The weather of London described in stave 1 is a metaphor for Scrooge’s character. Lists of rich language are used to create a visual image in the reader’s mind of the setting of the novel. ‘It was cold, bleak, biting weather; foggy withal.’ These words are again enforcing Scrooge’s ugly personality upon the audience. Dickens’ also uses personification when describing the place that Scrooge lives. ‘It must have ran there when it was a young house, playing hide-and-seek with the other houses, and forgotten the way out again.’ This is interesting as we will be revisiting Scrooge’s youth when he, too played hide-and-seek. Another trick used by Dickens is contrast. When Scrooge’s nephew, Fred, is introduced into the play, we can immediately recognise a contrast between the characters of the boy and his uncle. Fred is described in a positive way; ‘his face was ruddy and handsome; his eyes sparkled, and his breath smoked again.’ This description shows Fred as a kind-hearted, warm person and the reader begins to like him. The same cannot be said for Scrooge. ‘Tight fisted hand at the grindstone.’ This quotation about Scrooge pains a powerful portrait and, unlike with Fred, the reader dislikes him. This contrast of hot vs. cold expresses the difference in character.
The statements made by Fred echo that of the one made by the ghost of Marley, exploring the theme of goodness. Fred is the typical Victorian citizen, believing in the goodness of Christmas joy. ‘There are many things from which I may have derived good, by which I have not profited, I dare say, Christmas among the rest. But I am sure I have always thought of Christmas, when it has come around- a part from the veneration due to its sacred name and origin, if anything belonging to it can be apart from that-as a good time.’ This shows the brightness of Fred’s good spirit. The main message of the novel is that given by the Ghost of Jacob Marley when he visits Scrooge. ‘Mankind was my business, the common welfare was my business, charity, mercy, forbearance, and benevolence were all my business.’ This again links to the theme of the novel. Scrooge does not view Christmas in the same way. ‘Every idiot who goes about with ‘Merry Christmas,’ on his lips, should be boiled with his own pudding, and buried with a stake of holly through his heart. He should!’ This shows a lot about Scrooge. He does not care about anyone or anything else and is not open to the feeling of happiness and joy and therefore shuts out all merriment linking to Christmas.
Stave 2 takes us back to the boyhood of Scrooge. During this stave we see that remembrance of his past has an effect on him, and passion begins to touch his heart. We are taken to a rural scene where the weather seems to change. In London it was described as being ‘very foggy and extremely cold.’ Now it is said ‘The darkness and the mist had vanished with it, for it was a clear, cold, winter day, with snow upon the ground.’ This change in appearance tells the audience of the change of Scrooge’s character. The weather was much clearer and brighter in his past; this is symbolic, linking back to his character, telling the audience that he was a much nicer person in his younger days and has grown to be greedy and mean, thus the dark weather in the present.
Scrooge is rejoiced when he spots some young boys travelling towards him on horse-back. ‘Why was he rejoiced beyond all bounds to see them! Why did his cold eye glisten and his heart leap up as they went past! Why was he filled with gladness when he heard them give each other a Merry Christmas, as they parted at cross-roads and bye-ways, for their several homes!’ This description, using rich words, informs us of Scrooges’ reaction to the people of his childhood, painting a positive picture and showing us how he seems to have slightly changed from his wicked ways, and passion begins to touch his heart. There is also use of personification – the innocence of childhood.
We learn that family was very important to Scrooge when we meet his sister. He thought very highly of her and is very ashamed of himself when he thinks about his nephew, her only child. ‘Scrooge seemed uneasy in his mind; and answered briefly, ‘Yes.’ He feels guilty as he loved his sister but remembers how bad he treated his nephew before. This is another way of showing the reader Scrooge’s hidden depth and feelings, and the beginnings of his transformation of character.
