Dickens is trying to change Victorian society. How does he use the ghosts to do this in 'A Christmas Carol'?
Question: Dickens is trying to change Victorian society. How does he use the ghosts to do this in 'A Christmas Carol'?
'A Christmas Carol' is a novel by Charles Dickens, written in the Victorian era about a man named Ebenezer Scrooge. The book was written to remind people that we should all be kinder and more generous towards one another, and keep the spirit of Christmas all the year, not only in the Christmas season.
Scrooge is a representation of most of Victorian society, and he is used by Dickens as a literary device. He is described as "squeezing, wrenching, grasping, scraping..." a reflection on the Victorians, many of whom were selfish and did not care to help those less fortunate than themselves. In Scrooge's own words, "Are there no prisons?"; "Are there no workhouses?" Scrooge believed that those people who could not afford to live independently should go to these establishments, a view held by many Victorians. Charles Dickens recognised that this attitude towards those in need was morally unacceptable.
'A Christmas Carol' was written in instalments which were published monthly in a magazine. His intention was that the many readers of the magazine would comprehend and take note of the messages he tried to deliver in his writing. By writing the novel in instalments Dickens managed to strike a good percentage of his target audience, who were in particular the upper classes who could afford to buy luxury items such as magazines.
As every reader would be reading each instalment at about the same period, it provided a stimulus that people could unite in and discuss, so that Dickens' ideas would be passed not only to the readers of the magazine but also to people who have heard about the story through other people. In this way, I believe 'A Christmas Carol' made more of an impact on Victorian society than it would have as an entire novel.
The first thing the reader notices about 'A Christmas Carol' is the title. It brings to mind the idea that the novel is like a song, backed up by the way that it is split into sections called staves, and staves are how pieces of music are split up. A carol is generally thought to be a joyous piece of music, associated with Christmas, the jolliest season of the year. Having the word Christmas in the title reminds the reader of the idea of Christianity, how we should love and be generous towards each other, as Jesus Christ was the forgiver of all men.
The introduction of Scrooge in Stave I brings an immediate sharp contrast between the safe feelings we get when reading the title, as if the title portrays the whole novel as being very jolly and seasonal, to the description of Scrooge we read initially, and we realise at once that Scrooge is a man who least of all people knows the meaning of Christmas. The audience is instantly intrigued as to why a man like Scrooge will play such a significant role in a novel with a title representing ideas so different from his character, and will eagerly wait for the next instalment to find out.
We first come across Ebenezer Scrooge near the beginning of Stave I, after we are firmly assured that Scrooge's old business partner Jacob Marley is "Dead as a doornail." Dickens begins the story this way to grasp the reader's attention, as it brings all sorts of questions to mind, for instance who was Jacob Marley, how did he die, and how does his death have any relevance in the rest of the story?
Scrooge is described in patterns of three, a technique adopted by Dickens that makes descriptions flow more musically, as a song would, linking to the idea that the novel is a carol. Dickens describes Scrooge as "Hard and sharp as flint" using simile to give the reader something physical to relate to Scrooge.
Flint is a very dark material, a reflection of Scrooge's miserable personality, the sharpness of a flint connecting to the idea that nobody could get close to Scrooge, his sharp tongue could cut anybody who dared to get too close. I have used a common metaphor here; 'sharp tongue', I believe that this is a metaphor Dickens thought of that would describe Scrooge but made it a more general term by partly converting it into a simile.
The description of Scrooge being hard reveals how he had no compassion for anybody, he would not allow anybody to knock down the walls he had built up around himself so that he would be able to feel for others again. I believe Scrooge is being described in such detail here because Dickens wanted to initially establish how cold and unfeeling Scrooge was, so the reader can witness a gradual, complete transformation of Scrooge as he goes from one extreme to the other.
We read in Stave I how Scrooge is unmoving, not only his feelings but also in terms of the weather and environment around him. "No warmth could warm him, no wintry weather chill him" gives the impression that Scrooge was so cold that he could get no colder, no change around him could make him feel warmth, and no person could make him feel happiness, a feeling associated with warmth. Scrooge was indifferent to all those around him, no matter what the circumstance.
