Scrooge believes the poor should be in prisons and union workhouses which are extremely unpleasant yet he is “very glad to hear” they are still in operation. This demonstrates the way in which Scrooge despises the poor and is happy with the way they suffer.
Dickens gives us a great contrast in character to Scrooge with Scrooges nephew who, where Scrooge is cold, nasty and bitter is warm, friendly and kind. The nephew is “all in a glow”, “ruddy” and “handsome”. Dickens certainly emphasises this warm-heartedness and this directly contrasts and compares with Scrooge who “squeezing, wrenching, gasping, scraping and clutching”. This use of juxtaposition clarifies the nastiness of Scrooge and makes us hate and detest him more.
This contrast is also seen in their attitudes to Christmas. Scrooge is scornful about Christmas – “bah humbug”. He doesn’t care about it and sees it just as a time where people make waste money – “paying bills without money”. So Scrooge hates Christmas. The Nephew however sees Christmas as a “good time: a kind, forgiving charitable, pleasant time.” We see and learn that Scrooge’s nephew is clever, happy and enjoys life. His speech about Christmas is very powerful and even Scrooge agrees “you’re quite a powerful speaker, sir”. This speech is put in deliberately by Dickens to convey his feelings about Christmas, which Dickens felt very strong about, so he used the nephew to put these into the book. The nephew is almost like an ambassador for Dickens’ views.
Bob Cratchit is Scrooge’s clerk and is very poor. This is because of Ebenezer’s mistreatment of him because Bob is forced to work long, cold, hard hours at a very low pay. Scrooge isn’t even happy to let Bob have the day off on Christmas. “It’s not convenient” and “It’s not fair”. Scrooge then goes on about money again - “pay a day’s wages for no work”, “a poor excuse for picking a man’s pocket every twenty-fifth of December!” This further reinforces Scrooges tightness and love for money.
‘A Christmas Carol’ contains elements of a ghost story. We know the genre of the novel right at the start of the book. Firstly Dickens immediately starts talking about death and Marley in the first sentence of the tale – “Marley was dead: to begin with.” This is the first six words of the book and we now suspect that Marley could possibly come back as a ghost at some point. The front cover of the book also has a picture of a ghost on which tells us that this story will feature ghosts. We also suspect that it will be a ghost story when Scrooge sees Marley’s face where the door knocker where the door knocker at the entrance to his house should be. “Not a knocker, but Marley’s face.” The face has also “ghostly spectacles” and we are now certain Marley will come back, exactly seven years since his death, tonight as a ghost.
Marley then appears as a ghost with an important message for Scrooge. Marley is forced to wear a heavy chain for how tight and mean he was with money when he was alive. Marley has realised that since he has passed away, he knows now that his attitude to life was wrong and now feels regret constantly. “Incessant torture of remorse” Marley is forever being punished by how he behaved earlier in life. Marley tells Scrooge that his chain is “full and heavy and as long as this, seven Christmas eves ago. You have laboured on it, since. It is a ponderous chain!” This means Scrooge will have to wear a really long chain for how mean he is while he is alive. Scrooge needs to change his ways or his chain will get even heavier.
Marley says he shouldn’t care about money and business and says it is “a drop of water in the comprehensive ocean” meaning that Scrooge needs to see the bigger picture and realise the world is not just about money.
Marley then tells Scrooge he has one chance to learn, one chance to learn, one final chance to not suffer the fate that Marley endures. “You have a chance and hope of occurring, Ebenezer.” Scrooge is then told he will be visited by three spirits. “Without them” says Marley “you cannot hope to shun the path I tread.”
The first ghost that visits Scrooge is that of the Christmas past. This Spirit takes Scrooge back to his childhood where Scrooge is a boy again. “Good Heaven” says Scrooge “I was a boy here!” Scrooge is already showing small signs of change and emotions, meaning the memories are affecting his cold heart. “Your lip is trembling” comments the ghost.
The spectre takes Scrooge to his old School and Ebenezer feels yet more emotion and is puzzled by this, because he hasn’t feel such sensations for a very long time. “Why was he rejoiced beyond all bounds to see them!” Scrooge is actually happy.
However all is not happy and joyful. “A solitary child, neglected by his friends, is left there still.” This child happens to be Scrooge, outcast by his father, Scrooge is left alone. Yet still Scrooge is somehow overjoyed to see himself. “Scrooge exclaimed in ecstasy.” Scrooge seems so happy and appears much friendlier and nicer to the audience than before.
Scrooge’s sister suddenly comes in. “Dear, dear, brother.” She clearly loves him a lot and has come to bring Scrooge home “for ever and ever.” Scrooge remembers how kind she was. “She had a large heart!” She was there to help everyone and the Spirit reminds him that she had a child. “Your Nephew!” Scrooge seems uneasy at this. Earlier on Christmas Eve he had shouted at his nephew and thrown him out of the counting house. Scrooge feels regret because he now can see his dead sister in his Nephew.
