In order to tell the story of the tortures and struggles of Chile as it transitions away from its cruel government (the Pinochet Regime), Ariel Dorfman creates an allegorical play, the Death and the Maiden, which presents the readers across the globe with Chile's suffering under the Pinochet regime. He provides the reader with the detail of the possibility of the setting being in a country in the South American continent, however the most likelihood of the setting would be Chile because of his past personal experience. Dorfman develops each character in a unique way in which they portray each aspect of the Chilean life trying to recover from a dictatorship. As he explains himself in the afterword; "As I began to write I found the characters trying to figure out the sort of questions that so many Chileans were asking themselves privately". Also, he only develops three characters so that the reader can focus on the development of them and can go in depth into the characteristics of each. By using different techniques of characterization, Dorfman portrays Paulina, Gerardo and Roberto in a way which helps the reader form their mindset on whether Roberto is or is not guilty. Understanding Paulina’s character is essential to understanding the theme of the play. Paulina Salas, one of the main characters, portrays the suffering of Chilean women through the dictatorship of Pinochet regime. Throughout the development of the play, the reader discovers and explores her psychological sufferings and recognizes her transition from being submissive to independent. At the beginning of the play, she was portrayed as the inferior character in her marriage with Gerardo. Her insecurity is displayed as she waits for Gerardo and is further proven once he calls her "Poor little love" (p. 4). Once Paulina takes her gun out however, the tone of the play shifts to a more intense one and her character changes from inferior to superior. Paulina herself exemplifies the absence of her freedom by arguing with Gerardo “when are you going to stop telling me what I can and can’t do” (p. 24). From the beginning of the play, Paulina displayed her character’s loyalty. Despite her faithfulness, she chose to punish Roberto by herself rather than