SORRY WRONG NUMBER BY LUCILLE FLETCHER(ALSO CHARACTER'S EXPLANATION)

“Sorry,Wrong Number” was radio drama written by Lucille Fletcher in 1943. Later in 1948 it was adapted as American thriller movie by Anatole Litvak. Fletcher was born March 28, 1912, in Brooklyn, New York. Fletcher's greatest success, Sorry, Wrong Number, premiered on May 25, 1943, as an episode of the radio series Suspense. Lucille Fletcher died on August 31, 2000, after suffering a stroke.

                  In the drama Mrs Stevenson is an invalid women and her husband has been taking care of her for twelve years. She was very afraid to be home alone as her husband was coming late. She accidentally hears a murder plot of a woman while trying to reach her husband in phone. She tries her best effort to save that women life but realizes in the end that the targeted victim was her. She was totally helpless and was probably murdered in the end.

CHARACTERS' EXPLANATION

1. MRS STEVENSON

2.MR STEVENSON

3.SERGEANT DUFFY

4.OPERATOR

5.CHIEF OPERATOR

6.GEORGE

7.RECEPTIONIST(HENCHLEY HOSPITAL)

Above mentioned characters are the main characters of this drama. 

MRS STEVENSON

She is the protagonist of this drama. she is self-centered neurotic victim. Because of her continuous fail attempt to reach her husband through out the drama she has been growing more nervous,panicked and querulous. After hearing murder plot she tries her best effort to save the unknown woman but she is the targeted victim in this drama.

MR STEVENSON

He is the husband of Mrs Stevenson who has been taking care of his disabled wife for long period of time.he can be taken as the antagonist of this drama for the fact that he has betrayed his wife the particular night she became the victim. 

SERGEANT DUFFYHe is the line operator of phone call and looks like he is annoyed by the behavior of Mrs Stevenson.

CHIEF OPERATOR 

He is the police officer  of this drama. He looks uninterested with the information given by Mrs Stevenson and says such information are of no help.He is the one who makes Mrs Stevenson realize that  she might be the targeted victim.

OPERATOR

He is the chief operator and informs to Mrs Stevenson that he cannot track the phone call unless it is a police case and is unable to help her.

GEORGE

He is the most fierce character of this drama. He is working for the first man who has given him order of murdering a woman with her details.

RECEPTIONIST(HENCHLEY HOSPITAL)

Mrs Stevenson called her as her last hope for sending nurse to her house but she is also unable to help her as the only available nurse has gone for lunch.

STORY

                   This is a unique drama where single actress has holed the rapt attention of all her audience. Besides being a thriller, this one-woman, one act play can be seen as a commentary on life in faceless, fragmented, modern American cities.

                 Mrs Stevenson was self centered neurotic victim of querulous character. Because of her continuous fail attempt to reach her husband she was frustrated and unnerved and also she has been growing more demanding and panicked throughout the drama because of which she couldn’t analyze that she was targeted victim. It was said that, “A knife will be okay. And remember –remove the rings and bracelets, and the jewelry in the bureau drawer. Our client wishes it to look like a simple robbery.” From this statement we can say the possible client is her husband who is the mastermind of this plot.

                  After she heard the murder plot in her phone she calls the operator and asks him to track the call and he asks her to speak with chief operator who says that in order to track the phone call it must be a police case and she ends up contacting sergeant Duffy who says they are unable to help unless the victim is herself and such type of information are of no use to stop the crime. she receives the telegram that her husband is going to Boston for some business and realizes that there will be none to help her. after being helpless she realizes all the murderer's plan coincide with her. she also tries to call the nurse but becomes unsuccessful. while she is calling the operator someone picks her phone call in downstairs. when sergeant Duffy picks up the call, George apologizes for calling wrong number.

CONCLUSION

Sorry, Wrong Number tells the story of Mrs. Elbert Stevenson an invalid woman confined to her bed, who becomes increasingly frantic as the story progresses. The drama “Sorry, Wrong Number” raises some interesting ideas. Where Mrs. Stevenson has been left isolated in her home on the day of murder due to her physical condition. It also lightens on the problem caused because of limitation of technology and proper communication. It means if there were proper communication then Mrs. Stevenson would be alive.

Frenzied climax has been created in the drama with the help of suspense and frustration. When Mrs Stevenson discovered that she herself is the target of that murder plan. She also suspect that her husband Mr. Stevenson might be the mastermind of the murder plan. For anticlimax we have George who killed Stevenson and answer the call from Sergeant Duffy. He says, “sorry, wrong number”. And the receiver is hung up. With this the drama comes to an end.

Mystery is the main theme of this drama. Mystery involves elements of the unknown. There are two mystery in this drama. Among which one has been solved but another one has been left open ended. As per the first mystery Stevenson was the intended target of the murder plot. However, second mystery about the murderer’s boss speculation based on Mr. Stevenson’s urgent trip out of town and logical motive for having his wife killed. Though involvement of Mr. Stevenson has not been mention in the drama. But we can suspect that he might be the murder planner after all those coincident of he not receiving his wife calls and his urgent business trip on that particular day of murder.