Genre
Drama - Expressionism
Language
English
Setting and Context
An expensive hotel room in Leeds, United Kingdom, 1995
Narrator and Point of View
Tone and Mood
Serious, Dramatic, Sexually Violent, Disturbing, Grotesque
Protagonist and Antagonist
Protagonist is Cate. Antagonists are Ian and the Soldier.
Major Conflict
Ian invites Cate to an expensive hotel room in order to have sex with her, which she doesn't want to do. He is being chased by men who want to kill him. There is a war going on.
Climax
Soldiers take over Leeds and one breaks in and rapes Ian, sucking his eyes out and eating them before killing himself. Cate returns to give Ian food to save him from starving to death.
Foreshadowing
Ian jumping at any noise he hears foreshadows that someone is out to kill him, which becomes the case with the Soldier's entry into the hotel room. The gin consumption at the beginning foreshadows the fact that Cate will eventually be feeding Ian at the end of the play.
Understatement
Much of the violence and disturbing imagery in the play is understated, and is much more disturbing than implied by the characters' responses.
Allusions
Allusions to religion and science, to war, to news stories.
Imagery
The expensive hotel room becoming a bombed out graveyard. All of the images of violence, cannibalism, rape.
Paradox
Parallelism
The Soldier raping Ian parallels Ian's rape of Cate.
Personification
Use of Dramatic Devices
The use of the lights going down and coming back up at the end of the play shows the monotony of his existence.
