Raintree 5 The Bishop’s Candlesticks

 Summary: The Bishop’s Candlesticks

This play opens on a winter evening. Jean Valjean, a convict, turns up

suddenly at a kind old Bishop’s house. Valjean is forty-five years old, coarse

and wild-looking. Since his release, no innkeeper has allowed him to stay at

any inn. He is cold and hungry and looking for shelter. The Bishop

welcomes him and asks him to sit by the fire, but Valjean cannot

understand why the Bishop is being so kind to him. He asks to sleep in the

stable. However, the Bishop and his sister invite him to have dinner with

them and then let him sleep in their guestroom. After a few hours of sleep,

Valjean wakes up and remembers the silver plates he had seen at dinner.

He thinks that if he can sell them, then he can set up his own business, and

would not have to wander around the country. He steals the plates and

leaves.

The next morning, when the theft is discovered, the Bishop’s sister is

alarmed, but the Bishop does not worry, as he is only concerned with

helping the needy. However, Valjean is caught by some policemen who find

him hiding and recognise the plates he is carrying as belonging to the

Bishop. They bring him back to the Bishop’s house. The Bishop tells them

that he had gifted the plates to Valjean. He also tells Valjean that he may go

where he likes, but he should also take the silver candlesticks with him.

Valjean is overcome by gratitude at the Bishop’s kindness and falls at his

feet, asking for his blessing. The Bishop tells him that he must become an

honest man now.

The story is set in nineteenth-century France. The plot of the story starts

with the sudden appearance of Jean Valjean, the convict, in the Bishop’s

house. The Bishop is a very kind man, so he welcomes Valjean as a guest.

However, Valjean has been ill-treated by most people, and his future is

uncertain, so he takes the bad decision of stealing the Bishop’s silver plates.

However, he is caught and brought back to the Bishop’s house. Here, there

is a twist in the tale, when the Bishop tells the policemen that Valjean did

not steal the plates; he gave them to him. That is not all. The bishop even

offers the silver candlesticks to Valjean. Valjean now realises how kind and

big-hearted the Bishop is, so he is overwhelmed and seeks his blessing. The

plot is resolved with Valjean seeming to become a changed person. The two

main characters are Valjean and the Bishop, who, in the beginning, are as

different from each other as possible. By the end of the story, Valjean has

changed for the better. The story has a moral—some of the most important

things in life are to be kind and honest.

UNIT 5 THE BISHOP’S CANDLESTICKS

Embedded Questions 1:

b

Embedded Questions 2:

 We know that Valjean’s habits and manners have become different from other people’s as he does

not use a knife and fork at the table but uses his hands to tear the bread. He drinks the soup in gulps.

He also hasn’t seen a clean bed for a long time.

Embedded Questions 3:

● The plates are made of solid silver.

● The Bishop’s sister is worried about the theft, but the Bishop is not.

Embedded Questions 4:

b

Comprehension

A. 1. Jean Valjean is described as a large man of about forty-five, coarse and poorly dressed, with a wild

look in his eyes.

2. Jean Valjean was a convict who had been released from prison four days ago.

3. a. Jean Valjean said this to the Bishop.

 b. No innkeeper had allowed Valjean to enter any inn. He asked if he could sleep in the stable

because he could not believe that the Bishop was asking him to stay at his house.

4. Valjean stole the plates because they were made of solid silver. He planned to sell them in Paris

and set up a business so that he would not have to wander around the country.

5. The Bishop was not worried about the stolen plates because he thought it was more important to

help people like Valjean.

6. The Bishop offered to give Valjean the silver candlesticks.

B. 1. Valjean was rude to the Bishop. He spoke in a loud, threatening voice. This was because ever since

he had been released from prison, everyone had refused to help him. He thought he could get

help only by threatening others. The Bishop was calm and kind. He was not afraid of Valjean. He did

not dislike or distrust him even when he heard that he was a convict. This was because he was a

kind man who believed that it was important to help others.

