The Bishop’s candlesticks-1
Topic:-6
Class:-9th
Subject:-English
Prepared by:Pardeep Kaur
(English mistress)
G.S.S.S Chakkar Ludhiana
The Bishop’s candlesticks-1
The Bishop’s candlesticks-1
• Persome: Marie, isn' t the soup boiling yet ?
• Marie: Not yet, madam.
• Persome: Well, it ought to be. You haven't tended the fire
properly, child.
• Marie: But, madam, you yourself made the fire up.
• Persome: Don't answer me back like that. It is rude.
• Marie: Yes, madam.
• Persome: Then don't let me have to rebuke you again.
• Marie: No, madam.
• Persome: I wonder where my brother can be. (Looking at
the clock.) It is after eleven o'clock and no sign of him.
Marie!
Passage 2
Persome : Brother , I have no patience with you.
There , sit down and take your soup, it has
been waiting ever so long. And if it is spoilt, it
serves you right.
Bishop : it smells delicious.
Persome: I’m sure Marie’s mother is not so ill that
you7 need have stayed out on such a night as
this. I believe those people pretend to be ill just
to have the Bishop call on them. They have no
thought of the Bishop.
• The Bishop is a very
noble person, who is
always ready to help
anyone in distress. The
doors of his house are
always
open.
• But
his
sister
Persome
is
materialistic.
She
feels
that
the
simplicity
and
nobility of the bishop
is misused by the
people.
• He is often cheated
and taken undue
advantage of. Mere
Gringoire, the old
women who lives on
the top of the hill
and does no work
made such a fool of
the
bishop
by
making him sell his
silver salt cellars to
pay her rent
• One day, past midnight a convict enters the
bishop’s house and asks for food at the
point of a knife. The convict is rude, hard
hearted, rough and suspicious and full of
fear. The bishop treats him with kindness
and provides him food and shelter.
• The convict is tempted to steal the bishops silver
candlesticks. But he gets caught and is arrested
and brought before the bishop. This candlestick
was very dear to the bishop as it was the parting
gift presented to him by his mother. But the
bishop called the convict his friend. Later he
gives the candlesticks to the convict, blesses
him and tells him a secret way to Paris. The
convict is deeply touched and filled with
remorse.
• The
bishop
succeeds
in
reforming
the
hardened convict
and tells him that
the human heart is
the abode of God.
Exercise
Question (1): Who are Marie and Persome?
Answer: Marie is a young girl who comes to help
in the housework. Persome is the Bishop's sister.
Question (2): Where had the Bishop gone? Why
was
he
late
for
supper?
Answer: The Bishop had gone to Marie's house
to look up her mother as she was unwell.
Question (3): What had happened to the salt
cellars?
Answer: Mere Gringoire was an old lady who was
unable to pay the house rent. The Bishop asked
Marie to sell the salt cellar for him. He used the
money to pay off the poor woman's house rent.
Question (4): What did the convict first ask for?
Answer:
He
asked
for
some
food.
Question (5): What does the convict tell him
about
his
life
before
imprisonment?
Answer: He had a cottage with vines growing. He
had a wife but she was ill. They had a bad year
and there was no food to eat. He had to steal
some
food
for
her.
Question (6): What treatment did the convict
receive
in
prison?
Answer: The convict received inhuman
treatment. They whipped him, fed him with
unhealthy food, made him sleep on cold hard
boards.
Question (7): What happened to him after
his
escape
from
jail?
Answer: The wardens were looking for him.
He had nowhere to go, no food to eat. He
even had to steal the clothes that he was
wearing.
Question (8): How does the Bishop and Persome react
when they learn that the candlesticks are stolen?
Answer: Persome reacts violently. She shouts and is very
upset. The Bishop is also upset but he blames himself for
exposing
the
convict
to
the
temptation.
Question (9): What does the Bishop tell the sergeant?
Answer: The sergeant sees the convict moving stealthily
and arrests him. He brings the convict along with the
stolen candlesticks to the Bishop's house. But the Bishop
tells him that the convict is his friend and the silver
candlesticks
were
a
gift
from
him.
Question (10): What significant role did the
Bishop's
Candlesticks
play?
Answer: The candle sticks were a dying
gift from the Bishop's mother. They
reminded him of her. But when the convict
received them as a gift, they become
symbols of hope and life. The convict would
now believe in the goodness of life and
lead a steady life
Short Type Questions
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
Name the play and the writer.
What was Persome to the bishop?
Who had made the fire up?
What was Persome worried about?
Why is Persome angry with her brother?
How does the Bishop try to please Persome?
What is Persome’s grudge against the people?
What is Persome’s Suspicion about Marie’s
mother?
Answers
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
The name of the play is ‘The Bishop’s Candlesticks’. The
name of the writer is Norman Mckinnel.
Persome was the Bishop’s sister.
It was Persome who had made the fire up.
The Bishop had not returned home so far. It was already
11o’clock in the night. This worried Persome.
She is angry with her brother because he is late in coming
back home.
The Bishop tries to please her by praising the soup.
Persome feels that people have no thought of the
Bishop’s health.
Her suspicion is that Marie’s mother is not so ill.
Long Type Questions
Q-1. What did the convict want?
Ans- The convict said that he had eaten
nothing for three days. He was starving. He
asked the Bishop to give him food to eat.
Q-2.Why did the convict become a thief ?
Ans- The convict was out of job. His wife was
ill. She was dying. He had no food to give
her. So he had to steal to buy food for his
wife.
Q-3. Write a short note on Bishop.
Ans- The Bishop is a very kind-hearted person. He
goes out in the cold night to attend on the sick
mother of his maid. He sells his silver salt-cellars to
pay the rent for a poor old woman. The Bishop is
also very forgiving. The convict runs away with his
candlesticks. Even then the Bishop saves him from
the sergeant.
Q-4. Who had given the candlesticks to the Bishop?
Ans- The Bishop’s mother had given him the
candlesticks as a gift.
Q-5. Write a short note on Persome’s
behavior.
Ans- Persome is the Bishop’s sister. From her
conversation with Marie she appears to be a
short-tempered, selfish and abusive woman.
She loves her brother very deeply. All her
wrongs are born out of her love for the
Bishop . Nowhere in the play does Persome
show that she is selfish for her own sake.
.
Q-6 write a short note on the changing of the
convict from a wild beast to a man.
Ans- The convict threatens to kill the Bishop. But
the Bishop gives him food to eat and a comfortable
bed to sleep on. The convict slips away with
Bishop’s candlesticks. A police sergeant catches
him and brings him to the Bishop. But the Bishop
says that he himself has given him the candlesticks.
This kindness of the Bishop touches the convict’s
heart. He is now changed completely
Bibilography
• www.archive.org/stream/bishopscandlesti0
0mckiiala/bishopscandlesti00mckiiala_djvu
.txt (for more detail visit this link)
• www.googleimages.com
• 9th class P.S.E.B reader book.
Thanks