Christie Agatha The Mousetrap Analysis

1. Theoretical and cultural context & authors intentions

Christie Agatha The Mousetrap was was written in the 1950s, most specifically premiered in 1952 in London’s West end (Moss Stephan, 2012). Her inspiration for her detective stories came from observation. By paying close attention to her surroundings–sometimes even real life current events–she was able to create “what if scenarios.” She never had any formal training as a detective and relied primarily on her keen intelligence, powers of observation, and knowledge of the human nature (The Lady Who Killed More People than You Could Imagine, 2017).

The Dennis O’Neal case for example, shed light onto the world of neglected children who were abused by their fostered parents. This case dealt

These authors created gentlemen detectives and evocative settings” (Wiehardt Ginny, 2017). This was a time where the detective fiction genre grew immensely because many playwrights inspired other playwrights in between the wars–Golden age–in England where certain rules on detective fiction determined whether a story was good enough. Ronald Knox: 10 Commandments of Detective Fiction tells of the rules/laws which had to be followed by all detective fiction

The stupid friend of the detective, the Watson, must not conceal any thoughts which pass through his mind; his intelligence must be slightly, but very slightly, below that of the average reader.

Twin brothers, and doubles generally, must not appear unless we have been duly prepared for them (Gotham Writers workshop, 2017).

“Since Christie Agatha lived in the era of victorian England in 1890, it was usual to have servants” ( Agatha Christie - The Influences On Her Writing, 2017). Which is a reason for her always choosing the country-house setting because that was the society she grew up in and knew well. This information is relevant to one of her works “The Mousetrap” where closed circle of suspects is an element of detective fiction.

The Mousetrap is about a group of strangers stranded in a boarding house during a snowstorm, one of whom is a murderer. suspects include the newly married couple who run the house, and the suspicions in their minds almost ruins their marriage. the others are an architect, retired army major, and a jurist. a policeman, traveling on skis–an odd mode of transportation–who arrives only to give unsettling news to the guests of Monkswell Manor. The setting Christie decides on, makes it seem like an escape almost as if the audience is being sucked into this world she has