Jacob Marley was Scrooge’s business partner who had died seven years ago on Christmas Eve. It was on a Christmas Eve that the ghost of Jacob Marley visits Scrooge to let him know that there will be three more ghosts coming to see him over the next three nights.
On the night of Christmas Day, the first visit was by the
‘ Ghost of Christmas Past ’. This ghost led Scrooge back to his childhood to a ‘ small market town with ponies trotting along the lanes ’ and ‘ young boys playing in great spirits ’.
Scrooge was surprised to remember how happy he was here, his school friends, the schoolmaster and his younger sister Fan (who later died as a young woman). Scrooge was surprised to
‘ feel a glisten in his eyes ’ and ‘ to feel his heart leap ’ as he remembered these scenes.
The next night Scrooge was visited by ‘ The Ghost of Christmas Present ’. This ghost led Scrooge down a short dark lane in a small town, where ‘ the sky was gloomy ’ and ‘ the street was covered in a dingy mist ’.
Scrooge noticed though that the fires in each of the houses were burning and there were candles in the windows.
The ghost led him into Bob Cratchitt’s house – Cratchitt was Scrooge’s clerk who, at work ‘ sat in the corner of a small room with only one piece of coal on the fire to keep him warm ’.
Scrooge was surprised how much the family was enjoying the festivities because scrooge knew how little he paid Cratchitt for a wage. In the living room, the Cratchitt family were celebrating Christmas as best they could with what little money they had.
The Cratchitt children were happy and smiling and excited because it was Christmas. The youngest of the children was nicknamed Tiny Tim. He was very poorly, ‘ lame and walked with a small crutch ’.
“ Tell me if Tiny Tim will live “ cried Scrooge, “ if these shadows remain unaltered by the future the child will die ”
said the ghost. “ Oh no kind spirit, say he will be spared ” said Scrooge.
Slowly we begin to see a change in Scrooge’s character.
It is like Scrooge begins to be kind and hopes that little Tiny Tim will live although it is hard to believe it since we first learnt of Scrooge’s heartless nature.
The third and final visit was ‘The Ghost of Christmas Yet To Come ’. This ghost led Scrooge into a town where there was lots of people. Scrooge overheard a group of men talking about somebody that had died – Scrooge did not realise that they were talking about him. The ghost then led him down a street ‘ foul and narrow ’ where the ‘ people were half-naked, drunken and ugly ’. The ghost took Scrooge to a dirty rotten house and up to one of the rooms where there was a group of people laughing and sneering at the dead body in the corner.
Scrooge was frightened of the dark, cold room and of the body that everybody was ignoring. “ If there is any person in the town who feels emotion caused by this man’s death ” said Scrooge, “ show that person to me ” cried Scrooge.
The ghost eventually led Scrooge to a graveyard and to one grave with Ebenezer Scrooge carved on the headstone.
Scrooge was very frightened when he saw this.
“ Spirit ” he cried clutching at the ghosts long black robe,
” hear me for I am not the man I was ”.
“ Assure me that I may change these shadows you have shown me by an altered life ” Scrooge begged.
“ I will honour Christmas in my heart and to try and keep it in all year ” pleaded Scrooge.
The Ghost then vanished.
Scrooge suddenly found himself in his own bed in his own house. He remembered everything that had happened and all of the ghosts and he also remembered the promises he made to the spirit
Ebenezer Scrooge had changed. The following Christmas he joined the Cratchitt family on Christmas day and bought all the food for the dinner. He became a second father to Tiny Tim.
Scrooge became a ‘good friend’, a ‘good master’ and a ‘good man in a good old city’.
By the end of the novel, Dickens had completely changed the character of Scrooge into a likeable and popular man.
He became kind and generous who everybody loved.
Dickens had used the visits of the four ghosts into frightening Scrooge so much that he dare not change back into his old ways.
In the dark Victorian days a lot of people did believe in ghosts so it was very clever of Dickens to use them in his novels so that any rich people who might read this book would also change their ways and then try to help the poorer people.
Charles Dicken’s "A Christmas Carol" was a great novel, and it shows that the even the cruellest, tight fisted old "Scrooge" can change in to a better man. In the first chapter Scrooge ‘ knew how to keep Christmas well ’, meaning he knew how to keep Christmas to himself. By the last chapter Scrooge was described as ‘ knowing how to keep Christmas well, if any man alive possessed the knowledge ’ meaning that he knew how to celebrate Christmas by sharing it with other people in a kind manner.
Charles Dickens had shown us using a Christmas ghost novel, to teach us about how anybody can change.
In the story Charles Dickens had used the four ghosts - Marley, the Ghost of Christmas Past, Present and Future to change Scrooge, the intention is to haunt Scrooge in the Past, the Present, and the Future and that would change Scrooge into a better person -" to honour Christmas in my heart, and try to keep it all the year ".
Overall I think that Charles Dickens did managed to
tell the richer people about the poor people in the Victorian age.
Today ‘ A Christmas Carol ‘ is a very well known novel and a much loved Christmas ghost story that has been made into many different films and plays. Charles Dickens set out to write a novel that told the story of a man who changed throughout the course of the tale. He accomplished the task of bringing to the attention of the Victorian public how money can cause misery and how love can bring out a change in attitudes towards the poor.
