outsider, the member of the cast with whom the audience
can most closely identify. But in this play, the appearance of the detective does not fulfill the
audience's expectations, since the reality is that the detective is the murderer. Christie is
playing with a genre which the audience thinks is predictable in its basic form, forcing them to
employ analytical skills beyond the accustomed.
Death
Death provides both the opening of this play and the transition between acts. And yet, in one
sense, death is almost the least important aspect of the play; solving the murder is the crucial
element. Christie's first victim is unknown to the audience and the second is a complaining
obnoxious woman whom the audience gladly sacrifices in the struggle to unearth a murderer.
Thus, death becomes almost abstract, a necessary action to advance the plot but not an action
which causes the audience any grief. The result is that death, rather than assuming a...
Mrs. Boyle
Mrs. Boyle is a large imposing woman in a bad temper; she complains about everything. She is
disapproving of every effort that Mollie and Giles produce to make her comfortable. She
surveys everything with displeasure and looks at her surroundings disapprovingly. Mrs. Boyle
was a magistrate at some point. The audience learns just before she is murdered that Mrs.
Boyle was the magistrate who sent three children to live with foster parents. The children were
all abused and the youngest killed, but she disavows any responsibility for the tragedy.
Miss Casewell
Miss Casewell is described as a young woman who is masculine in appearance and with a
masculine voice. She claims not to have lived in England for some years, since she was twelve
to thirteen years of age, but she is mysterious about where she does live. Mollie thinks Miss
Casewell peculiar, and Giles doubts she is a woman. Wren and Miss Casewell talk, and she
lets slip that she had a poor, deprived childhood too awful to think about. The audience learns
in the final scene that Miss Casewell was one of the children who was abused so many years
earlier. It was her younger brother who was killed. She also discloses at the play's conclusion
that she returned to England to find her older brother, Georgie.
Act One, scene i
The play opens with a radio account of a woman murdered in London. Mollie and Giles have
just opened a small guest house and inn with property that Mollie has inherited from her aunt.
The action begins on their first day of business and with their first guests. Christopher Wren is
the first guest to arrive. He is enthusiastic about the house and praises both the style and
decor. Mrs. Boyle is the second guest to arrive, and she arrives complaining that a taxi did not
meet her at the train (although she never provided an arrival time). The third guest to arrive,
Major Metcalf, is carrying her luggage when he enters the hall a few moments later. Mrs.
Boyle's complaints about everything, including the lack of servants and experienced hosts,
result in Giles offering to cancel her stay, but she declines and insists she will stay.
Miss Casewell arrives next with news that the snow is worse, and they are all likely to be
snowed in for some days. She brings a newspaper account of the murder earlier that afternoon
and joins with Wren and Giles in speculating about the murderer. There is a knock at the door
and Mr. Paravicini arrives claiming to be stranded in the storm and seeking a room. Mr.
Paravicini announces that the roads are so snowed in that that there will be no further arrivals
or departures. His strange pronouncement that the inn is just "perfect" makes Moilie and Giles
uneasy.
summary
The news on the radio at Monkswell Manor relates a murder that has recently taken place. Mollie
and Giles Ralston, the young, newly-married owners of the once-regal estate which they recently
converted into a guest house, hardly notice the news. They are far too busy preparing for the
arriving of their first guests—and concerned that the blizzard raging outside may hamper their
arrival.
Christopher Wren arrives first. He is an obviously neurotic young man who speaks to the Ralstons
with a familiarity that makes them rather uncomfortable.
The next to arrive is Mrs. Boyle, a generally unpleasant person who is dissatisfied with just about
everything and everyone.
Next comes Major Metcalf, a middle-aged man who is very military in manner and bearing.
Miss Casewell, a young woman who is just a bit masculine, is the next to arrive. She relates more
details about the murder that recently took place.
Then an unexpected guest, Mr. Paravicini, arrives announcing that his car has overturned in a
snowdrift. He is just happy to have found someplace to get in out of the weather.
The next day finds Mrs. Boyle generally getting on everyone’s nerves. Mollie announces that a
phone call from the police has informed her that an officer is being sent to the manor, in spite of
the weather. She was given no indication as to why the officer is coming. Several of the guests are
obviously unnerved by the announcement. It becomes apparent that the Ralstons really don’t
know much about their guests. Gradually, everyone is becoming a bit suspicious of everyone else.
