William stanley houghton play the dear departed
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SLATER
MRS. What the devil do you mean by this tomfoolery?
Word meaning
tomfoolery – foolish behaviour
Explanation of the above passage – Abel was irritated and said that it was him indeed. JORDAN: If he did take a drop too much at times, we'll not dwell on that, now.
MRS.
JORDAN: No, but they thought you were. MRS. JORDAN sits on the left of the table. I’m thinking of destroying it and making another.
Explanation of the above passage – Abel said that it was irrelevant as now he would destroy it and make another will.
Passage –MRS.
What brings you here? (Working herself up.) They sneaked into your room like a thief in the night and stole them after you were dead.
Word meaning
Working herself up – to get upset or angry about something
Sneaked – to enter quietly to avoid getting noticed
Explanation of the above passage – Elizabeth told him that Amelia and Henry had robbed him.
SLATER: (in a vindictive whisper) Hold your tongue, Victoria.
ABEL: Eh? What's that? (A pause.) He was quite cold.
HENRY: Then I heard Amelia calling for me, and I ran upstairs.
MRS. SLATER unwraps the parcel HENRY has brought. The writer wants to highlight certain qualities of the families belonging to the middle – class.
They peep into the room and then go there. He was reminded of the time when Amelia and Elizabeth had a quarrel. Every translation focuses on the humor, irony, and moral lesson of the play. SLATER: If I've done anything wrong. It's come over me all at once that he hasn't.
MRS. Only ABEL eats with any heartiness.)
BEN: Glad to see you've got an appetite, Mr.
Merry weather, although you've not been so well.
ABEL: Nothing serious. He was lying there for all the world as if he was asleep, so I put the tray down on the bureau -(correcting herself)on the chest of drawers – and went to waken him. SLATER: (sobbing) Grandfather.
ABEL: It didn't take you long to start dividing my things between you.
MRS.
(He retires to L.)
Word meaning
Retires: here, to sit back to indicate that he was no longer a part of the conversation.
Explanation of the above passage – Ben also said that he was not going for the funeral.
Passage –ABEL: (rising) Well, I suppose you’ve only been waiting for me to begin tea.