The Dear Departed

Stanley
Houghton
Click the link
• https://youtu.be/sMogUmgJGZU
INTRODUCTION
• ‘The Dear Departed’ a social play on the condition of the elderly
people who are being abandoned and neglected by their own
children. The play brings out the harsh reality of dying love and
absence of moral values in the children.

• At the beginning of the drama, Mrs Slater ,elder daughter of Abel

Merryweather finds him quite cold. Morever he was not
responding. Thus she declares that their father is no more.
Henry Slater and she inform to Elizabeth and her husband Ben
Jordan about the sad demise of their father. Victoria who is an
obedient child has a genuine love for her grandfather. They take
away father’s new slippers, bureau and clock.
• Jordans arrive and all are much keen to receive father’s
insurance premium payment.
• Surprisingly ,when Victoria goes to her grandfather’s room ,she
screams that he is alive. Furthermore ,grandfather walks
downstairs and he comes to know how his daughters want to
grab his belongings. On knowing the harsh reality , the
grandfather decides to live separately. Moreover ,he expresses
his final intention to change his will and to marry with Mrs
Shorrlocks who will be happy to look after him well.
Vocabulary
• blinds-window coverings
• Gallivanting-wandering for pleasure/roaming
• mouring-the act of expressing sorrow over somebody’s death
• bureau-a desk with cover and compartments to store papers and
clothes
• pinched-damaged
• flushed-red-faced/blushing
• stagger-an unsteady movement of body in walking
• ushers-guides
• complacent-self -satisfied
• plumes-feather
• furtively-secretively
• fatal-deadly/destructive
• snug-comfortable/cosy
• swindling-obtaining money by doing fraud/deceiving someone
• stockinged feet-wearing only stockings in feet
• melicious-harmful/evil
• Gingerly-very carefully
• tomfoolery-foolish behaviour
• vindictive-revengeful
• stooping-inclined downward
• 1.(i)b Choose the correct option
• (ii)c
• (iii)a
• (iv)c
• (v)c
• (vi)b
• 2.Write T/F
• (i)True
• (ii)False
• (iii)False
• (iv)False
• (v)False
• (vi)True
Short answer questions:
• (i)Mrs Slater scolded Victoria because she was wearing
colourful clothes while her uncle and aunt were about to come
to mourn at her grandfather’s death.
• (ii)Henry Slater was a stooping ,heavy man with a drooping
moustache.
• (iii)Mrs Slater asked Henry to put on her father’s new slippers
even though they were small.
• (iv)Mrs Slater and Henry were shifting the bureau from their
father’s room to the sitting room when Mrs Jordan arrived.
• (v) Mrs Jordan was a stout, complacent woman with an
impassive face and an irritating air of being always right
whereas Mr Ben a jolly little man , accustomed to be humorous .
He had a bright chirpy little voice.
• (vi) When Amelia finished her dinner she took up a bit of
something on a tray. Mr Abel was lying there as if he was asleep .
So, she put the tray down and went to wake him. She found that
he was quite cold and thought that he was dead.

• (vii)Amelia poked Abel to check if he was real and not some

ghost. She could not believe that he was alive.

• (viii)Abel realized that he was a burden to his family and they

were only after his money. So, he announced that he was
marrying Mrs Shorrocks and also getting his will altered.
 Long answer questions
• 2(i)Mrs Slater had always liked the bureau and wanted to have it after
her father’s death. When she thought that her father had died ,she
brought it down before her sister arrived. She knew that her sister had
not been to her house for a long time and would not recognize the
bureau.
• (ii)The family was sitting and having tea. They were discussing about
how the father’s assets would be divided. But when Abel came
downstairs , everybody was shocked to see him alive .
• (iii)Abel was shocked that everyone in his family presumed that he
was dead while he only had been sleeping off due to headache. He
realised the harsh reality that his daughters didn’t love him and were
only bearing him for money. So, he announced that he will be altering
his will and marrying to Mrs Shorrocks who would like to take care of
him.
 Reference to the context
• Q.3(I)a. They refers to Ben and Mrs Jordan.
• (b)They had to talk about grandpa’s affairs because he was dead.
• ©The affairs were the division of assets of Mr Abel between his
two daughters.
• (ii)
• (a). Mrs Slater says this to Victoria.
• (b). She warned Victoria because she did not want Elizabeth and
her husband to know that she had stolen the clock and bureau
from her father’s room.
• © The bureau and the clock always appealed Mrs Slater and she
had wanted to own these after her father’s death. So, she thought
of exchanging bureau with her old chest of drawers.
Character sketch
HAPPY LEARNING!!