The ghost takes Scrooge back to his childhood, back to when he was at school. “A solitary child, neglected by his friends, is left there still.” Scrooge said he knew it and he sobbed. He has been taken back to his childhood and he is upset that he didn’t go home. The fact the Scrooge sobbed means that he was very upset. There for we know that Scrooge had a hard life when he was a child. This makes the reader feel sorry for Scrooge as a young boy.
The ghosts were all used as a message to scrooge warning him about all the bad things to come if he did not change his ways. “You will b haunted… by three spirits.” The ghosts also add to the scary nature of the story and help affect the reader and scrooge.
Scrooge begins to lose his hard attitude as the ghost reveals him as a child. “The heart of Scrooge with softening influence” The writer uses the word softening because the ghost of Christmas past makes Scrooge change and this is a positive thing that someone can change. Christmas is a happy time of year and that could be why the writer has linked the story to Christmas time because it is a happy, positive time of the year.
We learn that Scrooge’s father was a hard man “Father is so much kinder than he used to be, that home’s like heaven.” Victorian families were very strict and did what they liked with their children; children were seen but not heard. The schools in that time were very bad. The writer wants to make the reader sympathetic towards Scrooge. When Scrooge sees Fezziwig and other people enjoying the Christmas Eve party he realises that you don’t need a lot of money to enjoy yourself. “The happiness he gives is quite as great as if it cost a fortune.” Scrooge has realised that you don’t need money to be happy and his main motivation is money, so it has really opened his eyes to the happiness of Christmas. The reader finds out that the ghost of Christmas past is changing Scrooge for the better.
In his Past, Scrooge has been engaged to the same girl for some years but it was not a happy relationship for either of them. “You … weigh everything by gain.” Now that Scrooge is in his 30s and is quite well off his main goal in life has changed to money, he no longer loves his fiancée because she is poor. He is willing to give up his relationship with all people because all he wants is money. Scrooge’s fiancée still loves Scrooge but she knows that he loves money more than her so the relationship would never work. Scrooge is not being very nice to the girl because she has no money and he is a very material person. I feel sorry for Scrooge because all he wants is money which can never make him entirely happy in life, which links back to how he is similar to Victorian life thinking only about material goods and money.
Scrooge wishes that he did not treat the girl in that way. “Show me no more! Conduct me home… Show me no more!” Scrooge is in despair about what the spirit is showing him. Scrooge is beginning to realise that how he was in the past was wrong. The writer has to show that even though Scrooge has been gloomy and stingy for so long there is still hope and he can change because most Victorian novels would have a strong moral.
Charles Dickens tries to represent Scrooge as an average middle class Victorian citizen who cares about nothing but money. The Writer wants to show that it is the wrong attitude to take and they should be better people. Even though the way Cratchit was treats seems extreme being paid starvation wages and only one day off a year it was the usual treatment in Victorian life.
Dickens uses the Cratchets as a poor family. “His thread bear clothes darned up and brushed” The writer displays the Cratchets as an average poor Victorian family. This is to show that poor Victorian life was awful and there was a lot of it then. This makes the reader feel sorry for the Cratchets as they are trying to dress up and look nice but they are only wearing rags because they are poor.
Dickens makes it clear that the Cratchit family is very poor. “Then up rose Mrs. Cratchit… dressed only but poorly… but brave in ribbons which are cheap.” He makes them out as poor but good spirited that even with little money they are happy with what they have, another of Dickens’s quotes to show that they are a poor family is: “His threadbare cloths darned up and brushed to look seasonal” This also shows them as poor but seasonal. There are a few things they aren’t too seasonal about Scrooge for one thing the toast to Scrooge makes them all sour:”It was the first of the proceedings that had no heartiness in it… scrooge was the ogre of the family.” This is because Scrooge was a heartless man who reminds them of how uptight with money he is when they are much worse off.
Tiny Tim is in the novel to get sympathy from the reader: “his active little crutch was heard upon the floor before another word was spoken, escorted by his brother and sister to his stool.” Despite his disability tiny Tim is a cheerful little boy. He is meant to represent children in London who were not as well off; also Victorian children had terrible lives if they were poor. Dickens wants to emphasise the point that it is wrong for children to be left on the street. A Christmas Carol is a very moral story, it implies that we should all help each other and not just worry about ourselves.
Scrooge realises that if he kept in touch with his family he would have had a happier life and not be as ruthless with money. ”He softened more and more… life for his own happiness with his own hands.” The song reminds Scrooge of his sister and he wishes he had spent more time with her instead of money. This makes the reader think that there is hope for Scrooge; he shows that he is becoming a more loving man and wants to change for the better which also means there is hope for Victorian society to change aswell.