We are introduced to the unkind way Scrooge treats his employee, Bob Cratchitt, as we are told that Bob is provided with such a small fire in his "cell" that it looks like one piece of coal. This shows us how little Victorian employers gave to their employees, how there was no system of workers unions that would help people like Bob Cratchitt to have a more pleasant working environment as there would be in a modern society. Dickens knew that many employers took too much and gave too little, and in his writing he tries to emphasise ...
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We are introduced to the unkind way Scrooge treats his employee, Bob Cratchitt, as we are told that Bob is provided with such a small fire in his "cell" that it looks like one piece of coal. This shows us how little Victorian employers gave to their employees, how there was no system of workers unions that would help people like Bob Cratchitt to have a more pleasant working environment as there would be in a modern society. Dickens knew that many employers took too much and gave too little, and in his writing he tries to emphasise this by making Scrooge's treatment of Cratchitt very harsh so they can see their own wrongdoings in a much clearer way.
We are introduced to Scrooge's nephew Fred, who arrives at Scrooge's counting house offering to share Christmas with him. Fred defends Christmas to his uncle as a season worthy of celebration. His speech is important because it sounds one of the defining themes of A Christmas Carol - the corrupt class system. "Christmas," the nephew declares, is "the only time . . . when men and women seem by one consent to open their shut-up hearts freely, and to think of people below them as if they really were fellow-passengers to the grave, and not another race of creatures bound on other journeys." While the nephew's words may strike some twenty-first century ears as excessively sensitive to class, readers can see from his words that class distinctions mattered in Victorian society. People did not normally move between social classes as freely people do in a modern society. Fred's words represent, therefore, an attack on his class-conscious society, recognizing its faults and trying to overcome them on a small scale, at Christmas anyway.
Victorian society was much like Scrooge, "Squeezing, wrenching, grasping, scraping, clutching, covetous." It was the time of the British empire, taking what didn't belong to them and what they didn't need, just as Scrooge takes pleasure out of repossessing the houses of the people who cannot pay money back to him, though he is in a financial position where he did not need to go to the extremes of turning people out of their houses and into the streets.
The Victorian era was a time for getting rid of old values and replacing them with industrialism and overcrowded cities. Dickens tries o show the transition from Scrooge as a boy to an adult, how Scrooge replaced his own values with greed for money and the desire to be rich. Showing how Scrooge deteriorated into such a cold, hard man reveals to the reader what money can do to you, making the reader perhaps think ahead next time they are about to put money before friends and family, as Scrooge didn't.
Scrooge first finds out that he is committing himself to an eternity of misery at the introduction of his deceased partner, Marley. Marley's face first appears in Scrooge's door knocker, but Scrooge dismisses it, believing he is imagining things. Dickens does this to excite the reader, to make them anticipate what will happen, whether Scrooge is going insane or whether there really is a ghost.
Marley reappears later that night, dragging with him a long and heavy chain, and Scrooge still refuses to believe in the apparition. Marley warns Scrooge that he is forging a chain in life that he will wear in death. The apparition is transparent he has nothing about him apart from his pale outline and ghostly features that is remotely human any more. He is empty, a warning to Scrooge that if he continues as he is at the present then he will be a shell of his former being, he is losing all humanity through his cruelty. Marley warns Scrooge that if he does not mend his ways then he will face the same fate, and tells him of the three spirits who will visit him one by one.
Marley's ghost leads Scrooge to his window. Outside Scrooge begins to hear "incoherent sounds of lamentation and regret," these are the sounds made by the ghosts of people like Scrooge, who were once cruel and wore the chains in death that they forged in life. Scrooge sees these phantoms trying to help humans in need, but failing. The ghosts are sentenced to an eternity of misery, unable to aid the people that they could have helped in life. This shows Victorian society an idea that if they do not try to help people, they will be perpetually guilty and unable to make up for the lack of kindness they showed in life. I believe Scrooge remembers these ghosts at the end of the novel when he lets a client off of a huge debt. Scrooge says "A great many back payments are included in it," revealing that Scrooge is trying to make up for all of the charity he did not give previously, just as the ghosts were not able to do.
