The Cocktail Party (Masterplots, Revised Second Edition)
At a glance:
- Author: T. S. Eliot
- First Published: 1950
- Type of Work: Drama
- Type of Plot: Comedy of manners
- Time of Work: Mid-twentieth century
- Setting: London
- Principal Characters: Edward Chamberlayne, Lavinia, Julia Shuttlethwaite, Celia Coplestone, Peter Quilpe, Alexander MacColgie Gibbs, Sir Henry Harcourt-Reilly
- Genres: Drama, Verse drama, Comedy, Comedy of manners
- Subjects: Twentieth century, Psychology or psychologists, England or English people, Adultery, London, Psychoanalysis or psychoanalysts, Parties, Psychiatry or psychiatrists, Psychotherapy or psychotherapists
- Locales: London, England
The Story:
The Chamberlaynes were giving a cocktail party in their London flat. The atmosphere was somewhat strained because Lavinia, the hostess, was not there, and Edward, her bumbling husband, hastily invented a sick aunt to account for her absence. As usual, Alex had an exotic story to tell, for he traveled widely and knew everyone. Julia, a sharp-eyed and sharp-tongued family friend, missed the point of his tale and wondered why Alex and the Maharaja were up a tree. Julia usually missed the point of stories she heard.
The assembly demanded that Julia give her...
[The entire page is 3080 words long]
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