2. The Bishop invited Valjean to sit and warm himself before the fire. He asked his sister to bring a

plate for Valjean and to put some clean sheets on the bed in the guest room where Valjean could

sleep. He also asked his sister to bring out the silver plates and silver candlesticks for Valjean’s

dinner.

3. After Valjean stole the plates, he ran away and hid in the woods. A policeman and two soldiers

caught him. While searching his bag, they found the six silver plates. They recognised the plates

as belonging to the Bishop. So they realised that Valjean must have been stolen them, and

caught him.

4. The Bishop gave the candlesticks to Valjean because he was only concerned with helping Valjean.

He did not mind that Valjean was a convict. Even when Valjean stole his plates, he thought that if

Valjean needed the silver, then he should help him by giving the silver candlesticks as well as the

plates. He wanted Valjean to use the silver to become an honest man.

5. a. Jean Valjean said this to the Bishop.

 b. Just before this, the Bishop had saved Valjean by telling the policemen that he had given the

plates to Valjean.

 c. So far, Valjean had been treated unkindly by everyone. No innkeeper allowed him inside any

inn. The Bishop had given him a kind welcome. Even when Valjean stole his silver plates, the

Bishop saved him instead of punishing him. Not only did he not take away the plates, he even

offered him the candlesticks. This was the first time after a long time that someone treated

Valjean with such kindness and respect. So he felt like a man again.

6. a. The Bishop said this to Jean Valjean.

 b. Suggested answer (accept any logical answer):

 Yes, Valjean had really changed. In the beginning of the play, he was rude and wild. He could

not understand why the Bishop was being nice to him. So he stole the plates. But in the end, he

was extremely grateful to the Bishop for helping him even though he had stolen the plates. He

asked the Bishop to bless him. The Bishop’s kindness changed him.

C. Suggested answer (accept any logical answer):

 Valjean woke up in the middle of the night. He could not go to sleep again. So he thought about what

he was going to do. He could not stay in this house forever. But where could he go? Would anyone

give him a job? He decided that he would ask the kind Bishop for help. In the morning, when the

Bishop woke up, Valjean told him that he wanted to find work. The Bishop was very happy to hear

that he wanted to live an honest life. He promised that he would ask everyone he knew about any

work that Valjean could do. In the meantime, he asked Valjean to stay in his house and help him and

his sister with their work.

Grammar

A. 2. will complete 3. were building 4. performed 5. walks 6. was reading

7. will take 8. am using

B. 2. We are meeting the musicians. 3. You run really fast. 4. Pritha went to Chennai.

5. They will visit an exhibition of black-and-white photographs.

6. I was eating sandwiches for breakfast

Vocabulary

mild strong

1. jog run

2. hot boiling

3. small tiny

4. big enormous

5. shout yell

6. pleased delighted

Writing

Suggested answer (accept any logical answer):

 It is a cold winter evening. The Bishop, a kind old man, is sitting in his chair, reading. Suddenly, Jean

Valjean enters the room. He is around forty-five years old. He is poorly dressed, and looks wild. The

Bishop greets him calmly, but Valjean speaks loudly and rudely. He says that he is a convict who was

released a few days ago. Since then, no one has given him food or shelter. He is cold and hungry, but

when the Bishop welcomes him to sit by the fire and eat with him, he cannot believe him. He asks to

sleep in the stable. However, the Bishop invites him to dinner and asks him to sleep in the guest room.

 Valjean wakes up at night and thinks of the silver plates he had seen during dinner. He thinks that

if he can sell them, he can set up a business. He takes the plates and runs away. But he is caught the

next day by some policemen, and they bring him back to the Bishop’s house. However, the Bishop

says that he had given the plates to Valjean, and also offers him the silver candlesticks. The policemen

go away, and Valjean falls to the Bishop’s feet to thank him for saving him. “I feel like a man again,” he

says. After a long time, someone treated him with love and respect. “You no longer belong to evil, but

to good,” replies the Bishop. He tells Valjean that he must become an honest man now. 

