1. By Charles Dickens Dramatized by Israel Horovitz
A Christmas Carol
By Charles Dickens
Dramatized by Israel Horovitz

2. How important is money? There are many sayings involving money:
“Show me the money”
“Time is money”
But there are also saying such as “You can’t buy happiness”
In A Christmas Carol, the main character’s opinion about what it means to be wealthy changes drastically by the end of the play.

3. How important is money? Discuss what money can and cannot do.
Journal: How important is money? What does it mean to be wealthy?

4. Charles Dickens ~
His childhood in England provided material for many of his stories.
When he was 12 in London, his father was put in prison for not paying his debts.
Charles had to leave school to work in a rat-infested factory
The hopelessness and shame he felt affected him deeply.

5. London 1843
Israel Horovitz based his play off of Dickens’ novel first published in 1843.
1/3 of the people in London were living in poverty and hunger
The city was dirty and overcrowded
Jobs and houses in short supply
Children forced to work
The novel was to be a “plea for the poor”

6. Drama Dramas also communicate theme
Methods to identify drama: read closely, think about the larger meaning, pay attention to:
Descriptions of setting, events, and characters through stage directions
Dialogue between characters
Ask yourself how and why the characters say and do the things they do

7. Drama
Actor/actress – the people who take on the roles of the characters in a play
Adaptation – the result when an author takes a literary work and changes it, usually into another form (ex. Novel to play form)
Audience – the people who watch the play
Costumes – the clothes worn by the characters in the play

8. Drama Dialogue – the conversation between characters in a play
Director – the person charged with mapping the actions of the characters, movements, effects, as well as casting, and seeing to the overall performance
Lights – the effects of day, night, special attention, or especial effects that draw attention

9. Drama
Narrator – a character from the play or, most often, an additional voice that will read the stage directions when the play is being read aloud
Playwright – the author of the play
Script – the actual written version of the play that is memorized
Stage directions – the part of the script that tells the characters where to walk, how to move, or speak, etc.
Stage hands – the people whose job it is to move furniture, change the scenes of the play, etc.

10. Drama
Set – the walls, rooms, streets, etc. on the stage that are needed to perform the play
Stage – the platform on which the play is performed

11. Drama

12. Drama A play is divided into acts and scenes:
Act – one of the major divisions of a play/drama
Scene – a subdivision of an act in drama
Setting is fixed
Time is continuous
A Christmas Carol has 2 Acts, each with 5 scenes.

13. Sequence The order of events in a work of literature
Are not always presented in the order in which they happen
The reader may be taken backward or forward in time
Clues about the order often appear in the stage directions or the titles of the scenes.
May use words such as first, next, then, and after.
How will you know that the setting has changed to an earlier time when watching a movie?

14. Vocabulary – Act I, Scene 1
Covetous - marked by an eager desire, especially for another’s possessions
Gait – a manner of moving on foot
Implored – asked or begged earnestly

15. Vocabulary – Act I, Scene 2
Replenish – to make full or complete once more
Morose – gloomy, ill-tempered
Resolute – marked by a firm determination
Destitute – living in complete poverty
Misanthrope – a person who hates or distrusts everyone

16. Vocabulary – Act I, Scene 3
Void – total emptiness
Ponderous – very heavy, bulky
Procure – to get possession of
Shun – to avoid purposefully or by habit

17. Vocabulary – Act I, Scene 4
Miser – a mean grasping person; especially : one who lives poorly in order to store away money
Obliged – to earn the gratitude of

18. Vocabulary – Act I, Scene 5
Aspiration – a strong desire to achieve something high or great
Repentance – the act or process of showing sorrow for one's actions and make up one's mind to do what is right

19. Vocabulary – Act II, Scene 1
Astonish – amaze
Scabbard – a protective case for a sword, dagger, or bayonet
Sheath – a case for a blade
Compulsion – a driving irresistible force

20. Vocabulary – Act II, Scene 2
Revelers – those who take part in a celebration : be noisy in a festive manner
Severe – harsh

21. Vocabulary – Act II, Scene 3
Meager – of poor quality, small in amount
Threadbare – worn, shabby
Unaltered – to remain unchanged
Odious – causing hatred or strong dislike : worthy of hatred

22. Vocabulary – Act II, Scene 4
Wizened – to become shrunken or wrinkled often as a result of aging
Rail – to scold or complain in harsh or bitter language
Audible – loud enough to be heard
Gnarled – knotty and twisted

23. Vocabulary – Act II, Scene 5
Dispelled – scattered and driven away, made to vanish
Endeavor – to work or make an effort towards a particular goal or result