Christmas at Groby Park explained

What happens

Themes in this chapter

• Social Class and Ambition

  Mrs. Mason's stingy gift to the curate's family reflects class tensions and the performative nature of charity among the gentry.

• Family and Loyalty

  Joseph Mason's obsession with his legal case overshadows family harmony, while Mrs. Mason's penny-pinching strains domestic relations.

Characters to notice

• Joseph Mason of Groby

  Preoccupied with his legal correspondence regarding Orley Farm; orders beef for Christmas dinner but is angered by his wife's mutilation of the joint.

• Mrs. Mason

  The miserly hostess who begrudgingly gives a damaged metallic furniture set to Mrs. Green and secretly cuts a steak from the beef to save it.

• Mr. Green

  The curate who, with his wife, receives the useless furniture set and endures the meager Christmas dinner.

• Mrs. Green

  The curate's wife who had given singing lessons to the Miss Masons and is the reluctant recipient of the furniture gift.

• Creusa Mason

  One of the Miss Masons, present during the furniture presentation.

• Penelope

  Another of the Miss Masons, who privately scorns her mother's stingy gift.

Key passages

• “Christmas-day was always a time of very great trial to Mrs. Mason of Groby Park.”

  Mrs. Mason dreaded Christmas because it forced her to be generous.

  Introduces Mrs. Mason's miserly character.

• “I couldn't do it, ma'am,' the cook had said; 'I couldn't railly.'”

  The cook refused to cut the beef, so Mrs. Mason did it herself.

  Shows Mrs. Mason's extreme frugality.

• “He only wanted his own, but that he would have;—his own, with due punishment on those who had for so many years robbed him of it.”

  Joseph Mason was determined to reclaim what he believed was rightfully his and to punish those who had wronged him.

  Highlights Joseph Mason's vengeful pursuit of justice.