Examine Dickens' presentation of Scrooge in 'A Christmas Carol'.
Examine Dickens' presentation of Scrooge in 'A Christmas Carol'
The novel 'A Christmas Carol', by Charles Dickens was written in 1843 and reflects poverty in Victorian times where poverty and ill health was very common. The book was published a week before Christmas and was presented in a small gold and crimson book - the perfect Christmas gift. Dickens wishes to use the character of scrooge to make the reader see that being selfish and cold hearted gets you nowhere and encourages everybody to be generous and loving. The novel is about a cold and mean hearted man called Ebenezer Scrooge who runs a business. Scrooge is very tight fisted and one Christmas is visited by the ghost of his dead business partner, Jacob Marley. The spirit shows him how he is now, and how he will become as he grows older. There are 4 ghosts that show him his past, present and future. When visited by the spirits, he is given a chance to change. He turns from a mean old man to a generous one, to the delight of his family and new found friends. Dickens uses many devices to introduce Scrooge's character, such as similes, metaphors and comparisons to the weather. The presentation that Dickens gave of Scrooge was so clear that "Scrooge" is still used in language today, having the meaning of someone who is tight with money, cold hearted and who hates Christmas. I will be examining these points in my essay.
Victorian London was a very difficult time to live in. If you were poor, then you had virtually no hope of becoming someone of any wealth. Rich people didn't care for the poor and needy, and kept themselves to themselves. Poverty was a big issue in Victorian times and the poor were mainly the ones to suffer from sickness and ill health. Schooling in Victorian times was only for people with money, which meant that poor people had no chance at a future. They were forced into working long hours in bad conditions. Dickens realised the problems in this, and the fact both groups, poor and rich, kept apart. He draws attention to the problems of Victorian times with this book, and uses the current times as a focus of his story.
Even at the beginning of 'A Christmas Carol' Scrooge's character shows itself strongly. Dickens describes Scrooge as a "tight fisted hand at the grindstone, Scrooge! A squeezing, wrenching, grasping, scraping, clutching, covetous old sinner! Hard and sharp as flint, from which no steel had ever struck out generous fire". These few lines are direct and tell us that Scrooge is tight-fisted and, as the word "covetous" means, greedy for wealth. It is obvious what kind of person Scrooge is by the description of him, but to make sure we know, Dickens gives us a physical one too. He says that "the cold within him froze his old features, nipped his pointed nose, shrivelled his cheek, stiffened his gait; made his eyes red, his thin lips blue; and spoke out shrewdly in his grating voice". This gives us the general picture of a thin, pointed and hard looking man, stern looking man who is expressionless and almost robotic in the sense all he lives for is money and himself. His physical appearance tells us of his cold nature immediately. Dickens reinforces the negative picture of Scrooge by the usage of weather. "Scrooge sat busy in his counting house. It was cold, bleak, biting weather: foggy withal". The weather references remind you of his physical appearance and the fact he is in his counting house reminds you how selfish and tight fisted he is with money.
Scrooge's mean attitude is shown in this novel to effect other people, namely his clerk and his family. His self centred nature is shown in one particular sentence, "Scrooge had a very small fire, but the clerks fire was so very much smaller that it looked like one coal". Scrooge's appalling mean streak comes though when a man asks for donations to help the poor and not so fortunate. Scrooge asks if there are any prisons or Union workhouses and one of the gentlemen says there are, though he wishes there were not. Scrooge then says "I don't ...
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Scrooge's mean attitude is shown in this novel to effect other people, namely his clerk and his family. His self centred nature is shown in one particular sentence, "Scrooge had a very small fire, but the clerks fire was so very much smaller that it looked like one coal". Scrooge's appalling mean streak comes though when a man asks for donations to help the poor and not so fortunate. Scrooge asks if there are any prisons or Union workhouses and one of the gentlemen says there are, though he wishes there were not. Scrooge then says "I don't make merry myself at Christmas and can't afford to make idle people merry. I help to support the establishments I have mentioned- they cost enough; and those who are badly off must go there". When told that many would rather die than go there, he retorts with "if they would rather die then they had better do it, and decrease the surplus population". This shows just how mean and heartless he is at the beginning of the book, and how blunt he is with people, wanting them to go away. Overall, the first few pages of the book are essential for showing Scrooges character and setting the scene for the story. They tell you what sort of person you are dealing with and what people might be feeling around him. The references to the weather make us think of what kind of person he is, and the different moods he might have. All the weather references are of bad weather, painting a bad first picture of Scrooge and where he lives, and the differences in conditions in Victorian times.
