Dickens also describes the weather in extract three when Scrooge is walking home, although this time he doesn’t make the weather look as mean. “The yard was so dark that even Scrooge, that knew its every stone, was fain to grope with his hands. The fog and frost so hung about the black old gateway of the house, that it seemed as if the genius of weather sat in mournful meditation on the threshold”. Although the weather description doesn’t look or sound exactly friendly I think it seems more relaxed. It is Christmas Eve and everybody is asleep, the streets are silent and you could hear a pin drop.
The same is true with scrooge’s house, it seems to be very dark and secret, there doesn’t seem to be a lot in there except the bare necessities needed, again it seems to very dark and dirty and a place that you wouldn’t want to live. Then the supernatural events start to happen, “It was with great astonishment, and with a strange, inexplicable dread, that as he looked, he saw this bell begin to swing, It swung so softly in the outset that it scarcely made a sound, but soon it rang out loudly, and so did every bell in the house. This might have lasted half a minute, or a minute, but it seemed an hour. The bells ceased as they had begun together. This gives me the image that some kind of evil lives within the house, and like I said in my introduction wants to bring Scrooge harm or warn him in any way possible. This would be a very good setting for a ghost story as we know that Scrooge has locked himself away in the room, and the house seems very shadow ridden and in the middle of nowhere meaning that no one is around to help Scrooge if he needs it, it seems like a place where evil dwells and was just waiting for the right time to strike Scrooge and has picked Christmas Eve of all days to connect with him.
Marleys ghost was actually heard before it is saw, “They were succeeded by a clanking noise, deep down below; as if some person were dragging a heavy chain over the casks in the wine-merchant’s cellar. Scrooge then remembered to have heard that ghosts in haunted houses were described as dragging chains. The cellar-door flew open with a booming sound, and then he heard the noise much louder, on the floors below; then coming up the stairs; then coming straight towards his door”. For this reason alone you can get the impression that Marley’s ghost is scary and frightening. The first supernatural signs in the house were the bells ringing, this is when Scrooge starts to get nervous and scared, he still dismisses that it could be a ghost hence the phrase “humbug”. Then the ghost of Marley appears and Scrooge says nothing, I get the feeling that Marleys ghost shouldn’t be feared and is friendly if you like, I feel this because Marley looks the same as he did in his life form. So Scrooge who is usually a very stubborn and cold has now changed, at this time he is very spooked and is wary of what has just happened. Marley had appeared to warn Scrooge of what was to happen later that night, Scrooge still dismisses all of what happened and wont accept that a ghost can tell him what to do, later on in the story he realises that he was wrong.
The first ghost appears differently to Marley’s ghost. “It was a strange figure – like a child: yet not so like a child as like an old man, viewed through some supernatural medium, which gave him the appearance of having receded from view, and being diminished to a child’s proportion. Its hair, which hung about its neck and down its back, was white as if with age: and yet the face had not a wrinkle on it, and the tenderise bloom was on the skin”. For this reason we get the feeling that the ghost is a warm and pleasant ghost, it brings across the image of warm, sensitive and careful being. We also get a real supernatural feeling about the ghost. “ So the figure itself fluctuated in its distinctness: being now a thing with one arm, now with one leg, now with twenty legs, now with a pair legs without a head, now a head without a body”. This image of a ghost compares well with the image of a traditional ghost, it is murky, see-through and freaky.
The second ghost is very different to the first ghost, he transforms the room, “ The moment Scrooge’s hand was on the lock, a strange voice called him by his name, and bade him enter, he obeyed. It was his own room; there was no doubt about that. But it had undergone a surprising transformation. The walls and the ceiling were so hung with living green, that it looked a perfect grove, from every part of which, bright gleaming berries glistened. Then the ghost is spotted on Scrooge’s couch,” So now we have seen what the room has transformed into and where the ghost is sitting, now we need to find out what the ghost looks like, “It was clothed in one simple green robe, or mantle, bordered with white fur. This garment hung so loosely on the figure, that its capacious breast was bare, as if disdaining to be warded or concealed by any artifice. Its feet, observable beneath the ample folds of the garment, were also bare; and on its head it wore no other covering than the holly wreath set here and there with shining icicles. Its dark brown curls were long and free; free as its genial face, its sparkling eye, its open hand, its cheery voice, its unconstrained demeanour, and its joyful air. Girded round its middle was an antique scabbard; but no sword was init, and the ancient sheath was eaten up with rust”. This ghost seems very different to any of the ghosts we have seen up to this point, he seems or acts like a normal person would, he is very cheerful and colourful, he seems to be like you or I in a nice mood. He welcomes Scrooge into the room as if it was some kind of party or gathering and continues to be friendly to Scrooge. For this reason I have decided that the ghost is nothing like the others and is more like a person than a supernatural being.
Scrooge knows at this time that he has to face up to one more spirit, he is not scared at this point as he feels the first two ghosts have been ok, and he is happy in a way, but the ghost of what is still to come is nothing like the other ghosts, “When it came near him, Scrooge bent down upon his knee; for in the very air through which the sprit moved it seemed to scatter gloom and mystery. It was shrouded in a deep black garment, which concealed its head, its face, its form, and it left nothing of it visible save one outstretched hand. But for this it would have been difficult to detach its figure from the night, and separate it from the darkness by which it was surrounded. He felt that it was tall and stately when it came beside him, and that its mysterious presence filled him with a solemn dread”. This ghost again is very different to the others before it; it seems very scary and unforgiving. The ghost will not talk to Scrooge, it only points and contracts its upper form, “The spirit answered not, but pointed onward with its hand”, for both these reasons we get the feeling that the ghost is not as friendly as the ghost of Christmas present, I get the essence that the room has suddenly darkened and froze and backed Scrooge into a corner that he cannot get out of. Scrooge fears this ghost more than any of the others because he knows that this is going to show what will happen in the future if he does not change. He fears for himself and wonders what horrors the future Scrooge has to face up to. He fears for what he has done in the past is now going to catch up with him and he doesn’t like the fact that for what he is now going to see he is not in charge of his own life. This ghost I think is the perfect example of the image of ghost, it is scary and dark, it changed the whole atmosphere of the story and strikes fear into Scrooge.
I think that Dickens has succeeded in creating a very successful ghost story that is effective, scary and interesting for all audiences. Dickens does very well in the way he contrasts all of the ghosts within the story, there are a number of different personalities within the ghosts, he changes from spooky to jolly and then fearful, this is in done by creating stages and builds up to the finale of the ghost of still to come is extremely spooky and intimidating. He has set the atmosphere by describing the setting of the rooms and surroundings and contrasting them with the ghost and mood or essence. I think the best ghost in the story is the last ghost as the story is after all meant to be a ghost story and is meant to be scary; the ghost really does set a scary mood. Overall the story a Christmas carol sets a very spooky mood that draws in the audience in and makes them want to carry on reading.
