How does Dickens use language and Imagery to show that Scrooge's desire for wealth has affected his character and Behaviour and that of the people around him?

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Pre Twentieth Century Prose                                                                Jessica Everitt

How does Dickens use language and Imagery to show that Scrooge’s desire for wealth has affected his character and Behaviour and that of the people around him?

‘A Christmas Carol’ written in 1843. It was the first of five short Christmas books written and published by Charles Dickens. ‘A Christmas Carol’ was the most successful novel in the series. Soon after its publication, all of the copies were sold.

        Since its publication, the story has been sold in a variety of forms. ‘A Christmas Carol’ has been adapted for stage, radio, movies and television; however, the book remains the most popular telling of the tale.

The book ‘A Christmas Carol’ is not simply a book about Christmas. Charles Dickens used the theme where people are sensitive to philanthropy- (loving your fellow man) and generosity so it had universal appeal.

Charles Dickens wrote the novel because he wanted to publicise the plight that the poor suffered; the story bore extreme relevance in it’s time and he embodied his philosophy that we should love our fellow man in his work. This is very poignant in a Christmas Carol as Scrooge adapts into a character who learns that he can still love his fellow man. This concept is summed up in the book when it says that ‘if a man’s spirit does not walk around the earth in life it is condemned to do so in death’. This means that all that is left behind after death is the memory of a person, so whether that person’s spirit goes to heaven or hell, depends entirely on what they do in life. The point of this message is to make the wealthy- who are Charles Dickens intended audience- think about the poverty the poor suffered as a cost of their wealth.  Having had personal experience of what it was like to be poor, this gave him the opportunity to look at life from their perspective. And this is, in my opinion, one of the reasons the book is so convincing.

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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 ...

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