The fact Scrooge is said by Dickens to be ‘bitterer’ than the wind gets across the idea of the coldness of Scrooges nature. By comparing Scrooge to the weather and suggesting he was less merciful than the weather, Dickens is indicating how heartless scrooge is, using the repetition of ‘no’ and the rule of three to stress this idea.
By describing and showing scrooges behaviour towards others Dickens is allowing the reader to make a judgement of scrooge for themselves.
Scrooge’s attitude to his late, only friend, Marley, shows how cold and unfeeling scrooge is:
“An excellent man of business on the very day of the funeral”
Scrooge had been partners with Marley for many years and yet he chose to conduct business rather than attend Marley’s funeral. This shows the reader that relationships, no matter how well forged, were irrelevant to Scrooge where money and business were concerned. This quote also emphasises how unfeeling scrooge was.
Scrooge treats his nephew with no respect and is dismissive and rude when his nephew invites him to Christmas at his house.
“every idiot who goes about with ‘Merry Christmas on his lips should be boiled with his own pudding…”
Scrooge is saying he doesn’t want anyone to celebrate Christmas never mind his nephew. He is very cold hearted towards his nephew and the quote is an example of scrooge’s callous behaviour to him.
When the ‘portly gentlemen’ (charity) ask for money from scrooge for the poor scrooge says:
“If they would rather die…. They had better do it and decrease the surplus population”
This quote is showing scrooge at his most callous. Scrooge is suggesting that the poor are expendable and surplus to requirements and that their deaths would be welcome. Dickens wants the reader to see that Scrooge doesn’t care about the poor and that he thinks they are worthless. Scrooge then goes on to say, “it’s not my business” which suggests everything to him is business and if the poor cant offer him any business then he does not care what happens to them. This shows how inhuman scrooge is and makes the reader dislike Scrooge all the more.
The way Scrooge lives reflects the character that he is. The description of Scrooge’s house and home is also used by the writer to allow us to judge Scrooge for ourselves.
“Darkness was cheap and Scrooge liked it”
This shows us that although scrooge has a lot of money he does not live a rich lifestyle. This suggests that Scrooge does not like to spend his money on things he feels he does not need for example heat and light. This shows us Scrooge is cheap and only interested in the acquisition of money, not spending it on comfortable items, even for himself. This emphasis the coldness of scrooge, matching the cold detachment of his character to a cold and miserable existence.
The antipathy created by Dickens for Scrooge makes the change in Scrooge later on in the novel a welcome one.
The first chapter of ‘A Christmas Carol’ leads us to expect ghostly happenings. Dickens knows how to create a sense of foreboding in his readers. He uses this skill to build up a gothic ghostly effect, making the arrival of the spirits later on in the novel all that more believable.
Dickens builds up tension before Marley’s ghost’s entrance. The ghost is classical of the Victorian image of the mournful, guilty spirit, unable to rest in peace and weighed down with the chains of it’s own wrongdoing and guilt.
Marley’s ghost prepares Scrooge and the reader for the arrival of the three spirits in the forthcoming chapters.
The name of the first chapter (‘Marley’s Ghost’) introduces the element of gothic horror immediately to the reader. This would surprise the reader and also make them want to read on. However, because they know there will be a ghost, it’s not so much of a surprise when Marley arrives.
Scrooges first vision of the dead Marley did not appear to unnerve him too much, perhaps because of the manner of his appearance as a door knocker, but he was uneasy enough to “walk through his rooms to see all was right.” Dickens then builds up the momentum to Marley’s full appearance, heightening the readers awareness to the subtle changes that were occurring and increasing intensity to herald Marley’s appearance. From the ringing of the bells to the clanking of the chains there is no doubt of the horror that’s about to befall Scrooge.
One of the other ways Dickens makes us dislike Scrooge by showing the reader Scrooges complete stinginess and lack of generosity, as shown in his treatment of various characters in chapter one, such as Bob Cratchit. He represent the plight of Victorian workers with no rights, a Victorian could be fired without cause and without pay for the work they had done that week, the employer also reserved the right to deny holiday to his workers. However this may not of affected the reader at the time must have been able to afford the book and so were probably slightly stingy with their money also, Dickens makes Scrooge absolutely inhuman without empathy, feeling or remorse for anyone not even himself. This is shown in the way he won’t buy a candle to light his house by saying ‘Darkness was cheap, and Scrooge liked it’. Even though Scrooge has money he refuses to enjoy it he just keeps it.
In chapter one dickens really sets the reader up for the rest of the novel by getting across the message he is trying to convey in his book, by creating antipathy for scrooge and also by using elements of gothic horror to prepare the reader for the spirits. Charles Dickens wanted to change the way the Victorian poor were treated by the rich. Dickens achieved this to a certain extent but its hard to see how much Dickens’s novels actually helped changed peoples preconceptions. However, the novels must of done something to enlighten people to the suffering that was happening all around them.