, At High Seas, by Slawomir Mrozek (1930 - ) is a one-act play that shows the simple and essential structure, and the huge role of power in human society. Three European well-dressed gentlemen - the Fat One, the Medium One, and the Small One - do not have anything left to eat anymore on a raft on high seas. Not knowing how long the journey is still going to last, they are all hungry and want to eat. The Fat One wants to eat one of the two other men on the raft and expects that one of them will voluntarily say: "Please help yourself to me." But of course, nobody does it. The Medium One, however, quickly realizes the situation in which he is captured; he therefore sides with the Fat One and supports him always resolutely without thinking twice; he agrees with whatever the Fat One proposes on how to choose the victim. In the play, the reader also finds out some background information about the three gentlemenand how they manipulate the information to their advantage. The Fat One is actually a rich count who has a castle and servants, but he lies that he is a poor orphan. He insists that it would be unfair if a poor orphan like himself would be sacrificed to the well-to-do Small One. Thus he tries to disguise his true intentions behind the arguments of "historical and social justice." As he believes that the Small One has to eventually become the victim, the Fat One tells him: "You should go into our stomach; by doing so, you will be not only be remembered a hero, but also an unselfish, self-sacrificing altruist." Seeing that his death is otherwise inevitable, the Small One comes up with a lie: he tells his companions that he is poisoned. Unfortunately for him, the other two ignore his statement. In the end, the Small One has to give up under the pressure of the two, and declares that he has decided to sacrifice himself for the others. He says that he has at last found the aim of his life and takes on the role of a false hero who dies for his companions. In this gradual but unavoidable change in Small One`s attitude towards the Fat One, we see the use of power and the existence of hierarchy in human relations.