The inclusion of the ghosts in ‘A Christmas Carol’ act as a reminder of the general crimes against humanity Scrooge commits, in other words, the ghosts act as Scrooge’s conscience. And through the ghosts and his travels back into the past Scrooge learns in the book what it means to be a feeling human being.
Dickens also made the supernatural a key feature of the story. Victorians enjoyed ghost stories where the visitation of the supernatural occurs and it is unclear whether the person is awake or not. Victorians apparently believed that ghosts would visit people in their dreams or while just waking. However, the scenes of supernatural in the novel are not flashbacks, but instead a glimpse into Scrooge’s life by a third party. Shown to him by the Christmas spirits against his will.
To write ‘A Christmas Carol’ Charles Dickens drew from his own personal experiences of extreme poverty and wealth. As a boy Charles Dickens father John Dickens, who was a careless man, was arrested for debt. His mother, brothers and sister were forced to go to jail as well, whilst 12yr old Chares was made to leave school and put to work in a factory sticking labels to tubs of shoe polish. Dickens own valuable experiences of London are what make his stories believable and ring true. Having experienced what it was like to be poor Charles Dickens became very concerned about the dreadful condition and welfare if the poor; in particular children, who frequently feature in many of his novels.
Charles Dickens, rather than speak out politically, perceived it would be more effective to write an entertaining book which could be read by the rich to get across his point.
Scrooge’s character is miserly, disliked- especially by women, miserable, selfish, and tight fisted. In the book he is described with vulture like characteristics, ’scraping, clutching, squeezing wrenching’. He preys on the poorest and most vulnerable people in society at that time. However, Scrooge has not always been such a ‘covetous, old sinner!’. Throughout his life Scrooge has a series of personal experiences and regrets, which we are shown glimpses of by the ghosts of Christmas; I think these experiences shaped him into the monster he is portrayed as in the book.
First we are shown glimpses into the past. At the end of St2 we learn of Scrooge’s love, Belle. Belle breaks their arrangement, one which was made when he was a poor man because ‘Another idol has displaced me’. She thinks she is no longer as important to Scrooge as she had once been.
“What Idol has displaced you?’ He rejoined… A golden one”
In other words she is saying that she can no longer marry him as he is more interested in money. She has seen him evolve:
“I have seen your nobler aspirations fall off one by one, until the master-passion, Gain, engrosses you.”
Scrooge has been consumed by his greed and Belle has watched it become his first passion, it has replaced her. So for scrooge Belle represents love and chances not taken.
We also learn from this Ghost the unkindness he suffered by his father. Perhaps this mistreatment is reflected in Scrooge’s character by the way in which he is so unkind and unfeeling towards the poor. The Ghost of Christmas past shows us the beginning of the path that Scrooge is currently on.
Language is used in ‘A Christmas Carol’ not only to set the scene for the rest of the book but to reflect the darkness of Scrooge’s character:
“External heat and cold had little influence on Scrooge. No warmth could warm, nor wintry weather chill him.”
The descriptions for weather as Scrooge’s character are metaphors to describe his icy unchanging opinions, attitudes and frosty mannerisms. Like the weather Scrooge is unfeeling, and Scrooge’s character will remain frosty like the weather with indifference to anyone around him.
Dickens uses these descriptions of Scrooge’s character so well that the weather is in instances personified and becomes more human than Scrooge when reflecting his character. This metaphor elaborates on the idea that Scrooge has no emotion or feeling.
The weather is so closely entwined with Scrooge’s character in the book, that it is used to symbolise Scrooge’s rehabilitated character after being visited by the ‘ghosts of Christmas’. For example: Forbidden by scrooge to put more coal on the fire, Bob Cratchit is frozen and shivers all the time. Comparatively, Scrooge has a cold heart and doesn’t therefore feel the weather. So the change in Scrooge is symbolized by allowing Bob Cratchet to put coal on the fire at the very end.
The wintry language Charles Dickens has used to portray Scrooges character is contrasted with that of the other characters such as Scrooge’s nephew to show the stark difference between the two characters. For example:
“That while there is infection in disease and sorrow, there is nothing in the world so irresistibly contagious as laughter and good humour”
The suffering that Scrooge brings to others and represents is contrasted with his nephew’s laughter, the point being despite there being people like Scrooge in the world who bring evil there are always people such as scrooge’s nephew who bring laughter- and therefore happiness and hope.
Dickens uses Tiny Tim’s death as a vehicle of change in ‘A Christmas Carol’. The Ghost shows Scrooge that he is the reason for Tiny Tim’s death and is pivotal for the turning point in Scrooge’s character. The hanging threat of Tiny Tim’s death and Scrooges concern for the boy is the beginning of the reformation in Scrooge’s character. He evolves from an unfeeling and totally self orientated character into a caring, feeling, considerate human being.
Tiny Tim also represents the suffering of children, and how the low wages paid to the poor by the business classes, keeps them in a state of degradation. The reader sees this through Scrooge’s eyes, and feels compassion and sympathy for Tiny Tim as he is a child and children symbolize innocence, and the abuse of others by those with power. In this way Scrooge’s death would be abominable and this shows Charles Dickens ability to create pathos.
Want and Ignorance, Dickens has personified these abstract nouns to become symbols of man’s evils. Man created them, so, they are our children and we are obligated to them. They represent the suffering of the poor and greed man’s greed as the causes of their poverty. The boy represents doom, which means that ignorance of what’s going on around us will cause the doom of society. By ignoring what happens as Scrooge does- (he wants to send the ignorant and the poor to workhouses and prisons) the spirit implies the problem will be made worse. Want is also suffering, she has been created by man’s greed and having seen her Scrooge is compelled to help her. Using these symbols, ‘Want and Ignorance’ Charles Dickens is trying to make his reader take a step back and look at them selves, want and ignorance are apparent in ‘A Christmas Carol’ in the same way they were in the society at that time. He wanted the rich to feel guilty, and by using the mutilated, incarcerated images of ’wolfish’, ‘prostrate’ children he achieves this.
He introduces Want and Ignorance before the Ghost of the future in order for us- the reader to look at the future the ghost shows us with them in mind; what we see is the effect’s of ‘Want and Ignorance’. Once Scrooge is shown these children of mankind and given a second chance at life, he does his utmost to ensure he helps that in need and is no longer ignorant of the poor. The story ‘A Christmas Carol’ is so timeless that it can be read by anyone at any time, and will still have the same moral, but will bare relevance to society like it did when it was written. As despite everything, the gap between those who have more than they need and those who have nothing at all still remains.