Scrooge reacts oddly upon seeing his dead business partner's ghost. He questions himself as to whether he saw it or not. First he see's Marley's head on the door knocker, and it had a dismal light about it. Dickens describes in one line that Scrooge was frightened enough to remove is hand from the key, but then gained composure again and went indoors. Scrooge might have been somewhat wishing the face had been there, because he stops and was a little startled, but then carried on. Dickens says that "He did pause, with a moment's irresolution, before he shut the door; and he did look cautiously behind it first". This could possibly tell us that because he is so mean and tight fisted he might be a little worried and on edge about being alone, possibly longing for company. Another possible interpretation of this quote is that Scrooge may be worried for his wealth and his home, in case someone had followed him as if to attack him, out of hate for him or for his money. After shutting the door, Scrooge dismisses ever seeing Marley's face on the knocker by saying "pooh, pooh!" and then slams the door shut. Scrooge goes upstairs and checks all the rooms in the house. "Sitting room, bed-room, lumber room. All as they should be. Nobody under the table, nobody under the sofa". Dickens writes this line in such a way so we begin to think Scrooge is getting paranoid and is dropping the defensive and straight faced guise, To tell us that this sighting of Marley has bothered Scrooge, Dickens writes that Scrooge locks, and then double locks the doors. We know this is not what Scrooge usually does, so this face has had an impact on him.
When Marley's ghost passes through the solid floor, Scrooge is scared. "His colour changed though, when, without a pause, it came on through the heavy door, and passed into the room before his eyes." After the initial shock, Scrooge becomes sarcastic, maybe because he knows that the ghost won't hurt him. The fact that Scrooge is not scared even when seeing the whole body of Marley might be because he still doesn't believe it is there. It then dawns on him that the ghost is real because he asks it if it can sit down, and there is a stutter in the way he says it, perhaps because he is frightened. The ghost says "You don't believe in me" and Scrooge says "I don't". Scrooge says that it might be an upset stomach that's making him hallucinate and see Marley, but he is actually quite disturbed by what he is seeing. The ghost shakes the chains that it is bound with at him, and Scrooge clings onto his chair. The ghost then takes off a bandage around his head and his jaw drops to his chest. This makes Scrooge drop to his knees and plead to the spirit to tell him why it is troubling him. This shows us that Scrooge is deeply troubled by what he has seen. All in all, this part of the book shows us that Scrooge's character is cracking. Going from a cold and mean looking man, to one who is vulnerable and weak. Readers can use this as a way of thinking about changing their ways, or ending up like Marley.
Scrooge learns from his past by being talked to by the Ghost of Christmas Past. The ghost appears at the bottom of Scrooge's bed and which looks like both a child and an old man both at the same time. Upon the spirits head is a clear jet of light, and in its hand a huge candle-snuffer, to put it out with. The spirit takes him outside, much to Scrooge's annoyance, as he was not dressed for the outdoors. It takes him to where he was born, and on to Scrooge's school. Dickens writes "'a solitary child, neglected by his friends is left there still'. Scrooge said he knew it. And he sobbed." Scrooge is hurt by the memories of his own Christmases, but never thinks that he makes other peoples unhappy now by his own selfish nature. You can see Scrooge changing throughout the ghosts visit. Scrooge says "there was a boy singing a Christmas carol outside my door last night. I should have given him something: that's all." This sentence shows the reader that Scrooge is changing and feeling sorry for people and understanding their emotions. Dickens then shows us Scrooge's torture by making the ghost show him more than he wishes to see. "' No more!' said Scrooge. 'No more. I don't wish to see it. Show me no more!'" Scrooge wishes to see no more of what the ghost has to offer, because he knows it is all true, and perhaps knows what he will next show him. He is obviously troubled by the things he is seeing. When the spirit shows him the scene of Scrooge sitting by himself in his office, whilst Marley was very nearly death, he insists that they leave and go home. "'Spirit!' said Scrooge in a broken voice, 'remove me from this place.'". What the spirit is showing him, is gradually breaking him, and making him think upon his past actions.
