A Christmas Carol - ‘Ebenezer Scrooge Man of People’
Show how Dickens uses the character of Scrooge to influence his readers’ attitude to the poor of Victorian England.
Dickens uses the character of Scrooge to influence his readers’ attitude to the poor of Victorian England by making Scrooge a rude, nasty and tight character, who is very rich but won’t give anything to the poor. “A tight-fisted, covetous old sinner” Dickens uses Scrooge to portray the rich Victorians and their attitude towards the poor. Scrooge is the typical, but a bit exaggerated, rich person of the Victorian era. Dickens was very against the poor being mistreated and hated the workhouse and the Poor Law. The workhouse was an institution for the very poor or very ill. When someone went into the workhouse they lost all voting rights, got little food, and were made to work long hours doing jobs like stone breaking. Charles Dickens hated these places and wanted to get rid of them. The Poor Law stated “If you can walk you can work”, so these people received no help. Dickens uses the story to inform others and to make the rich feel guilty.
In Stave I, Scrooge is moody, lonely, cruel, cold-hearted and most of all tight (mean) with his money. “A tight-fisted hand of the grindstone”. Scrooge was very anti-social and a loner. “He’s as solitary as an oyster”. He has always been a loner and more interested in working and making money than making friends. His office is very damp and cold as Scrooge won’t put any coal on the fire. “It looked like one coal”. He pays his workers very little. “my clerk, with 15 shillings a week and a wife and family” Scrooge hates Christmas and makes his feelings known when he speaks to his nephew “Every idiot that goes round with Merry Christmas on his lips should be boiled with his own pudding” Scrooge doesn’t understand how anyone could be happy without money. He is talking with his nephew and Scrooge sees that he is happy “What reason have you to be merry? You are poor enough”. Scrooge hates the poor and doesn’t care about them. He thinks the poor should die and there is no need for them. “If they would rather die…they had better do it and decrease the surplus population”. He is very greedy and wouldn’t give a penny to anyone especially a charity collector. When one comes to the door Scrooge is not happy – “Scrooge seized the ruler with such energy of action”. Scrooge is very unfair to his clerk and treats him very badly. Ebenezer Scrooge won’t give the clerk any coals for his fire “The clerks’ fire was so very much smaller that it looked like one coal” Darkness is cheap and Scrooge liked it. Scrooge paid his clerk very little money and would not give him any time off work, not even at Christmas.” You’ll want all day tomorrow, I suppose? ... You don’t think me ill used, when I pay a day’s wages for no work.”