Soon the police detective, Sergeant Trotter, arrives on skis. He relates that the murdered woman
was once a resident of a nearby house. A few years back, the courts sent several children there for
care and protection. The children had been terribly abused at the house, and one of them had
died before the courts had the other children removed. The murdered woman was the one who
had abused those children. A note had been left on the body claiming there were “three blind
mice” who would be murdered, and the name Monkswell Manor was also on the note. Sergeant
Trotter believes that someone at the manor had a connection of some sort to the murder victim.
The murderer, he says, may well be among them even now. Each of the guests, as well as the
Ralstons, denies having any knowledge of the situation whatsoever.
Mrs. Boyle, however, recalls privately with Major Metcalf that she was once a magistrate on the
bench. In fact, she was the one who had sent those children to the place where they were so
miserably abused. Suspicion at Monkswell Manor is growing rapidly, and the telephone no longer
works.
Mollie hears a scuffle and a scream coming from the library and enters to find Mrs. Boyle has been
strangled.
Sergeant Trotter assembles everyone for questioning. Each accounts for his or her whereabouts,
but none satisfactorily. Soon, everyone becomes suspicious of everyone else. Giles accuses
Christopher Wren of being the most likely to be the killer since he is about the same age the oldest
of the remaining children would be now. Mollie points out that the killer may be the father of the
abused children and therefore wouldn’t necessarily be a young person at all. Trotter casts
suspicion on Giles Ralston, producing a London newspaper from the pocket of Giles’s overcoat.
Trotter is also suspicious of Miss Casewell, who, in turn, sees something strange in his behavior.
Everyone realizes a murderer is among them—and two more victims, the other bind mice, are in
danger.
So, who is the next victim? Will the murderer be unmasked in time to stop more deaths? The
Mousetrap has kept audiences guessing about these answers and many more for over five
decades in this classic who-done-it by the master of British murder mysteries.
Act I, Scene I
The play takes place in London in Monkswell Manor around the early 1950s. The first scene of the first act
begins immediately following a woman's murder. Mollie and Gile Ralston have just opened a guest house in
the Manor, which has recently been renovated. The Ralstons admit four borders, Major Metcalf, Christopher
Wren, Mrs. Boyle and Miss Casewell. Mrs. Boyle is very disgruntled and quarrelsome. Giles offers to make
her hotel stay complimentary, but she does not accept his gesture. All the guests are snowed in at the hotel.
They learn about the woman's murder in the local paper. A fifth traveler, Mr. Paravicini, appears at the hotel
after his car has been abandoned in a snowdrift.
Act II, Scene II
Mrs. Boyle bellyaches to the other hotel patrons about her unpleasant experience. The other guests try to
evade her because she complains incessantly. The local police officers dial the hotel, which triggers concern
among the patrons. Mrs. Boyle asks Mollie to verify Christopher's background, as she is suspicious of him. A
detective named Sergeant Trotter appears to advise the hotel patrons that a murder has taken place and that
the perpetrator is at large, possibly on his way to the hotel. The murder victim's name is Maureen Lyon. She is
the wife of a local farmer by the last name of Stanning. Allegedly, the Stannings abused young children who
worked for them. Suddenly, Mrs. Boyle is killed, indicating that Mrs. Lyon's murderer has already arrived at
the hotel.
Act II, Scene I
Shortly after Mrs. Boyle's murder, the police begin investigating the second crime. All of the hotel guests are
interviewed. The hotel owners argue, and then Christopher and Giles dispute who should protect Mollie. The
guests begin to suspect Christopher of the murders since he meets the police's description of the suspect. Yet,
the guests conclude that any of the patrons or the hosts could potentially be the murderer.
Act II, Scene II
Upon the sergeant's commands, the guests reenact Mrs. Boyle's murder to identify any overlooked clues. The
sergeant pretends to be Mrs. Boyle. However, he has arranged a scheme to trap the person he suspects for a
different incident. Suddenly, he reveals he is, in fact, Georgie, a boy who was mistreated by the Stannings. He
claims that he alerted his teacher, Mollie, but she refused to help. Mollie confesses such is true. Georgie tries
to choke her, but Miss Casewell and Major Metcalf intervene. Miss Casewell then confesses that she is
Georgie's older sister, and she soothes and pacifies him until police appear on the scene. Major Metcalf
announces that he is a law enforcement officer in disguise. He suspected Trotter (Georgie) the entire time, but
lacked sufficient proof.
