When scrooge met the first ghost he comes across as a nasty horrible man. Scrooge said “bah humbug” to he nephew. This shows how ungrateful and selfish he is. It also shows how unkind he was to his nephew. Scrooge said to his nephew ‘keep Christmas in your own way and me keep it in mine’. This also shows that he is ungrateful. He basically doesn’t care about his family and wants to do everything on his own, he is very lonely. When scrooge was visited by Marley he changed a little bit because he really though and kind of regretted what he did to prove this he said ‘what shall I put you down for, nothing.’ The quote ‘let me keep it in mine’ means that he thinks he is right all the time. It also shows that he is miserly and very melancholy.
Scrooge’s character transforms a bit through his meetings with the first ghost in A Christmas Carol. ‘He filled with gladness when he heard them give each other merry Christmas.’ When he saw himself and his friends in the past, he saw that he still wasn’t a big fan of Christmas but he did like it a little bit. When it got to Christmas holidays he stayed in school and studied so he got better results for his later life. When he sees himself as a child he got quite embarrassed and actually thought about himself and people around.
When Ebenezer Scrooge met the ghost for the present you could see that he had clearly changed. Scrooge met Tiny Tim; Tiny Tim was Bob Cratchet’s son, the little crippled boy. Scrooge said ‘tell me if Tiny Tim will live.’ Scrooge has actually started to think about other people. He is really worried that he is going to die. Tiny Tim was crippled and a lot of people cared about him. Before scrooge knew him he didn’t even care about Tim. The way Scrooge says ‘tell me’ it kind of says that he is demanding and quite inpatient.
Also Ebenezer Scrooge cared about how a lot of the kids in London had to work in workhouses. He said ‘have they no refuge or resource?’ This means he cares and worries that the children in London don’t have any shelter. When they have shelter it’s from working in the workhouses. Dickens really cared about the conditions of London and also wrote Oliver Twist. Both the novels have things about workhouses in them. The way Scrooge says ‘have they no refuge or resource’ suggests that he was quite confused and upset that this is going on and he hasn’t done anything about it.
When Scrooge first met the ghost of Christmas present he was really confused and didn’t really know what to say. When the spirit took scrooge to Christmas morning he was amazed of what he was seeing. Normally on Christmas day he would sit in on his own doing nothing at all. The first thing he said to the spirit of present was ‘is there a peculiar flavour in what you sprinkle from your torch.’ Scrooge had never seen this before and was shocked because how good it really is. Ebenezer had never seen people playing Christmas songs on the streets or shops that weren’t even open. He thought that the spirit was making it all up. The way he says ‘is there a peculiar flavour in what you sprinkle from your torch’ comes across that he in anxious and annoyed that he hasn’t spent his life like everyone else, having fun with their family and friends.
When Scrooge met the ghost of Christmas yet to come he already knew what was going to happen. He had already decided that he wanted his life to change and that he will be better from now on. He said, ‘I fear you more than any spectre I have seen. 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 finally is admitting that he will change completely change. This shows that he has changed loads. He says that in quite a happy way and he hasn’t been happy or cheerful for a long time.
Scrooge wanted to explore in the future a bit so the spirit stretched out his arm and pointed to a group of people. The men said ‘it’s likely to be a very cheap funeral’ ‘for upon my life I don’t know of anybody to go to it. Suppose we make up and volunteer?’ They were talking about a man that had died later that night. Scrooge they are basically saying that the man that died had no friends at all. Scrooge didn’t know if the men were talking about him, he couldn’t find his head in the conversation but he took it all into mind.
The ghost took scrooge to the Cratchit’s house. Bob Cratchit isn’t home yet and tiny Tim isn’t among them. When bob Cratchit got in he sat at the table and said ‘I wish you could have gone. It would have done you good to see how green a place it is. But you’ll see it often. I promised him that I would walk there on a Sunday. My little, little child.’ This made scrooge feel really bad and upset he knows the man that the men were talking about was tiny Tim. The way that the quote is written is really emotional and sad.
Scrooge realises that he is back how it usually is and is so excited about his second chance to everything. ‘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 man. A merry Christmas to everybody! A happy new year to the world! Hallo here! Whoop! Hallo!’ this shows how excited he is and how much he loves life.
Through all the meetings with the ghosts scrooge has changed so much. When he met the first ghost he started realising what is going on around him. After meeting the ghost of Christmas presence he realised that Christmas can be fun. And after the meeting with the ghost of Christmas future he realised that it’s good to be charitable and cheerful in life. Overall it’s amazing how much Ebenezer Scrooge has actually changed.