We then move on to Fezziwig’s where Scrooge was apprenticed. We can immediately see the great contrast between the Ebenezer and Old Fezziwig. “No, more work tonight. Christmas Eve, Dick! Christmas Ebenezer! Let’s have the shutters up before a man can say Jack Robinson!” Fezziwig is so cheerful about Christmas we can’t help but notice how cold and harsh Scrooge was earlier and we remember how nasty he was to his clerk. The gleeful, happy Scrooge can’t help but remember this to and reluctantly admits he would like to have a work or two with Bob Cratchit now.
The ghost reminded Scrooge that Fezziwig has done nothing special, and he only spent little on it. "The happiness" Mr. Fezziwig gives "is quite as great as if it cost a fortune" Scrooge feels guilty.
We now can really see what one of Dickens main concerns is; the way in which poor workers were being exploited by their greedy employers. Dickens uses juxtaposition to compare the coldness of Scrooge and the warmth of Fezziwig to show what employers should act like.
Progressing on we see Scrooge and his fiancée meeting up for the last time. She first met Scrooge, a kind, young man who was a poor and content apprentice at Fezziwigs but since he has gradually changed getting greedier and now Scrooge can’t love her simply because she is poor. The girl is thoughtful enough to let Scrooge go – she’s realised that Ebenezer will just get worse. She tells him that “a golden idol has displaced me” – this “golden idol” symbolises Scrooges love for money and the use of “idol” is used as a metaphor for the fact that wealth has become like a god to Scrooge – he worships it. The watching Ebenezer is sad and angry at how he is behaving and tells the Spirit ‘no more’. It seems the ghost has hit a nerve.
But the Spirit continues, determined to inflict the pain upon Scrooges heart for what he has done to others. The ghost takes Ebenezer to his ex-fiancée’s house some time after Scrooge broke up with her. The Spirit wants to show Ebenezer what he missed out on because he chose money over love. The girl now has a husband and a child and it is a happy family. Dickens adds Scrooge into the happy family scene. “Guess who I saw today?” says the husband. “Mister Scrooge.” Dickens creates a contrast between the warm family and the lonely Scrooge. They are poorer than him in money terms but richer in their happiness. For what is the point in money if you have no one to share it with. Scrooge who cannot bear to watch asks in a “broken voice” to remove him from the place, demonstrating he feels regret and cannot face this any longer. The Spirit takes him back to his bedroom and disappears in a flash of light. The time of the Ghost of Christmas Past is over. Scrooge has begun on his journey to change. The audience have seen now how Scrooge was in his past. We see how he has changed into the man we see now and we also recognise the dire need for Ebenezer to change.
It is now the time of the second ghost, that of the Christmas Present. This ghost’s objective is to show Scrooge what is happening at the current day because of his actions. The Spectre himself is giant, jolly man dressed in green surrounded by food. This ghost is the opposite of Scrooge – generous and hospitable. He has a “kind, generous, hearty nature.”
This Spirit shows Scrooge how Christmas is celebrated by his clerk's family, by strangers near and far, and by his nephew, Fred. The Spirit carries a torch and everywhere it goes this torch sprinkles incense or water on people and makes them become kinder to each other. He gives it “to a poor one most.”
We are first taken to Bob Cratchit's house, to which Scrooge has never been to before. We see how the Cratchits, despite being extremely poor, manage to be happy at Christmas. They are a large family and struggle to keep the family healthy. This is because of the poor wages Scrooge pays Bob. Because of this, Tiny Tim, the youngest of Bob’s children, who is a cripple, is extremely frail and near death. “He bore a little crutch, and had his limbs supported by an iron frame.” Tiny Tim is shown as a special boy by Dickens by the way Tim “hoped that the people saw him in the church, because he was a cripple, and it might be pleasant to them to remember upon Christmas Day, who made lame beggars walk and, and blind men see”. In this way, Dickens shows that Tiny Tim is unique, important and he needs to stay alive. Scrooge feels an “interest he had never felt before” and asks the Spirit if Tim will live. The ghost tells him that unless something changes in the future, the child will die. When Scrooge protests he is reminded of his words earlier: "If he be like to die he had better do it and decrease the surplus population". Scrooge “hung his head to hear his own words” and is “overcome with penitence and grief.” This shows how Scrooge has changed. He is feeling worried, concerned and sympathetic.
