The Dear Departed

The Dear Departed

1. What does Mrs. Slater say to Victoria when she enters?

Mrs Slater admonishes Victoria for roaming around the streets and

having fun. She tells her to quickly change into clothes that would

show her mourning the death of her grandfather.

2. Why was it certain that Elizabeth and Ben would come over to the

Slater’s?

Since Mr Slater had sent Elizabeth and Ben a telegram informing them

of grandfather’s death, it was certain that they would come over to

talk over grandfather’s affairs.

3. What does ‘new black’ mean?

‘New black’ refers to the new dress of mourning that was ordered for

by the Slater’s after they had concluded that grandfather was dead.

4. What does Mr Slater mean when he says ‘I suppose it’s in the family’?

Here Mr Slater speaks with reference to his wife’s conversation

wherein his wife wonders from where her sister Elizabeth had acquired

the quality of being able to drive a hard bargain. Mr Slater replies to

this speculation by saying that it runs in the family. What he means to

say is that his wife too exhibits the same quality. Hence both sisters

are alike in nature.

5. Give evidence to show that Mrs Slater is a double-faced woman?

Mrs Slater does not call in a doctor to attend to her father when she

finds him lifeless and still. She breaks down and grieves his death. She

talks about how hard it is for her to hold herself together when she

looks at her father’s small possessions lying around the house. In the

next instant, she tells her husband to start using grandfather’s slippers

and then tries to covet the bureau in his room before her sister

Elizabeth arrives.

6. Why is Mrs Slater so certain that her sister won’t stake a claim to the

bureau?

Mrs Slater is confident that her sister won’t stake her claim to the

bureau as her sister has not visited them ever since the bureau was

purchased by her father. Consequently, she does not know that the

bureau belongs to her father.

7. How do Mr. and Mrs. Slater connive at claiming grandfather’s

possessions before the Jordan’s arrive?

Mrs Slater convinces her husband to wear grandfather’s slippers

before her sister Elizabeth and her husband arrive. She tells her

husband to help her get grandfather’s bureau downstairs and place

their old chest of drawers in its place upstairs. She takes grandfather’s

clock. When Victoria the daughter points out that this is stealing both

Mr and Mrs Slater tell her to keep quiet about it. 8. How do we get to know that Elizabeth, like her sister, Mrs Slater has no

love for her father?

On hearing the news of her father’s death Elizabeth does not rush to

her sister’s home. She orders the clothing for mourning and then

arrives to see her father wearing the same. As soon as she arrives, she

does not go up to see her father. She prefers to have a cup of tea

instead and discuss matters like the obituary and her father’s

possessions.

9. ‘I wouldn’t mind betting that I’m not the first person in this house to be

carried to the cemetery’ What does Abel Merryweather mean by

saying these words?

Abel Merryweather says these words to emphasise the fact that he is

healthier and fitter than most people in the household.

10. What does the dramatist want to say about Mrs Jordan and Mrs

Slater?

The dramatist wants to say that both the sisters are hollow and

unscrupulous. They are bothered more about their mourning dresses,

taking over their father’s possessions that the death of their father.