The next ghost to visit Scrooge is the Ghost of Christmas Present. Scrooge learns from this ghost, as he did with the Ghost of Christmas Past. Scrooge becomes worried when nothing appears when the clock strikes 1, but notices a red light coming from the next room. When he investigates, he finds the room is filled with food and drink and decorated for Christmas. Dickens shows that scrooge is changing. "Scrooge entered timidly, and hung his head before the spirit. He was not the dogged Scrooge he had been; and though the Spirit's eyes were clear and kind, he did not like to meet them." This quote shows us that he is scared and worried about the spirit and what he might have to see next. In this we are seeing a change in his character, as he is no longer a stubborn, head strong person, but one who looks and acts scared. Scrooge says the spirit wants to close shops on Sundays, which will deprive the poor of their best meal of the week. This is unusual for Scrooge to say, because as we saw earlier on, he doesn't care about the poor. Scrooge later asks "tell me if Tiny Tim will live". It is odd for Scrooge to take an interest in poor or needy people, such as Tiny Tim, but he finds himself doing so. Scrooge is upset to hear that he will die, if nothing changes. When he hears his own words repeated to himself about the poor, he hangs his head in regret. Scrooge is learning from the Spirit of Christmas Present because his personality tells us so. His character is changing and becoming more kind and thoughtful, and he's thinking of other people instead of himself all the time.
Dickens completes Scrooge's transformation with the Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come. This spirit is by far the worst looking one of them all. Scrooge is prepared for this spirit and urges it to show him the future, saying "'lead on! The night is waning fast, and it is precious time to me, I know. Lead on, Spirit!'". This quote shows us he is eager to learn from this spirit, and to understand what it has to say to him. Scrooge says "' But as I know your purpose is to do me good, and as I hope to live to be another man from what I was, I am prepared to bear you company, and do it with a thankful heart'". He is showing here that he is willing to change, and is thankful for what he has seen and will see now. Scrooge is taken to a pawn shop where the belongings of a dead man are being exchanged. Scrooge is horrified to see that they have taken the shirt that the man was to be buried in. Later on, the spirit takes scrooge to Bob Cratchit's house, where he is mourning the death of Tiny Tim. After that the spirit moves him on to a graveyard, where he points to Scrooge's name on the gravestone. Scrooge exclaims "'Am I that man who lay upon the bed ?' he cried, upon his knees". The spirit points his finger from the grave, then to Scrooge, then the grave again. Scrooge declares that he is changed, "'Spirit!' he cried, tight clutching at his robe, 'hear me! I am not the man I was. I will not be the man I have been but for this intercourse'". Scrooge is aware that he can change the pattern of the future, if he changes his ways. Scrooge promises to change his views upon Christmas, "' I will honour Christmas in my heart, and try to keep it all the year. I will live in the Past, the Present and the Future. The spirits of all Three shall strive within me. I will not shut out the lessons they teach.'". This final ghost is the one that makes scrooge a new man, and Dickens uses the reader's fear of going to hell as a way of shocking them into being kind and generous. Scrooge's transformation is complete.
Scrooge has changed immensely from the start of the novel, to the end. At the beginning of the novel we see Dickens using the weather to give us an example of Scrooge's character. After his transformation there is "no fog, no mist; clear, bright, jovial, stirring, cold; cold, piping for the blood to dance to; golden sunlight; heavenly sky; sweet fresh air; merry bells.". This describes Scrooges character now, loving and jubilant, like a ray of sunshine to other people. He says he is "as happy as an angel", which is a complete change of character. He was first described as steel which had never struck out generous fire, but in the last part of the novel, he buys the biggest turkey in the Poulterer's. He pays a young boy to get it for him, and he will send it onto Bob Cratchit's. Scrooge enjoys talking to the young boy, which he did not enjoy doing to begin with. When Scrooge walks around the streets after shaving and dressing, he looks so pleasant that many people exchange Christmas greetings with him. He raises Bob's salary and is described as being "better than his word. He did it all, and infinitely more; and to Tiny Tim, who did NOT die, he was a second father."
Dickens has created a character which people can relate to. Scrooge acts as a guideline to what people can be, and what they should be. He succeeds in showing the reader how you can change for the better and make people happy. Dickens' presentation of Scrooge is a very good one because it shows you how seeing a different side of things, no matter how big or small, can make you a completely changed person. People in this day and age can relate to the settings of this novel also, as poverty and ill health is around today too. It encourages people to give to the homeless and be aware of people not as fortunate as themselves. The character of Scrooge and the way he changes is a moral lesson for the reader. People can be quite mean with money, but if an illness such as cancer touches a family member of that of a friend, they tend to give to cancer charities more. Overall Scrooge is a character that everybody remembers because he is a very realistic one, and people see parts of themselves in him.
Laura Brushfield