The Ghost of Christmas Past was the first to appear to Scrooge. It was in the form of a childlike figure which also had the features of an old man. This symbolizes that the ghost had childlike innocence, backed up by the colour of the tunic it wears, white symbolizing purity. The way it appears not to have aged, though it seems to be old could express how the Spirit has not experienced human misery, the reason it does not have wrinkles and how it has retained a tender bloom upon its skin. I believe the Spirit aged in a mental way that made it wise, yet did not have normal experiences which would made people appear old, for instance it has not weathered in a way that would induce wrinkles and toughen skin. From the crown of the Spirit's head burst a "bright clear jet of light", light symbolising goodness which must have come from inside the spirit. The Spirit came across in a strange way to Scrooge, as its outline kept changing, "being now a thing with one arm, now with one leg, now with twenty legs..."
The Spirit speaks softly and gently and informs Scrooge that he has come on the business of Scrooge's welfare. It is kind to Scrooge and wishes to help him. The Spirit invites Scrooge to fly out of the window with him, and Scrooge finds himself in the village of his childhood. Dickens does this to remind Scrooge that he had not always been so cold, and that he had learnt his mean ways whilst growing up. Scrooge is introduced to characters from books he read as a boy, revealing to the reader his personality as a child, and giving the realization that it is society that can make people lose their innocence, that society's attitude needed to change to create a better life.
Scrooge mentions to the Spirit that he would have liked to give something to the boy who was carol singing at his door the previous night, allowing the reader to see that Scrooge feels regret, and that there is still time to make reconciliation. The Spirit also takes Scrooge to a previous Christmas, where he is portrayed as somebody very much adored. Dickens does this to remind Scrooge how wonderful it is to feel loved and needed. He is then transported to his old workplace, where he notes how generous and kind his employer Fezziwig is. Fezziwig is a literary device, used to show Scrooge that giving other people just a little can give so much happiness. "He has the power to render us happy or unhappy, to make our service light or burdensome, a pleasure or a toil...the happiness he gives is quite as great as if it cost a fortune." Scrooge is made to realise that as an employer he has this responsibility, and realises how much of a toil he must make working for Bob Cratchit. Scrooge is then taken to a scene between himself and his ex-fiancé. She is telling him that she wishes to cancel their engagement due to his greed and his altered nature. The meeting reminds Scrooge how much he actually lost when he gave in to "Gain", in turn showing the reader what they could lose if they were to behave in the same way, also giving them time to reflect what they may have lost to Gain in the past.
The last shadow of the past Scrooge witnesses is the life that he may have led if he had not been so greedy and had married Belle. The scene is a joyful Christmas at home with Belle and her family, "the joy and gratitude and ecstasy," in contrast to Scrooge's mean and solitary Christmas we had seen at the beginning of Stave I, showing Victorian society that happiness comes from family life and keeping good company, as opposed to the misery of being alone.
The Ghost of Christmas Present is the next to appear to Scrooge. It comes in the form of a "jolly giant" surrounded by all manner of Christmas delicacies. The Spirit is welcoming and cheerful, its chest bare and its head covered by a holly wreath. The Spirit gives the impression of freedom, youth and unadulterated happiness. Scrooge finds the Spirit in one of his own rooms, which is transformed from its usual austerity to a festive haven. This is a contrast similar to the difference between the insular Scrooge and the flamboyant Spirit, thus making the reader note that as the room could completely change, so could Scrooge and in theory so could they.
Scrooge is taken by the Spirit to the Christmas present of many different people. He witnesses how even people who are lonely, poverty stricken, away from loved ones or ill still managed to have as best a Christmas they could. "The Spirit stood beside sick beds and they were cheerful, on foreign lands, and they were close at home; by struggling men and they were patient in their greater hope; by poverty and it was rich. In almshouse, hospital and jail, in misery's every refuge," in all of the places that Scrooge and the Spirit went to there was "a happy end."