Scrooge regrets not having a family life;”when he thought that such another creature might have called him father… his sight grew very dim indeed.” The writer makes you feel sorry for Scrooge but also we know that Scrooge’s unhappiness is his own entire fault. His greed ruined his chance of happiness. This makes the reader feel sorry for him but also reminds them that it is his own doing.
Scrooge wishes that he had a child who could love him. Scrooge is very sad because he knows he could have had that family but he gave it up for money which is only material. Because the writher is using Scrooge as an example saying that if he can change so can the rest of Victorian society then this would suggest that A Charismas Carol Is a moral story and that this is a Christmas tale warning the danger of material goods.
Christmas has a good effect on people and it makes them happy. “And every man on board, waking or sleeping… and had known that they delighted to remember him.” Even people who are in prison on Christmas can still be happy because of the festivities. It is such a happy event that even hard men are in a good mood.
There was a lot of giving in Victorian times, children got a lot of presents if they were in a rich family, but if they were poor they may not have got anything. When we celebrate Christmas with family and friends, we have the Victorians to thank for many of its joyful festivities and delightful customs. “There was first a game of blind man’s bluff… And I no more believe that trooper was really blind than I believe he had eyes in his boots” They revived old traditions, such as carolling, and invented new ones such as sending Christmas cards. The Victorians also promoted church-going, gift-giving, and charity to the poor as essential parts of the holiday. Most of all, the Victorians made Christmas a family celebration, with its primary focus on the Christ Child and children. A Victorian Christmas entailed the exchange of gifts between parents and children; attendance together at Church services; a multi-course family dinner; and visits with friends, relatives, and other families.
This is a completely different story for Scrooge at Christmas as there is no giving, no decorations and no games as he did not believe in it. “Humbug!” As Scrooge is such a hard man he does not care about Christmas because of its beliefs, he does not want to spend money on presents or does he want to spend time with people and be “merry”. Scrooge thought of Christmas as just another day to work and get more money.
Scrooge talks to his nephew about Christmas. “Merry Christmas! What have you to be merry?” Scrooge’s nephew is excited about Christmas but Scrooge is not. This shows that Scrooge is miserable and does not like special occasions. Scrooge wishes that he would be left alone because he is a malevolent old man. This makes me feel sad for him as he does not even enjoy Christmas.
Scrooge is visited by two men asking him to donate to charity but he refuses. “Are there no prisons? …And the union work houses? ...The treadmill and the poor law are in full vigour, then?” Scrooge feels that being poor is a crime and you should go to prison for it. The references to the workhouses shows that Scrooge does not care about people and that they should sort out their own problems. I think the treadmill is a demeaning punishment that treats people like animals just because you are poor and it may not even be your fault. I am shocked as a reader to find how callus and hard Scrooge is towards donating to charity. This shows us that Victorian society was full of poor people and there was no welfare state to look after them. The writer Charles dickens is asking us to criticise Scrooge and Victorian society, which he thinks this is wrong.
The final warning for Scrooge is provided by the ghost of Christmas Yet to Come. “The Phantom slowly, gravely, silently approached.” As Scrooge is visited by the third ghost he noticed it was not a friendly as the other ghosts because as it was covered in a dark shroud, “It was shrouded in a deep black garment … left nothing of it visible.” The dark garment covering the whole body of the spirit could link the spirit to death which would really show scrooge that this is the last chance. The ghost leads Scrooge to a churchyard and brought him to a grave that said “Ebenezer Scrooge” he was horrified at what he saw and swore to change his ways for the sake of his life
As he brings Scrooge to the graveyard it reminds him of his own mortality, the ghost points at Scrooge’s grave “No spirit! Oh no, no!” Scrooge is shocked at the sight of his own grave and this also shows the brutality of the final spirit. The writer does this because he is showing scrooge that there are no more spirits after this it was his decision which meant the final warning had to be the hardest.
The Ghost had a very menacing way about him. “He felt that it was tall and stately when it came beside him, and that its mysterious presence filled him with a solemn dread.” The third Ghost was very cold and did not speak. His only actions were from his hand which filled Scrooge a normally hard man with fear and dread. Scrooge finally recognised the way he was living was wrong and that what he is doing to people has had a negative effect and he needs to change his ways before it is too late. The writer shows that people who act like Scrooge in Victorian times have a very negative impact and do not help society.
In the end Scrooge changes because the ghost how him in the three perspectives and how he effected people. The writher wanted scrooge to change to put his message across in the story and to also show how Victorian society can change like Scrooge did, he is trying to show that being poor is not always their fault and that people have to take reasonability for others and help more. If all people in Victorian times changed like Scrooge did it would be a much better place
In conclusion, I think Charles Dickens created Scrooge as a symbol of Victorian society well because Scrooge represents the typical money grubbing middle class Victorian person.
