The Mousetrap Questions and Answers
by Agatha Christie

Recently Answered Questions

• The Mousetrap
  The voice on the radio says, "Motorists are warned against ice-bound roads." In the light of this statement, comment on the weather on the first day of the opening of Monkswell Manor.
  On the first day of the opening of Monkswell Manor, the winter weather has resulted in dangerous, icy conditions. A severe snowstorm is occurring outside as Mollie and Giles Raston prepare for the...

  1 Educator Answer

• The Mousetrap
  Describe Mrs. Boyle in The Mousetrap.
  Mrs. Boyle is a former court magistrate, and the first thing noticeable about her is her querulous nature and tendency to complain about most anything imaginable. She is described as a large woman...

  1 Educator Answer

• The Mousetrap
  Describe Mrs. Boyle in The Mousetrap.
  In Agatha Christie's murder mystery play The Mousetrap, Mrs. Boyle is one of the guests at Monkswell Manor, an old home newly-refurbished as a guest house. Mrs. Boyle is a pompous, pretentious,...

  1 Educator Answer

• The Mousetrap
  Please give a short summary of the events of act 1, scene 1 and 2, in The Mousetrap.
  The play opens in act 1, scene 1, with news of a murder in London where the murdered person was heard screaming as the tune "Three Blind Mice" played. Meanwhile, in the country, Mollie and Giles...

  1 Educator Answer

• The Mousetrap
  Why don't the English women enjoy recieving compliments?
  In an early scene of Agatha Christie’s hit play, The Mousetrap, the quirky young man Christopher Wren is the first guest to arrive at a newly opened guesthouse called Monkswell Manor. The...

  1 Educator Answer

• The Mousetrap
  Why is the play The Mousetrap so popular?
  That's a very good question and one that successive generations of critics have been asking themselves. To date, Agatha Christie's The Mousetrap has been running continuously in London's theater...

  1 Educator Answer

• The Mousetrap
  What is a plot summary of the play The Mousetrap?
  In The Mousetrap, the action occurs at Monkswell Manor, where Mollie and Giles Ralston are preparing for the arrival of their dinner guests, fretting over the effect the blizzard raising outside...

  1 Educator Answer

• The Mousetrap
  Who is the character of Major Metcalf in the play The Mousetrap? What are some examples from his dialogue and body language that show his characterization? What is his intention in the play, and what are his relationships to each character?
  Major Metcalf's intention throughout the play is to investigate. He investigates the other people trapped in the house to figure out who's committing the murders. In each scene, his intention is to...

  2 Educator Answers

• The Mousetrap
  Why was Major Metcalf in the cellar when Mrs. Ralston screamed?
  Another brutal murder has taken place at 24 Culver Street; Mrs. Boyle has been strangled. Already on the scene due to investigate the murder of Maureen Lyon, Sergeant Trotter questions all of the...

  1 Educator Answer

• The Mousetrap
  What are the age ranges for the characters in Agatha Christie's play The Mousetrap?
  The ages of the characters in Agatha Christie's play The Mousetrap play a key role in the plot. The initial murder in the play is the revenge of a mistreated foster child, George Corrigan, for the...

  1 Educator Answer

• The Mousetrap
  Who is the murderer in The Mousetrap? Please provide evidence.
  Trotter (Georgie) is the murderer. This is openly revealed late in Act II. (See the section when he pulls a gun on Mollie.) Greg

  3 Educator Answers

• The Mousetrap
  Who is the killer in The Mousetrap?
  The murderer is actually Trotter, the man acting as the investigator.

  3 Educator Answers

• The Mousetrap
  In The Mousetrap, why does Christopher Wren say, "there's something very boorish about the English husbands"?  
  The architect Christopher Wren is the first paying guest at Mollie and Guy's new guest house. Immediately, Christopher and Mollie hit it off, though Guy is somewhat nonplussed, with the...

  1 Educator Answer

• The Mousetrap
  Is The Mousetrap by Agatha Christie appropriate to teach to a class of 13- to 14-year-old kids? 
  This play may be difficult for ESL students with all the idioms and references to cultural knowledge. I would go with something like Amy Tan's excerpts of her books and then watch the film,...

  1 Educator Answer

• The Mousetrap
  What is the significance of the title, "The Mousetrap"?
  Christie's play began as a radio play titled Three Blind Mice. She had to give it a new title when she adapted it for the stage because there was already a play with that name. The new title, The...

  1 Educator Answer

• The Mousetrap
  What are the red herrings in Agatha Christie's play The Mousetrap?
  A red herring is literally a smoked herring fish. Smoking a herring turns its flesh red. Samuel Pepys of diary fame in England in the 1660s records that one day he ate red herring for breakfast...

  1 Educator Answer

• The Mousetrap
  What kind of special effects were used in play The Mousetrap? Fake snow, the sound of blowing wind, a fireplace, a gun, and what else?
  The setting for Agatha Christie’s murder mystery play The Mousetrap is the Great Hall of a house in the UK called Monkswell Manor, which has been converted to a guest house. Many of the props and...

  1 Educator Answer

• The Mousetrap
  Why does Giles say, "we are rather mugs at this game"?
  In The Mousetrap, newlyweds Giles and Mollie Ralston have inherited a large estate called Monkswell Manor. The action of the play takes place in its Great Hall. To generate some regular income,...

  1 Educator Answer

• The Mousetrap
  It takes about four hours to stage the Mousetrap for a play; is there a way to cut it down to about 2 1/2 hours?
  Are you factoring in your breaks and the times you stop to give direction? Have you done a run-through, in which you do the play from start to finish with no breaks? That will give you a good sense...

  1 Educator Answer