THE BISHOP’S CANDLESTICKS

A. Answer in brief.

1. Why would no innkeeper allow Valjean to enter his inn?

 Ans: Jean Valjean introduced himself as a convict and told the Bishop that he was released just

four days ago. Probably after knowing that he was a convict, for fear of him, no one allowed him in

or offered him food.

2. What did the Bishop ask his sister to do?

 Ans: The Bishop asked his sister to bring a plate for the guest and said that Valjean would be

eating with them. The Bishop also asked her to put some clean sheets on the bed in the guest

room for Valjean to sleep. He further asked his sister to bring the silver candlesticks and light the

candles.

B. Answer in detail.

1. How did Valjean react to the Bishops kindness when he first met him?

 Ans: Valjean was shocked when the Bishop asked his sister to bring him food. He was not used to

such pleasant behaviour by anyone till then. So he roughly remarked that he was no guest and

that he was a convict. He had been very badly treated ever since he was in jail and no one had

ever invited him to share a meal with him. He was not used to be given a clean bed or room so he

asked the Bishop whether he could sleep in the stable that night.

2. How did the Bishop make Valjean realise that he should stop leading a life of a convict?

 Ans: The Bishop was very kind and loving from the beginning despite Valjean telling him that

he was a convict and no one ever treated him kindly. The Bishop gave him food, a neat room and

a clean bed to sleep. Despite all that, he stole six silver plates from the Bishop’s house and left

the place. When he was caught and brought by the police, the Bishop refused to call him a thief.

Instead he said Valjean was his friend and that he gave him the silver plates. Valjean was taken

aback hearing that and felt ashamed and guilty of having cheated such a good man. That would

have made him realise that he should no longer indulge in thieving.

C. Read the lines and answer the questions.

1. I won’t have to wander around the country. (The Bishop’s Candlesticks)

 a. Who says the above line?

 b. Why does he say that?

 c. What is his plan?

 Ans: a. The above line is spoken by Jean Valjean in the Bishop’s house.

 b. He thought of the six silver plates on the dinner table and was planning to steal them.

 c. His plan was to sell those plates, make money and set up a business so that he could get

food and shelter for the rest of his life.

2. Sister, we are here to help the poor. Do not worry about the plates.

 a. Who speaks the above lines?

 b. Why does he say so?

 c. What do you understand about the person from the above lines?

 Ans: a. The above lines are spoken by the Bishop to his sister.

 b. His sister came running to inform him that the convict had gone and the silver plates in

the dining room were missing.

 c. We can understand that the Bishop was very kind and forgiving and his only aim was to

help the poor and the needy.

D. Answer in brief. (Think and answer)

1. Why does Valjean not use a knife or fork?

 Ans: Jean Valjean was a convict and had led most of his life in the jail. He would never have

known what table manners were. Further, at the Bishop’s house, he was so hungry that he wasted

no time in using a knife and fork. The moment he was served food, he hungrily devoured the food

in an unruly manner.

2. Why did Valjean cry after the Bishop gave him the candlesticks?

 Ans: Valijean would have expected the Bishop to send him back to jail for stealing his valuable

silver plates. Instead, the Bishop called him his friend and handed him the silver candle sticks also.

This must have made the convict very guilty. He was so touched by the Bishop’s kindness that he

could not control his tears.

E. Answer in detail. (Think and answer)

What do you think would have become of Valjean after leaving the Bishop’s home?

 [Free response] Suggested answer: Valjean, being a convict, had always been treated badly in prison

and outside. It was the first time he experienced love and care in the house of the Bishop. In spite of

this good treatment, he did not hesitate to steal the silver plates with the hope of starting a new life.

When he was caught and brought to the Bishop’s house, he was again treated with a lot of respect

and honour as the Bishop called him his friend and also gave the silver candle sticks. This gesture

of the Bishop would have made Valjean a changed man. He must have started a business which he

wanted to, by selling the silver plates.

 He even would have helped other people in distress and been always grateful to the Bishop for the

selfless help given to him.