The Death Trap - H H Munro (Saki)

The Death Trap – ‘Saki’ (H.H. Munro)

The one act play “The Death Trap” revolves around the conspiracy against the reigning prince of Kedaria, prince Dimitri, who turns the table on his assassins at the end of the play. Prince Dimitri, the young ruler of Kedaria, has rivalry with Prince Karl, who desired to capture the political power of Kedaria by murdering the reigning prince. So, Dimitri’s enemies hatch a plan to assassin him and they are waiting for the right moment to execute it.

Three Military Regiments namely Andrieff Regiment, Lonyadi Regiment and Kranitzki Regiment guard the Prince Dimitri, the reigning Prince of Kedaria. Dr. Stronetz, a faithful physician, is also very loyal to the prince Demitri. The Kranitzki Regiment is being loyal to the enemy and the three officers of this Regiment, Colonel Girnitza, Major Vontieff and Captian Shultz are all set to murder Prince Dimitri as soon as the loyal Andrieff Regiment leaves from its duty. These officers of Kranitzki Regiment are disloyal to prince Dimitri but very loyal to Prince Karl, who is willing to kill prince Dimitri and want to become the king of Kedaria.

When the play “The Death Trap” opens where three guards of Kranitazki Regiment are seen plotting the assassination of Prince Dimitri so that Prince Karl can ascend the throne. The conversation among the three disloyal guards reveals that they are openly conspire to murder the prince.  They are very aware that the Prince Dimitri is already suspecting them. Yet, they go ahead with murder plan because they are being backed by the political support of Prince Karl.

Following the conversation between the Prince Dimitri and his loyal physician Dr. Stronetz, we get to know that Prince Dimitri came to power at his very young age when he did not know anything about the rules of governance or responsibility. This shows his helplessness, which is now an advantage to his enemies.

Prince Dimitri is well aware that he is “trapped” and that his own guards are plotting to kill him. This is a painful realisation for him. He also knows very well that he would be killed at any moment as soon as his loyal Andrieff Regiment leaves. He has no weapons to defend himself. No one is allowed to see him except his friend and personal physician Dr. Stronetz. Out of kindness and loyalty Dr. Stonetz devices a clever plan as a physician. Instantly, he asks the Prince to remove his robes for a fake of physical examination, which will help him to fool the officers of the disloyal Kranitzki Regiment. His efforts are only temporarily delay the murder of the Prince. But this delay helps the Prince to take revenge on disloyal officers.

However, the hard truth behind the physical examination of the Prince reveals that he is really suffering from an incurable heart disease. This is another shocking realization to the Prince. He decides to commit suicide instead of being killed in the hands of his disloyal guards. He requests Dr. Stronetz to provide him a phial of poison, which can kill him so that he can invite his death as a ruler without being killed. Dr. Strontez gives him a phial of poison. But as final act of revenge, when death is inevitable to him, the Prince Dimitri wants to die only after punishing his enemies. So he mixes the entire phial of poison in a bottle of wine and invites the three officers for a final drink.  He shares the poisoned wine after drinking it himself. It is a sight of pity for the Prince but at the same time he shows a clever act of revenge. The Prince thus overcomes his helplessness by his intelligence even though he cannot avoid his own death.

Thus the title of the play “The Death Trap” projects how the Prince and his helplessness becomes the ‘death trap’ to the officers of Kranitzki Regiment as result to their disloyalty.

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