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...