3 blind mice
THE TALE: In the play, we only hear a snippet of the words and the haunting tune from Three Blind
Mice. The complete version is much darker, telling of starvation, sickness, persecution, and
insanity. Like many fairy tales and folk lore, the original is quite gruesome. Mr. Paravicini puts it
best when he says, “just what a child would adore. Cruel little things, children.
Three Blind Mice Three Blind Mice See how they run See how they run They all ran after the
Farmer’s Wife, Who cut off their tails with the carving knife. Did you ever see such a sight in your
life As three Blind Mice?
COUNTRY HOUSES AND DOMESTIC SERVANTS Post-war England went through a massive social
shift in class structure. Particularly relevant to the The Mousetrap are the changes in domestic
servants. Our play is set in a country home that most likely was a midland manor house in which
landed gentry or other upper class citizens resided, living off the wealth of the land and passing
the estate down through the generations, as happened with the Ralstons. Throughout the first half
of the 20th century there was war, depression, and expanded job opportunities for the lower
class. Domestic servitude became less appealing, and servants that “lived in” their masters’ homes
declined due to the fact that they were more expensive to employ, and many households had
learned to “do without” during the war effort. With the advent of labor-saving devices,
housewives could manage a household with less outside help, though some places, like Monkswell
Manor, would continue to employ “daily women,” who functioned similarly to contemporary
home cleaning services. You will see the clash of old and new expectations of keeping a home in
Mollie and Mrs. Boyle’s expectations of a “proper staff.” Mrs. Boyle holds the old-fashioned view
that a full staff is required for the running of a guest house, while Mollie and Giles feel themselves
capable of doing all the domestic labor themselves.
SLANG USED IN THE PLAY Spiv: a man who makes money dishonestly Tabby: a spiteful, older
female gossip Chilblains: an inflammation of the hands and feet when exposed to cold and
moisture Tinpot: paltry, shoddy, not well-made. The origin of this phrase came from the believed
inferior quality of a tin pot
Death
Death provides both the opening of this play and the transition between acts. And yet, in one
sense, death is almost the least important aspect of the play; solving the murder is the crucial
element. Christie’s first victim is unknown to the audience and the second is a complaining
obnoxious woman whom the audience gladly sacrifices in the struggle to unearth a murderer.
Thus, death becomes almost abstract, a necessary action to advance the plot but not an action
which causes the audience any grief. The result is that death, rather than assuming a central
position of importance in the play, becomes only a necessary contrivance which the author
employs to entertain. However, in a second way, death has a separate importance. The motivation
for the deaths that occurs during the play is the death of a small boy years earlier. It is this death
that leads to the others, and since both victims are in some way responsible for the death of the
child, once again the audience is able to absolve itself of any caring for the two female victims.
And so, Christie provides a complexity to the theme of death that requires her audience to look
beyond the obvious.
Justice and Injustice
This play can also be described as a search for justice. The two murder victims are responsible for
the death of a young child and the abuse of his siblings. The murderer has decided that justice has
not been provided through social and legal means and so decides to dispense justice himself. The
difficult question for Christie is how to make the murderer sympathetic without sacrificing law. She
does this by making the initial murder an innocent child who suffered greatly. The first victim is the
foster mother who was responsible for the child’s death. The second victim is the magistrate who
placed the boy in foster care. Christie adds to the second victim’s appeal as a sacrifice for justice
by giving her an unattractive personality. And to stack the deck further against the two female
victims, she makes the murderer friendly and attractive, but emotionally and mentally disturbed.
Accordingly, the audience is sympathetic to him and uncaring about the victims. In the end, justice
has the appearance of having been served: the deranged young man is taken away to be treated
and a sympathetic potential victim has been saved.
