Corporal Punishment and Execution

Throughout the story, corporal punishment like whipping and execution by hanging represent both the authority of England and the belief that only violence can rehabilitate the convicts. The fact that the play opens with a convict being flogged places this image at the forefront of the narrative, and of the audience's experience of the story.

Dreams

Several sorts of dreams represent the different ways that the characters feel drawn to, or driven to, try to escape the reality in which they are living. The dreams that come in sleep, daydreams, and hopes for the future are all examples of how various characters look to alternative realities in hopes of becoming less troubled by their own.

The Birds

In Act One Scene Two, the birds hunted and killed by the officers represent the convicts they likewise pursue and kill. The beauty of the birds...