Selfishness In The Play 'Fourteen' By Alice Gerstenberg

The world has many different types of people this plays shows one type of those types of people. In the play “Fourteen” by Alice Gerstenberg the main character Mrs.Pringle is having a dinner party and is acting selfish. Mrs.Pringle is only worried about there being fourteen guests because she wants no more or less than fourteen guests. The main character Mrs.Pringle is selfish and the story has many dialogues showing her selfishness. Moreover, Mrs. Pringle invited a guest who wasn't able to join because he needed to see his friend who is severely ill. In the script, Mrs. Pringle states, “That’s all due to Mr. Harper’s negligence. Sick friend, nothing! He’s just one of those careless men who never answer their invitations in time.” This means Mrs. Pringle is mad that there will be only thirteen guests, not fourteen but Mr. Harper could not attend because his friend was severely ill and Mr. Happer

This matters because Mrs. Pringle doesn't understand that Mr. Harper has to be there for his friend and she can not be mad because the friend is severely ill. Gerstenberg continues to show that Mrs. Pringle possesses the character trait of selfishness throughout the play. Then, Mrs. Pringle got mad at her daughter Elaine because an important guest couldn't attend and Mrs. Pringle was blaming her daughter. In the script, Mrs. Pringle says, “Yes, it is! If you’d perk up a bit and not be so timid and make something of yourself, he would hear about your attractions from other men and be curious to meet you