Punishment
Modern audiences are conditioned to expect punishment as a response to crime. But for Christie,
punishment depends more on circumstance than the crime committed. Although Georgie/Trotter
has dispensed his own idea of punishment to his two murder victims, the audience is given ample
reason to dislike the victims and like their murderer. The plot makes clear that Georgie is also a
victim, and so his removal to a treatment center at the play’s conclusion is a resolution the
audience endorses. Generally, most audience members will feel that Georgie has suffered a great
deal and that he is deserving of sympathy rather than condemnation. A second glance at the play
reveals that he has almost claimed a third and more innocent victim, but since Mollie has not been
injured (she leaves the stage unhurt and more concerned with her burned pie than her near
death), the audience is permitted and encouraged to direct all its sympathy to the young man who
was more victim than victimizer.
Revenge
Like punishment, revenge is the motivating force behind Georgie’s deception. He is seeking
revenge for his brother’s death and revenge for the injuries he suffered. The two murder victims
are unsympathetic characters, while the murderer is portrayed as both likable and emotionally
unstable. All of these elements lead the audience to recognize and sympathize with the young
man when he is unmasked at the play’s conclusion. Forgotten is the fear and conflict that
permeated die last act. But, since the last act takes place only ten minutes after the second
victim’s murder, presumably, their collective fear was not great. In fact, Christie leaves the
audience with an understanding that all the guests are once again engaged in common-place
activities
Sanity and Insanity
Insanity is offered as both a mitigating reason for Georgie’s actions and a justification for the
murder of two people. Throughout the play the murderer is referred to several times as a
homicidal maniac, but the connotation of maniac is someone who is unbalanced. In fact, the
definition of maniac is a madman, a lunatic, someone who is violently insane. After Trotter is
unmasked as Georgie, the audience, who has come to like the young man, is quick to accept that
he is insane. Indeed the conclusion reveals that he is not going off to prison, but instead, he has
been sedated and will be confined somewhere for treatment. His insanity is justified by the
circumstances of his childhood. And it is a solution with which the audience is comfortable
It becomes readily apparent that some are not who they
seem to be and that most have something they are hiding
Setting
The location for The Mousetrap is Monkswell Manor, a small
guest house thirty miles from London. The action begins in
the late afternoon and concludes the following afternoon;
both acts take place in the Great Hall of the Manor.
HISTORICAL CONTEXT
Agatha Christie’s The Mousetrap opens in theatres during a
period marked by post-World War II rebuilding, a new
monarchy, food shortages, and the threat of communism.
The giddiness that greeted the end of the war has been
replaced by the realities of rebuilding the country. Whole
sections of the nation have been destroyed in the bombings
of the war, and London, in particular, is undergoing a rebirth.
In England, the king who has guided Great Britain through
the war years dies on February 6, 1952. His daughter,
Elizabeth, ascends the throne replacing George VI to
become only the second Elizabeth to wear the crown. Food
is in such short supply in England that 53,000 horses were
consumed for food in the previous year to feed a population
that now exceeds fifty million people. And in London, a four-
day smog kills more than four thousand people. Meanwhile,
the threat of communism hangs over everyone. The war that
humbled Germany has loosed the threat of communism on
the world, and this is particularly noticeable in the United
States where congressional inquiries into the “Red Threat”
continue for a third year.
In contrast to the difficult realities outside the theatre’s door,
inside the Ambassadors Theatre the atmosphere is
decidedly different. On stage, the only concern about food is
that caused by the snow storm, and Giles is confident that if
the store of tins in the cupboards should prove inadequate,
the hens in the outbuilding will meet any need. No one will
go hungry, and indeed, the conversation frequently focuses
on food, the preparation of meals, and the guests
satisfaction with what is offered at the table. Monkswell
Manor is entirely satisfactory according to at least one
guest. The house is untouched by the bombing that
destroyed London only thirty miles away. The furniture is
comfortable and stylish and although the house is difficult
and expensive to heat (a universal complaint about British
homes), Giles keeps piling on the coal.
Of course a short distance away in London all that burning
coal added to the growing problem with automobile
emissions is causing smog that endangers the health of its
urban population. Nevertheless, at Monkswell Manor smog
is not a problem. A snow storm that has reached blizzard
proportions may prove to be more of a danger to those
inside the house than the smog that exists in London.
In fact, the stage setting of The Mousetrap effectively
removes the audience from the real world outside. Christie
creates an escape from the problems that plague England.
At a time when other writers are lamenting the lost
innocence of a world and creating a literary tradition that
reflects the ruins of London, Christie is still offering an
escapist literary journey for her fans.
