Theme 1: Appearances Can Be Deceiving

In Cards on the Table, an evil man, Mr. Shaitana, invites four sleuths to a strange dinner party, for he has also invited four individuals he believes to have committed murder and gotten away with it. Christie's characters are fairly well developed, and of the round characters, only two are exactly what they appear to be. All the rest have a tendency to hide some facet of their personalities or their past for their own purposes. Of the sleuths, Poirot, Battle, Mrs. Oliver, and Colonel Race, all but Colonel Race are very well described and will be used in support of the theme. All four sleuths have hidden aspects of their personalities in order to gain access to information. Poirot knows that he must get into the minds of his suspects and witnesses in order to extract important information. That knowledge justifies his use...