Because the action of the play consists of the interactions between characters and their entrance and exit from Stark's waiting room, almost all of the imagery of the play is embodied in the character's dialogue and is developed through the repetition of thematic elements. The one significant exception to this is the repeated focus on the Hotel Algiers seen through the window of the waiting room. In the first act, Prince tells Stark that he once knew a bookie that used the hotel as an office. The hotel signifies a different type of life and the temptations that Stark overcomes at the close of the play.