The nephew is a complete contrast to Scrooge both in personality and appearance. He is described as being “Ruddy and handsome” as apposed to Scrooge being “cold and bitter”. His manner towards Scrooge seems extremely tolerant and patient, although Scrooge is repeatedly rude and unpleasant when talking to him. This seems to make Scrooge appear even more unpleasant as his nephew also likes the festive season and scrooge contradicts everything his nephew mentions concerning Christmas “what reason have you to be merry? You’re poor enough”. The nephew retorts “what reasons have you to be morose? You’re rich enough”. Scrooge even refuses an invitation to Christmas dinner declaring “bah humbug”. This reinforces the idea of how unsociable he is even when it concerns his own family and their generosity. This also adds a sense of irony as although his nephew isn’t very rich he is offering Scrooge a place around his dinner table when he is probably struggling to feed the large amount of people he has already invited. Scrooge is either too ignorant or refuses to realise the amount of generosity given to him although he could probably afford twice the amount of food his Nephew can. This is yet another example of just how miserly he is.
The time in which a Christmas carol is set (the festive season) offsets Scrooges personality as it is the time of year that Scrooge most dislikes. As a consequence he is at his most arrogant, stingy and unpleasant even though everyone around him is at their happiest. Instead of changing his mood, Scrooges frame of mind remains the opposite of everyone else’s. An example of Scrooge hating the time of year is again when he is speaking to his nephew. He cries “out upon merry Christmas”, meaning he is out of favour with the idea of Christmas and everything concerning it.
The way in which Scrooge treats others outside of his family adds to the negative image of his character. For example when his clerk Bob Cratchit needs more coal for his fire he wouldn’t dream of getting any more as Scrooge would dismiss him. So he “put on his white comforter” to try and keep warm. Even though the weather is bitterly cold, Scrooge doesn’t even offer any more coal to Cratchit. As long he is warm he feels it doesn’t concern him. This is an example of how selfish Scrooge is.
When a young carol singer stands outside his doorway expecting Scrooge to open his door welcomingly as so many others would, Scrooge instead “seized the ruler with such energy of action singer fled in terror.” The carol singer who wrongly expects Scrooge to listen to him and maybe offer him money or food is instead rewarded with a beating. There is then reference made to the weather “even more congenial frost”. This informs the reader of the weather conditions that Scrooge has forced the boy out into and makes Scrooge appear heartless.
Scrooge is even ungenerous to some charity collectors who ask for funds for the poor to give them “a little extra” for Christmas. The charity collectors greet Scrooge in a very pleasant and well mannered way “Have I the pleasure of addressing Mr. Scrooge or Mr. Marley?” obviously unaware of Scrooges unsociable manner. Scrooge replies in his usual inappropriate way “Mr. Marley has been dead these seven years”. This shows that Scrooge refuses to interact in a way in which makes himself appear easy to talk to and a pleasant person. In the book scrooge asks the charity collectors if the poor citizens are in the “union workhouses” and that they will get enough food over Christmas to keep them alive. Scrooge obviously feels that as long as poor people are surviving, charity doesn’t concern him. The charity collectors are so taken aback by Scrooges attitude that they misinterpret his rejection to give money. They think he wants to remain anonymous. They continue to treat him kindly although he won’t give anything to their collection. When Scrooge throws them out, he does it in an extremely rude way. “It’s not my business…good afternoon gentlemen!”
While at first Scrooge only appears to treat his family badly, it soon becomes apparent that he treats people from all walks of life in the same hostile way. He is also just as malicious if not more so with the poor.
In the time in which Charles Dickens is writing, there weren’t any social services for the poor and there was a high level of unemployment as a consequence. So in 1834 they set up workhouses for the elderly, poor or infirm to stay in. These were like small communities that gave the people who were able to work menial tasks and fed them the smallest amount possible that kept them alive. Living in a workhouse however, was as bad as living on the street. Charles Dickens saw himself as a “people’s man” and chose to write about the social background of the day in many of his novels for example Oliver Twist which is set around the same time as a Christmas carol.
Dickens uses many different unique techniques when creating the negative image of Scrooge. The long list of adjectives at the beginning of the story are a good example of this as at a first glance the words “squeezing, wrenching and grasping” appear to be verbs but Dickens decides to create an effective way of using them to describe Scrooge instead. Another example of this is the way he changes nouns into verbs. He uses the metaphor “Scrooge iced his office”. Scrooge didn’t literally turn his office into ice but it helps the reader visualise the way in which his personality seemed to freeze everything around him.
Dickens also uses a lot of black humour in a Christmas carol, for example “he solemnised the funeral with an undoubted bargain” this means that Scrooge got Marley’s funeral for a bargain which is not something that should be found funny as funerals are usually not something you would spend very little on but of course Scrooge is the exception to this rule.
The use of the simile “solitary as an oyster” creates the image of Scrooge being unwilling to share the pearl, or money which is concealed inside the shell with anyone. This can also be interpreted as Scrooge hiding his generous side behind a shell or a mean exterior.
The way in which alliteration is used in the sentence of adjectives including “Squeezing, grasping, clutching” almost echoes Scrooge’s name and the reader is subconsciously reminded of the characters name.
The reader recalls the description of Scrooge when the term “misanthropic ice” is used. This is an effective piece of personification as there are very few ways in which ice can be likened to humans, however the word “misanthropic” meaning someone who hates people, is a good way of describing Scrooges antisocial personality and the way in which ice holds no regard for humans who have to suffer the cold consequences of it.
I found the way in which the character of Scrooge is presented in the opening chapter of a Christmas carol very effective. There are several reasons for this. One of these is that, although there is a huge amount of description included, this does not seem to distract the reader from the narrative which shows the effectiveness of the devices Dickens uses to build up the picture of the characters in his stories. Scrooge is now used as a nickname as many misers in today’s society are described as having a “Scrooge” like character or attitude concerning either money or Christmas which shows how well know the story is. Another is that although over one hundred and fifty years have passed since Charles Dickens wrote the story, it still remains a favourite. Not only as a Christmas story, but as a novel in its own right.
