Setting

Dream on Monkey Mountain is an allegory set on an unspecified island in the West Indies at an unspecified time, assumed to be contemporary with the time the play was written. The play's action takes place in several locations, both real and imagined. The most real place is the jail run by Corporal Lestrade, where the play begins and ends. In Makak's dream, the action goes from his hut on Monkey Mountain to a country road where Makak heals the sick man and then to the public marketplace before returning to the jail cell. After Makak, Tigre, and Souris escape, they spend time in the forest before going to a most unreal setting of apotheosis, where Makak is king. All of these settings underscore Makak's journey from a real existence that is harsh, through self-awareness, and back to a reality that he feels better about and in which...