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    Arpan Bhattacharyya
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    Stanley Houghton was an English dramatist in the early 20th century known for realistic plays that critiqued social issues. In The Dear Departed, he satirizes the degradation of moral values in the British middle class. The play depicts two selfish sisters, Mrs. Slater and Mrs. Jordan, who declare their father dead so they can claim his possessions. However, their father, Abel Merryweather, is discovered to be alive, revealing the sisters' hypocrisy. He decides to change his will and marry another woman to ensure someone cares for him without expecting his possessions in return.

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    Stanley Houghton was an English dramatist in the early 20th century known for realistic plays that critiqued social issues. In The Dear Departed, he satirizes the degradation of moral values in the British middle class. The play depicts two selfish sisters, Mrs. Slater and Mrs. Jordan, who declare their father dead so they can claim his possessions. However, their father, Abel Merryweather, is discovered to be alive, revealing the sisters' hypocrisy. He decides to change his will and marry another woman to ensure someone cares for him without expecting his possessions in return.

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    © All Rights Reserved
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    Download as pdf or txt
    962 views2 pages

    The Dear Departed Stanley Houghton PDF

    Uploaded by

    Arpan Bhattacharyya
    Stanley Houghton was an English dramatist in the early 20th century known for realistic plays that critiqued social issues. In The Dear Departed, he satirizes the degradation of moral values in the British middle class. The play depicts two selfish sisters, Mrs. Slater and Mrs. Jordan, who declare their father dead so they can claim his possessions. However, their father, Abel Merryweather, is discovered to be alive, revealing the sisters' hypocrisy. He decides to change his will and marry another woman to ensure someone cares for him without expecting his possessions in return.

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
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    The Dear Departed Stanley Houghton


    Stanley Houghton was one of the most distinguished of English dramatists in the early
    th
    20 century. He belonged to a group of realistic playwrights often called the Manchester School.
    In every play he sought to present an idea. He had a remarkable gift for dialogue writing and this
    is evident in The Dear Departed. The play was based on the story of the celebrated French writer,
    Guy de Maupassant and the play was first produced in Manchester in 1908. In this play
    Houghton satirises the degradation of moral values in the British middle class. The story of Dear
    Departed depicts the sad reality of the modern nuclear families that are strained with selfish
    interests and individual desires. Reflecting the society at large, the tale takes place at the house
    of the Slaters.

    This humorous play shows the hypocritical nature and behaviour of two sisters Mrs.
    Amelia Slater and Mrs. Elizabeth Jordon, daughters of Abel Merryweather. Abel Merryweather,
    who lives in Mrs. Slater’s house, is considered ‘dead’ by her when he doesn’t wake up when she
    calls him. Therefore, she indulges herself in acquiring most of the property belong to him before
    the other sister arrives. In trying to grab the things belonging to her father, Mrs. Slater
    completely disregard modesty, decency and obligation towards her family. It is amazing that a
    daughter goes without any feeling for her father’s death. Not only that she didn’t get a doctor for
    her father on finding him ‘dead’ but also she left him to die there and went for her mourning
    costumes. It is the height of hypocrisy that she brings down Grandpa’s valuable bureau and
    handsome clock with the help of her husband.

    When the curtain rises Mrs. Slater goes to offer something to her father Abel
    Merryweather and finds him quite cold, not responding at all. He is motionless. So, she declares
    that her father is no more. Accordingly, her sister and her husband, the Jordans are informed
    about the sudden demise of their father. Mrs. Slater and her husband are busy making
    arrangements for the mourning. They are expecting the Jordans to join them. They start using the
    various belongings of their father. Victoria, daughter of Mrs. Slater does not like all this but
    reluctantly she is helping her parents in these matters.

    Victoria is asked to keep a watch on the main door to inform her mother about the arrival
    of the Jordans. Mrs. Slater is not willing to share her father's belongings with Mrs. Jordan. When
    the articles are being shifted, the Jordans arrive. The family members start a detailed
    conversation on the deeds of their deceased father, planning the details of the obituary
    announcement in the papers and the insurance premium payment. They start a discussion over
    the distribution of their father's belongings among them. However, as instructed by her mother,
    Victoria goes up to her grandpa’s room to fetch the bunch of keys. The sisters intend to get the
    insurance papers from there. But to their amazement, Victoria brings in the news that grandpa
    was getting up from bed and moving about. To everybody's surprise, grandfather is seen coming
    downstairs. The two sisters and their husband stand shell shocked to see the father moving about.
    2

    Mr. Abel Merryweather is surprised to find his younger daughter with husband over
    there too. No one dares to tell him that he had been declared 'dead'. While taking tea, the truth
    comes out and he gets to know how his daughters have been in a hurry to divide his possessions
    among them. He watches the shifted bureau and the new clock, the new slippers in the feet of
    Henry and observes the nature of the daughters in wanting to look after in turns only if he is
    willing to part with the property he has. On knowing the harsh reality, the grandfather decides
    not to live with any of his daughters. Therefore grandpa announces he has to do three things on
    Monday next. He has to go to his lawyer and alter his will. He has to go to insurance company
    and pay his premium. He has to go to St. Philips Church at twelve o’clock and get married to
    Mrs. John Shorrocks who keeps the Ring-o-Bells. He even expresses his final intention to
    change his will. He declares that he is going to give everything to Mrs. Shorrocks whom he will
    marry. He feels that by marrying Mrs. Shorrocks he will have someone to look after him whole-
    heartedly without considering him to be a burden.

    In The Dear Departed, the poet uses vary literally devices to criticise basic human
    characteristics. He uses a mixture of dramatic irony, sarcasm, simultaneous speech, humour and
    twist in the plot to criticize human traits. The play criticizes that the peripheral relations and
    showy love between parents, siblings and children. Though the title itself appears to be an
    emotional one, it soon becomes clear that the dear departed is not Mr. Abel, father of Amelia and
    Elizabeth. What departed them dearly were their father’s assets and belongings. In this play,
    Houghton manages to portray irony in many different ways. Ironically the title suggests that the
    father considered ‘dear’ and ‘dead’ by the daughters departs from them permanently only to live
    with someone who would love him and care for him thus teaching the daughters a lesson. The
    comedy behind the last scene is that father thanks the Slaters for having brought the bureau
    downstairs as it would be handier to carry it across to the Ring-o- Bells on Monday. In the end
    with an insolent in his tone, he asks his daughters and their greedy husbands to attend the
    wedding and bless the bride and groom.

    *****

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