Dickens uses the Ghost of Christmas Present to show Scrooge how erroneous it was that he did not keep Christmas, even though he had wealth, good health, shelter and offers of company from relatives, while others managed to have a cheerful time without these comforts. The third and final ghost appears at the very end of Stave III, where we are told that it is a "solemn Phantom, draped and hooded," so the reader immediately presumes that this Spirit is neither mild like the first spirit or jolly like the second, but appears to be far more ominous. Each vision the Ghost shows Scrooge leads to the revelation of Scrooge's own death in the future, making the atmosphere in the stave very tense, as the reader is led to wonder whether the sad and chilling images of the future the Spirit shows Scrooge are what will happen or what might happen if Scrooge does not change his ways. All Scrooge can see of the final Ghost is its outstretched hand. This makes the mood more frightening for him as he can not see what Spirit looks like, thus making the audience more apprehensive as they anticipate what will happen. . Scrooge surmises that this frightful spectre is the Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come, which the phantom itself neither confirms nor denies. It remains silent throughout its time with Scrooge, which worries Scrooge more. "Scrooge feared the silent shape so much that his legs trembled beneath him," as Scrooge gets increasingly frightened, the atmosphere intensifies and the audience begin to feel Scrooge's dread. Scrooge admits that he fears this visitor more than the others, but that he is ready to learn the lessons it has to offer him. The Spirit takes Scrooge to the financial centre of London, where he is shown a group of merchants deep in conversation. They are discussing a man's death. They make light of it, idly speculating on what the deceased has done with his money, and whether anyone will attend the funeral; one man offers to go only if lunch is provided afterwards. Scrooge is then shown a meeting between the owner of a "beetling shop" and some customers. It is in a place Scrooge knows of because of its bad reputation but has never been to before; the description of the place makes the reader edgy. The atmosphere is cramped and the depiction of the filth and crime makes the reader feel uncomfortable. The discussion is about Scrooge, a woman tries to sell Scrooge's possessions, including his best shirt that he is wearing whilst waiting to be buried. There are few ways to show more disrespect than taking the clothes from a dead man's back and the Spirit shows this image to Scrooge in the hope that he will realise that as a human being he is not presently acting in a way that demands respect, and hopes to change him. Scrooge is unsure who they are talking about, but the reader deduces that they are discussing Scrooge. This causes the tension to build, as the audience wait for Scrooge's reaction when he finds out his death is being discussed in such a callous manner. When Scrooge finally realises his reaction breaks the tension, "I see, I see. The case of this unhappy man might be my own", he says, and the reader presumes that Scrooge has now learnt his lesson and the Spirit will show no further images to him, but that is not the case. The next mood in Stave IV is shock - Scrooge is without warning shown his own dead body covered by a sheet, the readers feeling of relief is twisted into horror. Scrooge realises that there appears to be not one person who has shown any grief at the news of his death, introducing an element of sadness to the audience. Scrooge asks the Ghost to show him anyone who feels emotion at this man's death. The Ghost obliges, and takes him to a mother with children, who are anxiously waiting for the man of the house to return home. He does, and tells his wife that the man to whom they are in great financial debt has died. Her first reaction is happiness, even though she is then ashamed of her reaction. The family's debt will be transferred to someone else, but before it is due, the husband plans to have the money to repay it. "The only emotion that the Ghost could show Scrooge, caused by the event, was one of pleasure." Scrooge begs to see "some tenderness" linked to the event, and so the Ghost returns him to Bob Cratchit's house, where the noise of the dinner in Stave III has been replaced by sad silence. Bob's son Peter is reading aloud from the Bible: "And He took a child, and set him in the midst of them," a text in which Jesus teaches his disciples that those who hope to enter the Kingdom of Heaven must become like children. Overcome with emotion, Peter stops reading. Mrs. Cratchit and her daughters are sewing clothes; she stops, saying, "The colour hurts my eyes." Although the text does not indicate, we know the colour is black and the clothes are for mourning dress, for the narrator grieves, "Ah, poor Tiny Tim!"
