The Letter Literary Elements

The Letter Literary Elements

Genre

Drama

Language

English

Setting and Context

A Plantation on the Malay Peninsula and in Singapore — 1927

Narrator and Point of View

POV is that is Leslie and Joyce

Tone and Mood

Serious and Dramatic

Protagonist and Antagonist

Protagonist is Crosbie. Antagonist is Joyce and Leslie

Major Conflict

Hammond has been murdered by Leslie, who claims he was attempting to rape her.

Climax

Hammond was Leslie’s lover, and she killed him for leaving her. She convinces Joyce to pay $10,000 to buy her letter to Hammond which will prove she murdered him, but Joyce does so without telling Crosbie. Leslie is free, yet her secret is revealed.

Foreshadowing

The opening scene foreshadows that we don’t know who has done what, and we will have to decipher the truth.

Understatement

It is understated as to how Ong Chi Seng came to know the Chinese woman and convince her to sell the letter.

Allusions

The play is an allusion to manipulation and betrayal towards the one we claim to live the most. How damaging secrets are is a central topic.

Imagery

The murder in Act I vs Act III

Paradox

Joyce pays the blackmail to protect his friend. But paradoxically when his money is at stake he isn’t so quick to let his money go.

Parallelism

The final murder scene parallels the play's opening scene.

Personification

Leslie becomes the personification of betrayal.

Use of Dramatic Devices

The replaying of the actual events of the murder at the end of the play contrast the opening scene.

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