During Christmas present, Scrooge’s sitting room undergoes an amazing transformation. ‘The walls and ceiling were so hung with living green, that it looked a perfect grove, from every part of which, bright gleaming berries glistened. The crisp leaves of holly, mistletoe, and ivy reflected back the light, as if so many little mirrors had been scattered there;’ Dickens uses colour to describe the room. He also gives a long list of adjectives to give an impression of the rich and wealth of Christmas dining. ‘turkeys, geese, game, poultry, brawn, great joints of meat, suckling pigs, long wreaths of sausages, mince pies, plum-puddings, barrels of oysters, red-hot chestnuts, cherry-cheeked apples, juicy oranges, luscious pears, immense twelfth –cakes, and seething bowls of punch, that made the chamber dull with their delicious steam. The transformation of his room is symbolic for the way in which Scrooge will have a change of character in the novel.
The weather of Stave 3 is very different to that in Stave 2. ‘The sky was gloomy, and the shortest streets were choked up with a dingy mist, half thawed, half frozen.’ This is how the weather is described during Christmas present. It is very dark and dull unlike in stave 2 where it was bright and cheerful. This contrast is used to set the mood of the stave.
Personification is used by Dickens when he describes the fruiterers’ in the street. ‘There were great round, pot-bellied baskets of chestnuts, shaped like waistcoats of jolly old gentlemen, lolling at the doors, and tumbling out into the street in their apoplectic opulence.’ He also uses the senses to make his descriptions rich. ‘There were piles of filberts, mossy and brown, recalling, in their fragrance.’ He links to taste, touch, sound and smell.
When Scrooge is taken to his future, the spirit of Christmas yet to come is a dull, grim figure and the setting is dark and gloomy. This represents the misery of the future if Scrooge does not change. We soon come to learn that Scrooge has indeed died and the characters we meet are glad about this. ‘It’s likely to be a very cheap funeral, for upon my life I don’t know of anybody to go to it.’ Scrooge is in denial in this stave and refuses to accept the fact that he is dead and no-one cares; it hurts him to know that nobody grieves over him. We travel to various places where he again, refuses to acknowledge his own death. We visit his funeral and then the pawnbrokers, where 2 women and a man have stolen items from Scrooge’s house and have brought them to here collect money. Scrooge does not like what he sees and asks the spirit to take him to a place where someone is upset upon a death; ‘Let me see some tenderness connected with a death.’ He is taken to the house of the Cratchits where he views something unexpected. Tiny Tim has died and the family are grieving for him, not Scrooge.
Towards the end of this stave, the phantom takes him to a grave yard and shows him his own tombstone. This causes Scrooge to break down and he swears he will change and become a better man to change the future of himself and Tiny Tim. ‘Assure me that I yet may change these shadows you have shown me, by an altered life!’ Tiny Tim is the first person Scrooge ever had feelings for, he liked him. This shows the reader that Scrooge is a changed man and is willing to make the future brighter for himself and the people of his town, he will achieve goodness.
The setting of the last stave contrasts highly with that of Stave 1. The beginning of the novel saw Scrooge working in his counting-house in ‘cold, bleak, biting weather.’ The weather has dramatically changed and is now described as being much brighter. ‘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. Oh glorious. Glorious!’ This is symbolic to Scrooges’ character. It represents the transformation from a mean, greedy old man to a brighter, happier and nicer person.
Dickens uses a string of positive similes to create Scrooge’s character after he changed. ‘Laughing and crying in the same breath; and making a perfect lacoon of himself with his stocking. ‘I am as light as a feather, I am as happy as an angel, I am as merry as a school boy, I am as giddy as a drunken boy.’ These are all bright imagery showing his newly-formed character.
Scrooge has learnt a very valuable lesson through the 3 ghosts that visited him. He has learnt to accept responsibility for the society and community around him, much like the theme of ‘An Inspector Calls,’ a book written by JB Priestley in 1945. Both books explore the effect of neglect upon the community around a character and teach the audience a lesson about accepting one-another and looking out for each other.