The Ghost still will not inform Scrooge who the dead man is. It instead takes him to a graveyard situated near his office, which now has a different inhabitant. The Ghost points Scrooge to a specific headstone in the cemetery. Before Scrooge looks at it, he asks the Ghost if the visions he has seen represent "things that Will be, or . . . things that May be." Again, the Ghost says nothing. It only points at the headstone, which reads, EBENEZER SCROOGE. Even then, Scrooge must still ask, "Am I that man who lay upon the bed?" The Ghost nods its head in affirmation. Scrooge clutches at the Ghost, appealing to it for help and sympathy. The Ghost's extended hand seems to tremble for the first time, which may be an evident clue, that Scrooge's salvation is still probable. Scrooge promises to honour Christmas in his heart, and to live by the lessons his supernatural visitors have taught him. Charles Dickens wanted to show through this novel that Victorian Society was not doomed either, that there was a chance of redemption for all those who had not always been good, and that we are all judged by our actions, like Scrooge, we do not always know exactly what people think of us. For example, Scrooge felt that he was respected as he was rich and successful, whereas he is shown by the Ghost of Christmas Yet To Come the lack of respect people had for him, "He frightened everyone away from him when he was alive, to profit us when he was dead! Ha ha ha!" says the woman who stripped the shirt from his back and the curtains from his bed, and left him exposed, dead and alone.
At the beginning of Stave V, Scrooge is delighted to find himself in his own bed and he laughs for the first time in a long time, "for a man who had been out of practice for so many years, it was a splendid laugh," and wondering what day it is, Scrooge opens his window. Outside, church bells are ringing. Scrooge asks a young boy on the street below what the day is, and the boy, perplexed, replies that it is Christmas Day. Scrooge is amazed that his three ghostly visitors were accomplished all in one night. He tells the boy to go to the Poulterer's store and buy the large prize turkey. He plans to send it, namelessly, to Bob Cratchit. Scrooge promises the child "half-a-crown" in payment if he can accomplish the task in under five minutes. Excitedly, the boy races away to perform the task. This shows that Scrooge has learnt how to be generous, and he is charmed by the boy, "what a delightful boy! It's a pleasure to talk to him!" in contrast to the way he treated the carol singer the night before. When Scrooge goes outside he encounters one of the philanthropists from Stave I, wishes him a merry Christmas, and pledges a generous amount of money for his good work. The only repayment Scrooge requires of the astonished charity worker is a promise of future visits. In Stave I Scrooge treats both philanthropists with disdain and laughs at them for attempting to help who he describes as "idle people." This change of heart may have been to do with the way the Ghost of Christmas Past made Scrooge feel guilty by echoing his words and using them against him. When the charity workers responded that many would rather die than be institutionalized, (after Scrooge suggests putting those who can't afford rent into the workhouses), Scrooge snaps, "They had better do it, and decrease the surplus population." The Ghost of Christmas Past virtually repeats this line when Scrooge asks if Tiny Tim will live "If he be like to die, he had better do it, and decrease the surplus population," making Scrooge lament over his words. Although it takes Scrooge some time to muster the courage to do so, he eventually joins his nephew for Christmas dinner. And true to his own fixed purpose, Fred welcomes his uncle in with sincere kindness. Scrooge would no longer abstain from the Christmas merrymaking, he pledges to rejoin it, just as he is rejoining society, going through life with his fellow travellers toward death, as Fred says in Stave I. In a concluding statement, the narrator tells that Scrooge "was better than his word." The announcement reminds readers of the first paragraph of the book, in which we learn that Scrooge's name "was good upon the 'Change (the London Exchange) for anything he chose to put his hand to." Whether as a tight-fisted miser or as a reformed man of generous spirit, then, Scrooge's word can be trusted. We have no reason to hesitate that he will follow through on his pledge to live a better life. Scrooge even becomes a second father to Tiny Tim-who, as the narrator emphasises, "did NOT die." We see in Stave I that Dickens specifies the genre of the novel by writing "Once upon a time," however Dickens' fairy tale is not one to be forgotten when put down. Instead, he intended his readers to reconsider their own lives, and see if they could make the same sorts of changes that Scrooge did, not only in Victorian Society, but for as long into the future as "A Christmas Carol" is read. A pun on ghostly spirits and alcoholic spirits informs readers that Scrooge "had no further intercourse with Spirits, but lived upon the Total Abstinence Principle." As teetotallers refrain from all alcohol, so did Scrooge abstain from further ghostly emissaries? For the Ghost's mission had been accomplished: Scrooge keeps Christmas, and he keeps it well. "May that be truly said of us, and all of us! And so, as Tiny Tim observed, God Bless Us, Every One!"
Emily Johnson 11M1 English coursework
