The third ghost is the “Ghost of Christmas present.” This ghost is rather different to the other three as it is more human like than ghostly, also it is more pleasant as in my mind I could easily compare him to the Santa Claus that I once believe in. Dickens give a very detailed description of this ghost, I think he does this to create a vivid picture in the readers mind as this chapters message is not just for Scrooge. It is described that he was clothed in one simple green robe bordered with white fur. The robe hangs loosely on his frame and his chest is bare, I think the ghost is portrayed like this to show that he is at easy with the world. It is also said that this ghost has sparkling eyes and a joyful air; I think this is because Christmas should be a cheery time and this Ghost is an allegory for Christmas. This is once again a warning ghost. A ghost who is there to make clear to Scrooge that his actions are not just affecting himself but also others around him.
The first supernatural being to visit Scrooge is the ghost of Jacob Marley - Scrooge's deceased working partner. The appearance of this spirit is directly similar to what Marley wore in his first life when he was a slave to money - exactly like Scrooge. These same working clothes show how he is still chained down by the burden of money and that his afterlife has been made rather painful by being a slave to work. Marley's ghost is warning Scrooge that if he doesn't change his character, he will too be burdened in his afterlife. The spirit also foretells the appearance of three more ghosts.
A creepy atmosphere is built up by Dickens before Marley is seen. Scrooge’s door knocker changes into Marley’s face ‘the eyes were wide open, they were perfectly motionless. Dickens use of adjectives here effectively makes this image rather disturbing. Dickens also uses another supernatural presence to spook the readers, ‘a disused bell….It was with great astonishment, and with a strange inexplicable dread, that, as he looked, he saw the bell about to swing.’ Scrooges astonishment and the use of the word disused conjures a picture in the readers mind suggesting that this bell cannot ring, this making the reader want to know why it is doing so? All the bells swiftly cease as unexpectedly as they had started. The bells were ‘succeeded by a clanking noise deep down below’ we are then told that the cellar door hastily opens. ‘then he heard the noise much louder on the floors below; then coming up the stairs, then coming straight towards his door’ the repetition of the word ‘then’ is very powerful here because it tells us that this ghost is moving quickly towards his destination, Scrooge.
As Marley enters the room we are told in great detail about his appearance. The chains 'clasped about his middle' and all the different items that are wrought to the chain all symbolize money and greed of the spirit. The cash-boxes and the keys all represent the hiding away of money and keeping the wealth to themselves and not sharing the abundance of money. The imagery of heavy objects such as the 'padlocks' and 'steel purses' show how laden the ghost is with the weight of the money. The 'ledgers' and 'deeds' show the detailed accounts of money and proper ownership and this is a symbol that everything has to be accounted for, no money can pass by the scrutiny of the accountant which is so true to Scrooge's life.
Apart from being immensely weighted down by his possessions of greed which held back his life, Marley was transparent. This was so obvious that Scrooge could see the two buttons on the back of his coat. This transparency conveys the sense that this person was never a normal human; he was a chilling figure who lacked some human qualities that most usual persons have. This is a ghost who freezes the presence around him with his 'death cold eyes' and his 'chilling influence', he is cold, like his life. He has no real substance and the only apparent clear images Scrooge can see of this spirit are the symbols of hoarding, selfishness and greed. However Dickens was ultimately writing a Christmas novella and does not want to totally terrify his readers, Dickens wanted to get his message across which was to treat others kindly and with respect no matter which class they were in.
We see Dickens weaving in little bits of humour to uplift the reader’s spirits and relieve the tension that has already built up. After being told the appearance of the ghost was transparent we then hear “Scrooge had often heard it said that Marley had no bowels, but he had never believed it until now.” The lack of this certain internal; organ is meant to make the reader laugh making the story more palatable. In spite of some humorous touches Marley presence is suppose to have a serious message for Scrooge and an impact on all of the readers. Dickens wants to make it clear to everyone that Marley lives in torment because of the way he lived his life, he is trying to make people change there ways with certain subtle well chosen words. He also shows people how they may be tormented in the afterlife, which Victorians were very curious about, as for Marley’s selfishness in life he is now “doomed to wander through the world – oh, woe is me! And witness what I cannot share, but might have shared on earth.” This is not Marley’s only outburst. Dickens really wants to hammer home his message about Marley’s agony due to his own lifestyle, “Business... Mankind was my business. The common welfare was my business; charity, mercy, forbearance, and benevolence were all, my business.”
In conclusion I think the reason for Dickens using Marley as the first ghost is for the shock of Scrooge seeing his business partner so unhappy after his life has ended. This obviously has a massive impact upon him as he is so scared to witness the other ghosts oncoming.
The ghost of Christmas present is simpler to understand than Marley for he represents the things and spirit of Christmas. His purpose is to show Scrooge the way people celebrate Christmas at present and to point out the abundance of Christmas joy there is in families, which is alien to Scrooge.
The actual spirit is huge, happy and incredibly relaxed which is shown by his ‘easy state’ upon which Scrooge finds him. This peaceful, kind and generous spirit holds Plenty’s horn which is a sign of abundance and a richness of possessions and atmosphere. He is full of Christmas spirit and he knows what it is like to have a good time and a laugh, he is only haunting Scrooge with good things he has not seen before. The spirit is radiant, full of light for it pours out on to Scrooge, he cannot escape the joyous plentiful atmosphere. He can’t run away for the light is so strong it grasps him.