The Cratchits have to eat a very small, cheap, goose for dinner which is cooked somewhere else because they don’t have a big enough oven for it. They have to ‘eke’ it out with potatoes. The meal is mainly lots of stuffing and vegetables – the children “were steeped in sage and onion to the eyebrows.” They also have a very small pudding however “nobody said or thought it was at all a small pudding for a large family.” This shows although they are in poverty, the Cratchits are content and happy with their lives. This is mirrored in their dress as well. Mrs Cratchit is wearing an old and tatty outfit yet she uses cheap ribbons to make it look festive.
The spectre then takes Scrooge to his nephew's to witness the Christmas party, Ebenezer was invited to but refused to come. Scrooge finds that he is really enjoying that partying and laughs, dances and sings along not realising he is invisible. He pleads with the Spirit to stay until the very end of the festivities. “He begged like a boy to be allowed to stay until the guests departed.” Scrooge is happy and different from what he was before. He has changed.
The Ghost shows Scrooge two starved children, called Ignorance and Want, who live under his coat. They are horribly dirty and ugly children who lack the basics for survival. They are uneducated and uncivilised. Dickens describes them as “yellow”, “meagre”, “ragged”, “scowling” and “wolfish”. The ghost tells him that they are not his but "man's", Scrooge is told to beware of them both. Dickens adds these two characters to show the Victorians ignorance and mistreatment of the poor. The children are a visualisation of this. When Scrooge asks if nothing can be done to help them the ghost again quotes his earlier words: "Are there no prisons? Are there no work-houses?" He feels deep shame, as the ghost disappears.
We notice the massive change that has happened to Scrooge. He is happy, light-hearted, and joyful. He refused to go to Fred’s house for Christmas earlier, yet found himself dancing with glee and joy begging the ghost not to stay. It seems Ebenezer might have a chance of escaping the chains Marley suffers after all; however it is now time for a new ghost. The Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come.
We start with a grim description of the city Scrooge is now in, it is “foul and narrow”. This shocks the audience and is telling us we need to change and help others. The Ghost of Christmas Yet appears and is describes as wearing all black much like the Grim Reaper. This symbolises that there will be a death in this stave of the story and sure enough the ghost leads Scrooge through a sequence of mysterious scenes relating to an unnamed man's recent death. Scrooge sees businessmen discussing the dead man's riches and some people trading the unknown man’s personal possessions for small amounts of money. By this time the audience all have realised it is Scrooge who is the mystery man, yet Ebenezer hasn’t realised this. Dickens has used dramatic irony here to add tension and excitement to the play. Scrooge is shocked because all these people are happy at this man’s death such as where the woman selling the man’s belongings says “he frightened everyone away from him when he was alive, to profit us when he was dead!”
Scrooge is really distraught about this and asks the Spirit to show him anyone who feels some sense of emotion about this mans death. “Show that person to me, Spirit, I beseech you.” The ghost agrees and transports them to a house where a poor couple are expressing relief at the death of the man to whom they owe a loan too. “Their hearts were lighter.”
We are now taken to the Cratchit home, Bob mourns for Tiny Tim, who has recently died. This is due to the Scrooges former character. The whole family feel sadness and this contrasts with the man, for whom nobody cares about. Bob tells the family about the kindness of Scrooge's nephew, Fred, and soon feels better when he discusses Tiny Tim's lasting memory. They learn to be content with the death as Bob says “I am very happy.” The family can take positives from this and this again shows how strong willed and ‘good’ the Cratchits are.
Scrooge, still anxious to learn the lesson of his latest visitor, begs to know the name of the dead man. After pleading with the ghost, Scrooge finds himself in a churchyard, the spirit pointing to a grave. Scrooge looks at the headstone and is shocked to read his own name. He desperately begs the spirit to alter his fate, promising to change his insensitive, selfish and greedy ways and to love and respect Christmas the way it should – “I will honour Christmas with all his heart” he pleads and pleads for change. The Spirit collapses and disappears and he suddenly finds himself safely tucked in his bed.
Overwhelmed with joy by the chance to redeem himself and grateful that he has been returned to Christmas Day, Scrooge rushes out onto the street hoping to share his newfound Christmas spirit. He sends a giant Christmas turkey to the Cratchit house and attends Fred's party, to the surprise of the other guests. As the years go by, he holds true to his promise and honors Christmas with all his heart: he treats Tiny Tim as if he were his own child, provides lavish gifts for the poor, and treats his fellow human beings with kindness, generosity, and warmth. The story ends happily as Tiny Tim observes “God bless Us, Every One!”
The end ties up ‘A Christmas Carol’ by showing Scrooge correcting everything he did wrong at the start of the book. He gives lots of money to the portly gentleman, helps the Cratchits, talks and respects Fred again, and also is nice to everyone else in the city.
The Spirits have changed Scrooge to be a happy, charitable, and kind man. The important message Dickens conveys is that if this old, mean, miser can change then anyone can. We should all respect one another and this is still relevant today.
