How Does Lucille Fletcher Use Rhetorical Devices In Sorry Wrong Number

Left to Her Own Devices
Lucille Fletcher’s radio play Sorry, Wrong Number effectively employs the use of rhetorical devices to develop her characters. In Agnes’ interactions with others, the repetition of certain words and phrases show her state of mind, and the brief presence of dramatic irony gave Agnes room to grow as a character, and carefully exaggerated truths prevent her from getting the help she needs.
Agnes’ most prominent character traits are revealed through constant repetition. When she called the police station to report the murder plot she had overheard, the repetition in the dialogue exchanged between her and the officer revealed a significant amount of information about her mentality. Agnes often stutters when she is anxious, and repeated her name, “Mrs. Stevenson, Mrs. Elbert Stevenson” (11), twice. She also spoke in quick, short phrases often beginning with “And…” (11), to add one more small piece of information to an already long and extended thought. The excessive repetition gives her dialogue a nervous, almost hysterical quality, and highlights her unstable mindset in her anxiety. While providing her address in great detail to the police, she eventually realizes the repetition in her own words, and begins to suspect she is the victim of the murder about to

happen. As such, her anxiety mounts and worsens progressively throughout the play.
In the same scene, Fletcher used dramatic irony to let the audience realize the targeted victim moments before Agnes herself.

As she reveals that she lives “near a bridge … [with] a private patrolman on [her] street … [a]nd Second Avenue is [nearby]” (11) the listeners recognize that some of the details are familiar, and the coincidences create a dreading atmosphere of dramatic irony. When Agnes does realize that she could be the target, she appeals desperately to the police to send help. However, she had already established her character to the officer as a hysterical woman from the start, and consequently influenced his dismissive attitude towards her for the duration of the phone

call.
Unfortunately, the officer made use of exaggeration by contrast to make Agnes’ situation seem less serious than she thought it was. He tried to reason with her, saying that “Second Avenue you know, is a very long street … you know how many bridges there are in the city of New York alone” (13), and asked her how she knew “it wasn’t some little house on Staten Island on some little Second Avenue [she’d] never heard about” (13). By contrasting the size of Second Avenue and the total number of bridges in New York to the idea of an obscure house on a small street, the officer belittles Agnes’ anxiety and rebukes her concerns. His initial impression of her as a hysterical deluded woman inhibited his ability to sympathize with her and clouded his judgement. His patronizing tone showed his lack of respect for Agnes as a woman and an invalid, and he indirectly helped the murderers in not sending her help.
In summary, Agnes’ anxiety showed itself through the constant repetition and stammering in her speech, which created a moment of dramatic irony that allowed her to make connections on her own and develop as a character. The officer’s tactful use of exaggeration in his undermining attitude towards her revealed his unwillingness to help her, whom he believed to be hysterical. Overall, through the effective use of rhetorical devices, Fletcher convincingly portrays her characters with depth, development, and emotion.