The spirit is introduced with a large range of different Christmas foods such as long plum-puddings, mince pies, ‘cheery cheeked apples’ and ‘immense twelfth cakes’, just to mention a few of the items layering the floor. The abundance and feeling of plenty is conveyed with the magnificent quantities of tangible items on display, with the ‘barrels of oysters’ and ‘wreaths of sausages’. Dickens eloquently describes the food making the reader feel tempted by these appetising descriptions. All this is completely foreign to Scrooge. He has never seen this type of thing for he never shares his money to make these things happen; therefore this is appropriate so to open Scrooge’s eyes to the celebration of Christmas.
The spirit shows Scrooge how Christmas is celebrated by his clerk’s family, by strangers near and far and by his nephew, Fred. We are told that the spirit carry’s a torch and that when its contents is sprinkled on people they become kinder to one and other. This implies that the torch is filled with some kind of Christmas spirit.
Scrooge has never been to Bob Cratchit’s house. Here he sees how the Cratchits, despite being very poor, can be happy at Christmas. Bob and Mrs Cratchits struggle because their family is large: there are six children, (Martha, Belinda, Peter two unnamed young Cratchits and Tiny-Tim) Scrooge sees how frail Tiny-Tim is and asks the spirit if he will live. The ghost tells him “” When Scrooge protests he is reminded of his words earlier, “If he be likely to die he had better do it and decrease the surplus population. I think Dickens has included this harsh remark to remind the readers how horrible some people are and how they should try and help others.
The ghost takes Scrooge magically to places outside London: he sees a family of miners in a hut on a baron moor, two lighthouse keepers and sailors on a ship: all know what day it is and celebrate it as far as they can. All of them are made more aware of other people and feel more kindly towards because it is Christmas. One reason I think Dickens does this is because importance of Christmas was in decline and he wanted to make known tat Christmas could be celebrated anywhere and by anyone as well as the min meaning of Christmas which I interpret to be loving and sharing.
Fred is having a party, and Scrooge is bought by the spirit to see and hear it. Scrooge’s nephew explains that Scrooge is to be pitied not despised. He is rich but his money does him no good and as Fred says, “His offences carry their own punishment.” I think Dickens uses this phrase to tell people that the sins you commit in life may not have an immediate consequence but will always be punished in after or life. The guests play a guessing game, the find the identity of a thing, in which questions can only be answered yes or no. Everyone is amused when Fred’s sister-in-law guesses that the mystery object is Scrooge.
The chapter has a strange ending. The spirit ages and shrinks as midnight draws near (because he lives for and represents one year only – he has more than eighteen hundred brothers.) Now Scrooges sees, under its robe, to horribly dirty and ugly children. The ghost tells him that they are not his but “mans” and that “this boy is ignorance, this girl is want.” Scrooge is told to beware of them both. When he 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, and he sees, coming towards him the last of the three spirits. I think Dickens includes these children to make the readers aware of the poverty some children have to live with in London. This is of great importance to him as it was one of the main inspirations for his novella in the first place.
This ghost’s purpose is mainly to open Scrooges eyes to the world around him at Christmas and the kindness in everyone’s hearts. I believe he does this very successfully as after this ghost leaves Scrooge is very happy to see the last spirit.
I do believe that Dickens was a great writer and to say that any of the spirits were not influential on Scrooge would be wrong. But if I had to pick one I would say the most powerful ghost must be the ghost of Christmas present. This is because the ghost shows him many important aspects of Christmas, including his family and how they celebrate Christmas together. He shows Scrooge that being rich is not everything; he does this by taking Scrooge to the poor Cratchits house who are having a very wonderful Christmas. The spirit shows scrooge how to enjoy himself and that living like he does is not pleasant or rewarding. The other two spirits are also very effective in their own ways; the ghost of Christmas past takes Scrooge back to his childhood days and makes Scrooge regret what he missed out on as a child and also makes him realise that people were trying to encourage him not to be like he was at that early age. The spirit of Christmas still to come is a very sinister spirit there mainly to scare Scrooge into changing his ways, he does this by showing Scrooge what will happen to him if he does not change. He shows Scrooge a dead body which Scrooge realises is his own and he sees that his death does not sadden anyone; this in turn creates fear in Scrooges mind. The audience will of course relate to this as most peoples worst fear is people not missing them when they die, this causes people to look at themselves and change for the better.
The spirits all have there own affect on Scrooge, the spirit of Christmas past makes Scrooge regret that past, the spirit of Christmas present makes Scrooge realise the importance of Christmas and how to celebrate it blissfully, and finally the spirit of Christmas still to come makes sure Scrooge is too scared to revert back to his old ways. The main lesson learnt by Scrooge is that he should be nice to everyone no matter what day it is, people that are less well off than him need his help. Other lessons that he learns are that being heartless, selfish and greedy has no rewards and that no one will be there to mourn you death. Also that he should enjoy his money and share with others because money will control you head and leave your heart in the shadows as Scrooge’s was for so long.
I believe that the novella is still popular in today’s times as it brings to light all the joys and happiness that everyone likes to feel at Christmas. Also it helps that the novella was very well written and that it still creates all the emotions it was written to create in modern people. Dickens engages all readers of all ages as he based all of his character on human charactistics which then makes the novella an allegory for human behaviour. After reading this novella every person looks at them selves through an imaginary mirror and thinks about what they can change for the better within themselves, this is another reason I think the novella is so popular. I do believe that Dickens “little Carol” as it was first known will carry on through generations and there will probably be another girl sat at her computer in 50 years time writing about its success and message.