A Christmas Carol: Scrooge and Marley, Act 1

misanthrope

(n.) a person who hates or despises people

Identify three experiences Scrooge has with the Ghost of Christmas Past

1. Scrooge visits the school he attended as a boy. 2. He visits the business where he was an apprentice 3. He watches the end of his relationship with a woman he once loved.

What key functions does dialogue serve?

1. When a play is viewed as a performance, the characters are developed mainly through dialogue. 2. Characters' words & speech patterns give clues to their personalities 3. Dialogue advances the plot and develops the conflict 4. In a dramatic script, a character's name appears before the dialogue he/she speaks; like: Mr. Horn: Where are my keys? Mrs. Horn: They're on the table, just where you left them.

pounds

A common type of money used in Great Britain

Irony

A contrast between expectation and reality. Like how Scrooge once worked for Fexiwig, who treated his employees very well, yet Scrooge now treats Cratchit horribly.

Dialogue

A conversation between characters in a play.

What might someone do if he/she were covetous?

A covetous person might try to accumulate as many possessions or as much money as he or she could

Ferret eyes

A ferret is a small, weasel-like animal used for hunting rabbits. This expression means to stare continuously, the way a ferret hunts

A dowerless girl

A girl without a dowry, the property or wealth a woman brought to her husband in marriage

How would a malcontent behave at a party?

A malcontent Would sit in a corner, never smile, and refuse to talk to anyone or disagree with anything anyone said

How might a person behave if he/she were morose?

A morose person might be gloomy or ill-tempered, not enjoying life and not getting along with people

Symbolism

A person, place or object which has a meaning in itself but suggests other meanings as well

Rewrite this sentence to have the correct subject-verb agreement "A truck or several cars is what we need for this trip"

A truck or several cars are what we need for this trip.

Characterization

A way a writer develops and reveals a character's personality

What is one of the lines the character- Scrooge say?

And yet, you don't think me ill-used when I pay a day's wages for no work...

What does the prefix mal- mean?

Bad

What does the prefix mis- mean

Badly, unfavorably in a suspicious manner, laci of

What kind of person might be described as being impossible?

Be described as being impossible if he/she argued about every little thing

What does Cratchit mean when he says, "Well, there it is, eh, six"? AND Why does Cratchit say this?

Cratchit is pointing out to Scrooge that the work day is over. Cratchit is hinting hat he'd like to go home

How do your check subject-verb agreement

Determine whether the subject is singular or plural, and then make sure the verb matches

What other words in the selection describe Scrooge's character and personality?

Dismal, rich, cross

What would be a brief summary of "A Christmas Carol: Scrooge and Marley, Act 1" be?

Ebenezer Scrooge is a miser and a malcontent who hates Christmas; one Christmas Eve, the ghost of his dead business partner, Jacob Marley, appears in Scrooge's home; Marley drags an enormous chain because he did not help others while he was alive; he says Scrooge will suffer the same fat, but Marley has arranged for Scrooge to be saved; Scrooge will be visited by three spirits; the first spirit, the Ghost of Christmas Past, takes Scrooge on a journey through scenes from his past; Scrooge sees his school, his sister Fan, the business where he was an apprentice, and the end of his relationship with a woman he once loved; these are painful experiences for Scrooge, and afterwards he falls into a deep sleep

Comforter

English for a long, woolen scarf

Write a sentence that correctly uses the word malcontent, either as a noun or an adj.

Everyone on the committee felt that Wendy was a malcontent because she said every idea we had was bad and never offered a good idea of her own

What is one of the lines the character- Thin Man say?

Good day, sir... A merry Christmas to you, sir...

Rakish angle

Having a dashing or jaunty look

What is the subject-verb agreement in this sentence? "He is the best, best, the very and absolute best!"

He is

Bedlam

Hospital in London for the mentally ill

What is one of the lines the character- Cratchit say?

If quite convenient, sir.

The Treadmill

Kind of mill wheel turned by the weight of people treading steps arranged around it, this device is used to punish prisoners

What has Marley done to help save Scrooge? AND what is Scrooge's immediate reaction to this?

Marley has arranged for Scrooge to be visited by three spirits. Scrooge's immediate reaction is that he'd rather this didn't happen.

Why does Marley's ghost drag a chain fastened to cash-boxes, padlocks, ledgers, deeds, and heavy steel purses?

