Fourteen synopsis

By: David Elisha Arriesgado

Section: 9-Makiling A
 Fourteen is a Play by Alice Gerstenberg. The play is about Marvelous characters acting frenzy
around the room as the guests for their party keeps cancelling out or dropping out because of a
blizzard and such businesses. The Main characters are Mrs. Pringle the famous hostess who
wants everything to be polished properly especially her Elaine having to be seated beside a
prince, Elaine the debutante daughter she is a marvelous character as to helping the other two
make it to fourteen, She scramble over the cards and the telephone. For our next character he is
named as Dunham, the butler on this play, as being a butler he helps Mrs. Pringle and Elaine by
checking the cook for its rage and temper and giving ideas like for some guests that are
interesting enough to fit in the party. One of his lines is “he tells a joke or two”. The setting of
the story takes place in their wealthy New York house dining room at a large dining table that
seats fourteen people.

The story starts as the characters talk to each other about the party, about the guests who arrive,
about the cook and food and everything. The number of guests is originally to be fourteen.
However, because of a blizzard, the guests cancel continually, and the characters scramble to
adjust the seating arrangements. Ofcourse who would like a table with fourteen chairs be seated
by only 12 people its like as if the other two chairs are haunted by a ghost or something. First,
the characters attempt to add or eliminate guests in order to avoid having thirteen at a table. They
also want the Father to sit at the head of the table which is very important to all the characters.

Telephone rings and guests keep saying that because of the blizzard, their arrival on the party
will be flashed out in the toilet which made Mrs. Pringle think that she is not important to them.
Mrs. Pringle became exhausted, tired and mad against them for not going to her party because
she is the famous hostess and they made her feel like she is not important at all. Mrs. Pringle has
invited one of the guests, Oliver Farnsworth, to dine in the hopes that he will marry Elaine.

As the chaos builds, Farnsworth cancels, causing Mrs. Pringle to denounce him and social life.
Mrs. Pringle ignores all else in an attempt to maintain the etiquette of high society. She places
Elaine’s social position above all else. Mrs. Pringle had the lines of giving up where she told
Elaine to go to her bedroom and she’ll send her some milk and crackers.

At the height of her mania, it turns out that Farnsworth has sent the Prince of Wales and his
bodyguard to dine in his stead. As a result, the number was back to fourteen and Mrs. Pringle
thanked God for the blizzard and that ends the story.