Summary - The Dear Departed

SUMMARY

The play "The Dear Departed" presents a comic yet pointed situation that exposes human weaknesses-especially greed, pretence and lack of filial respect. The scene is set in the sitting-room of a small house in a lower middle-class district of a provincial town. The furnishings, the laid tea-table and the general household bustle indicate a family preparing to receive visitors. The action that follows reveals how the announcement of a presumed death brings out petty scheming and hypocrisy in relations that are supposed to be affectionate.

The play opens with Mrs Slater, a plump, active woman in mourning, arranging the sitting-room and instructing her young daughter, Victoria (about ten years old), to put on sober clothes. Mrs Slater explains that Grandfather (named Abel Merryweather) has died and that they are expecting visits from Aunt Elizabeth and Uncle Ben to make arrangements concerning the old man's affairs. Victoria expresses surprise because the aunt and uncle have not visited them for years. As the scene develops, it becomes clear that the Slaters are more interested in the grandfather's possessions than in grief.

Mr Henry Slater (a heavy, stooping man) joins his wife. Together they conspire to take advantage of the situation: Mrs Slater secretly moves her father's new bureau downstairs into their room and replaces it with their old chest of drawers, and she also takes his new slippers and his clock. Victoria wonders why they are taking the grandfather's things, but Mrs Slater tells her to be quiet. The couple lock the front door so that they have time to make things appear normal when the visitors arrive.

When Mrs Jordan and Ben arrive, they put on a show of grief. The two sisters compare mourning dresses and exchange criticisms. Mrs Jordan expresses surprise that no doctor had been summoned. Mrs Slater defends this by saying she had tried to get Mr Pringle, and if he was out of town they could not offend by calling someone else. The visitors discuss the obituary and what announcement should go into the newspapers; Mrs Jordan wants a long poem while Mrs Slater objects on the grounds of expense. Mrs Jordan then reveals that her father had willed his gold watch to her son Jimmy, a claim that angers Mrs Slater, who refuses to believe it.

Conversation turns to the grandfather's habits. He had gone often to the public house called "Ring-O-Bells", managed by Mrs Shorrock, and had apparently gone there the morning in question instead of paying his insurance premium. Victoria is sent to fetch the receipt for the premium from the grandfather's room. Mrs Jordan notices the new bureau and questions its presence, heightening suspicion and tension. Victoria returns looking dazed and announces the shocking news that Grandpa is stirring and moving in his bed.

To everyone's astonishment, Abel Merryweather himself enters, very much alive. He remarks that he only had a slight headache and asks why everyone is in mourning. He sees Henry wearing his new slippers and takes them back. He eats tea and apple-pie and scolds Mrs Slater for taking his bureau. The sisters and their husbands begin accusing one another of theft and selfishness. Abel, amused by the quarrel, listens as they argue over who will inherit him and where he will die.

Abel then surprises them further by announcing his plans: on Monday he will go to the lawyer and alter his will, then he will pay his insurance premium and afterwards he intends to go to the church and marry Mrs Shorrock (the widow of the public-house keeper), since she is willing to keep him. This declaration shocks the family. Abel thanks Mrs Slater for shifting the bureau downstairs, saying it will now be easy to cart it away to the "Ring-O-Bells." He departs to make his plans, leaving the family stunned by their own behaviour and by his unexpected vitality and independence.

Characters

• Abel Merryweather - the old man (grandfather), lively in spirit though advanced in years.
• Mrs Slater - Abel's daughter; practical, scheming, ready to appropriate her father's belongings.
• Henry Slater - Mrs Slater's husband; a heavy, submissive man who goes along with his wife's plans.
• Victoria - the Slaters' ten-year-old daughter; innocent and observant.
• Mrs Jordan (Aunt Elizabeth) - Abel's other daughter; shows equal pretence and readiness to claim possessions.
• Ben - Mrs Jordan's husband; joins in the family disputes.
• Mrs Shorrock - widow who runs the "Ring-O-Bells"; named by Abel as the woman he intends to marry.
• Mr Pringle - the doctor mentioned in passing.
• Jimmy - Mrs Jordan's son, named as a possible beneficiary in family talk.

Themes and Moral Lessons

• Hypocrisy and Pretense: The play exposes how outward expressions of grief can be false when people's primary concern is material gain.
• Greed and Selfishness: The eagerness of the daughters to secure the father's possessions shows how avarice can corrupt family bonds.
• Social Respectability versus True Morality: Much of the action is concerned with appearances-mourning clothes, newspaper obituaries, and polite phrases-rather than genuine concern for the old man.
• Irony and Dark Comedy: The dramatic irony of presuming someone dead when he is alive, and the comic outcome of his announced marriage, underline the play's satirical tone.
• Independence of the Elderly: Abel's decision to marry and to alter his will demonstrates his own agency and mocks the family's assumption of entitlement.