Marley's ghost drags the chain as punishment for the life he lived. When he was alive, he cared only about business and did nothing to help others

What is the subject-verb agreement in this sentence? "The young men clear the room, sweep the floor, straighten the pictures, trim the lamps, etc."

Men clear sweep straighten trim

What is one of the lines the character- Portly Man say?

Merry Christmas...

Rewrite this sentence to have the correct subject-verb agreement "Mexico and Canada is part of North America"

Mexico and Canada are part of North America.

Parliament

National legislative body of Great Britain, in some ways like the U.S. Congress

impossible

Not capable of being or happening

Counting-house

Office for keeping financial records and writing business letters

Apprenticed

Received instruction in a trade as well as food and housing or wages in return for work

What can cause a sudden change in someone's life? AND what have you learned about what can cause a sudden change in someone's life by reading Act 1 of this play?

Revisiting events from the past can cause a sudden change in someone's life

Describe Scrooge's relationship with his nephew

Scrooge and his nephew do not have much of a relationship at all. Scrooge doesn't approve of his nephew's marriage and never goes to his nephew's house

What does Scrooge mean when he says "Christmas is less of a time of year for being merry, and more of a time of year for being loony...if you ask me"? AND what does this show about Scrooge?

Scrooge thinks that people who celebrate Christmas are foolish or crazy This shows that Scrooge has no holiday spirit

Scrim

See-through fabric backdrop used to create special effects in the theater

Describe a situation in which someone might be resolute?

Someone might be resolute if he/she were determined to reach a particular goal

In his opening speech, what words does Marley's ghost use to indicate the physical traits of Scrooge that match his personality?

The cold within him freezes his old features, nips his pointed nose, shrivels his cheek, stiffens his gait; makes his eyes red, his thin lips blue; and he speaks out shrewdly in his grating voice

How does the concept vocabulary of "covetous, resolute, malcontent, morose, impossible, and miser" sharpen the reader's understanding of Scrooge?

The concept vocabulary helps the reader understand Scrooge's character and personality because they are strong words that vividly describe a certain kind of person

Briefly describe the house a miser might live in

The house might contain old, broken things because a miser would not buy new things or spend money to have broken tings repaired

Poor law

The original 16th-century Poor Laws called for overseers of the poor in each neighborhood to provide relief for the needy. The New Poor Law of 1834 made the workhouses in which the poor sometimes lived and worked extremely harsh & unattractive places

stage directions

The specific instructions a playwright includes concerning sets, characterization, delivery, costumes, lighting sound effects as well as the appearance and physical actions of characters, etc. usually in italics

What is the subject-verb agreement in this sentence? "These are but shadows of things that have been"

These are

When Marley was alive, what relationship did he and Scrooge have?

They were business partners

Gruel on the hob

Thin broth warming on a ledge at the back or side of the fireplace

Donned...regret

To don and doff a hat means to put it on and take it off

Ellipses in dialogue

Used in plays to indicate a pause. It could reveal something about a character, or if the words are difficult for the character to get out, or perhaps because the character is emotional or searching for words.

resolute

With a clear purpose, determined

Rewrite this sentence to have the correct subject-verb agreement "Wood or stone are good material for this house"

Wood or stone is a good material for this house.

Multiple meanings

Word that can have more than one meaning. Like in the play mortal- is used as a noun that means "a human being" but in other writings it could be used as a adj. meaning "causing or having caused death".

indirect characterization

Writer shows us a character's traits through his or her actions, words, or appearance

direct characterization

Writer simply tells us what a character is like

miser

a greedy, stingy person

malcontent

a person who is always unhappy

compound subject

consists of two or more subjects that are joined by a conjunction such as and, or, or nor and that have the same verb

askew

crooked

liberality

generosity

specter

ghost

morose

gloomy; ill-tempered

Solemnized

honored or remembered (Marley is being sarcastic).

Slang

informal language

covetous

jealous, greedy

Sole residuary legatee

legal terms giving one person responsibility to carry out the wishes of another who has died

humbug

nonsense

subject-verb agreement

subject stays the same; verb must be singular or plural to match the subject

Deliquensce

to melt away

Idioms

words and phrases that mean something different from the literal meanings of the words Like when nephew says to Cratchit "He's impossible", meaning difficult to deal with, not the literal meaning of not capable of being or happening.

Promissory notes

written promises to pay someone a certain sum of money