A CHRISTMAS CAROL SCROOGE AND MARLEY By Israel

A CHRISTMAS CAROL: SCROOGE AND MARLEY By: Israel Horovitz from A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens

STRATEGIES FOR READING DRAMA v The story is told mostly through what actors say (dialogue) and what they do (action). v Use the stage directions to understand what is happening while the characters are talking or while they are silent. v 1. Picture the action: Stage directions will help you picture the action of a play. v 2. Ask questions. v 3. Predict what is going to happen: when reading drama, novels, novellas, short stories and narrative nonfiction, make predictions – educated guesses

BACKGROUND v A Christmas Carol is set in 19 th century England, a time of rapid industrial growth. v In this booming economy, the wealthy lived in luxury, but the poor and the working class suffered. v Workers put in long hours, endured brutal working conditions, and earned low wages. v Dickens’s great sympathy for the poor and working classes is evident in A Christmas Carol

LITERARY ANALYSIS Connecting Literary Elements of Drama v A drama is a story written to be performed. Elements v Dramatic adaptation – v A drama has characters, a setting, Horovitz’s play makes use of and a plot. the plot, characters, and v Drama has: • • Presentation of Dialogue conversations between characters. Characters names are written before the words they speak. Stage Directions – words not spoken by characters. Describe the set, special effects, and the way characters look and move. setting of Charles Dickens’s novel A Christmas Carol on which it is based.

LITERARY ANALYSIS CONTINUED Motives Characterization v The act of creating and v A character’s motives are developing a character. the reasons for his or her v In drama, character traits – actions. the qualities of characters – v Motives are usually related are revealed through what to what a character wants, characters say, what is said needs, or feels. about them, and their own v Common general motives actions. are: fear, greed, love, honor

READING STRATEGY v Picturing the Action • To picture in your mind what a performance of A Christmas Carol might be like, use the details the playwright provides in the stage directions. v Asking Questions • To understand the traits, actions, and motives of characters, ask yourself questions: • Why did the character do that? • What did the character mean by that comment? • How is the character feeling?