Nature (Motif)
The story includes many images and references to nature, including the storm and the feud over the forest itself. Nature appears as a character in the story, as both an object of the two men’s desires and a subject that interferes in their affairs. The nature continually overpowers the humans in the story, illustrating Saki’s preference for nature over man.
Hunting (Motif)
Saki opens with the language of a hunt and reverts the traditional construct by presenting the men as hunting one another. The reader learns that the men long “thirsted for one another’s blood” and set out that night to kill one another, not any animal (391). However, the hunters become hunted when nature enacts its revenge and sends wolves instead of foresters to meet the trapped men.
Darkness (Motif)
Saki includes many images of darkness and danger. Several times Saki mentions darkness while describing the forest: “the dark forest,” “the dark hours,” “the dark, lone spot” (392). This dark setting contributes to the foreboding tone of the story and foreshadows the fatal ending. For a moment, Saki gives readers a glimpse of light as the men imagine seeing their hunting party approaching to rescue them. However, here again darkness appears–masking the true character of the approaching pack until the very end.
Beech Tree (Symbol)
The beech tree symbolizes the damaging nature of the feud in which the men are engaged. When the tree branch falls on the men, it traps them, representing the confining and harmful effects of harboring resentment and ill will. The tree also represents the unpredictability of nature and its resistance to being possessed or controlled by man. Though each of the men stakes a claim to the tree and the land on which it stands, both are powerless to free themselves from it. Man loses to nature once again.
